Clan MacMillan

Motto:

Miseris succurrere disco - "I learn to succour the distressed"

Arms:

A lion rampant Sable, armed and langued Gules, and in chief three mullets Azure.

Badge:

A lion's head erased Sable gorged with a collar Or charged with three mullets Azure.

Crest:

A dexter and a sinister hand issuing from the wreath grasping and brandishing aloft a two-handed sword Proper.

Septs:

Baxter, Bell, Blue, Brown, MacNamell

Former lands of Clan MacMillan include Castle Sween on the Knapdale Peninsula, the vicinity of Dunmore, and portions of the Kintire Peninsula in Argyll. Other clan grounds include Old Spynie near Elgin, Loch Arkaig, GlenUrquhart, Ben Lawers and the Vale of Ken

The earliest mention of the clan was in the north, near Old Spynie, where a Culdee (Celtic Christian) priest nick-named Mhaoilain (“the tonsured one”) was established in the 12th century. These priests were allowed to marry, and his son was named Mac (son-of) Mhaoilain. Some writers claim the clan descended from the Picts and may have been related to King MacBeth.

Over the centuries, the clan was displaced to Loch Arkaig in Lochaber, to Ben Lawers above Loch Tay, and to the other locations named above. At the end of the 15th century, the MacMillans of Knap were displaced by the king and the land given to the Campbells. Those who refused to pledge loyalty to the Campbells were displaced to the Western Isles, to Galloway and Kintyre.

Displacement of MacMillans from Scotland occurred over a period of about 250 years, from the mid-1500s when MacMillans were hired by the MacDonalds to fight as mercenaries in Ireland, to the Highland Clearances in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Large numbers of MacMillans were transplanted to Canada, North Carolina, Australia and New Zealand, and many came to the colonies by way of Ulster (Northern Ireland).