| Clan Fletcher | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mac-An-Leister (Son of the Arrowmaker)[1]Fleisdear[2] | |||
| Motto | Alta Pete (Aim at High Things)[1] | ||
| Profile | |||
| Country | Scotland, Ireland, England | ||
| Region | Scottish Highlands | ||
| District | Argyll | ||
| Ethnicity | Scottish | ||
 | |||
| Clan Fletcher no longer has a chief, and is anarmigerous clan | |||
| Historic seat | Achallader Castle[3] | ||
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Clan Fletcher is aScottish clan.[2] The clan is officially recognized by theLord Lyon King of Arms; however, as the clan does not currently have a chief recognized by the Lord Lyon, it is considered anarmigerous clan.[2]
The nameFletcher is derived from theFrench wordflechier, which meansarrow maker.[2] The first record of the name was fromJean de la Flèche, aNorman noble who was given land byWilliam the Conqueror. His descendant later moved to Scotland. The name was a very common trade name, so much so that it became used in theScottish Gaelic language asfleisdear.[2] In the eighteenth century some families went full circle andanglicised the name from the Gaelic,Mac-an-leistear, back into Fletcher.[2]
Sometime after the eleventh century a band of Mac-an-leistears settled inGlen Orchy,Argyll.[2] There they became arrow makers to theClan MacGregor.[2] Other small groups of Mac-an-leisters settled inglens that belonged to other clans, in order to make arrows for them.[2]
The first recorded clan chief was Angus Mac-an-leister, who was born in about 1450.[2] However,Duncan Campbell ofGlenorchy, who was in high royal favour withJames VI of Scotland coveted the Mac-an-leister's lands.[2] Campbell had royal authority to maintain a large band of armed retainers who he employed in a campaign of intimidation and violence.[2] Campbell deliberately provoked a dispute with the Mac-an-leister chief and trumped up a murder charge against him.[2] As a result, Mac-an-leister was compelled to sign a deed in which all of his family lands were ceded to the Campbells, and from then onwards they were only tenants in Glen Orchy.[2]
Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun "the Patriot" was a fierce opponent of theunion with England.[2] He became MP forHaddington in 1678; however, he was forced to flee toHolland for having supported theMonmouth Rebellion againstJames II of England (VII of Scotland).[2]
During theJacobite rising of 1715, Archibald, the ninth chief of the clan, led the Mac-an-leisters in support of the Jacobites. Thirty years later, his younger brother John did the same in theJacobite rising of 1745.[2] However, in the latter rebellion, Archibald supplied men to the British-Hanoverian forces under his Campbell overlords, thereby avoiding forfeiture.[2]
Castles owned by the Clan Fletcher have included amongst others:
