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 Scottish Origins “Welsh born and bred?”.... well I was born at Caerphilly Miner’s Hospital on 17th November, 1964 , and have been raised “proud to be Welsh”. As long as I can remember I have had a love of song being in the school choir and always support Wales when it comes to rugby international games. My surname “Ingram” was a bit of a clue that I wasn’t thoroughbred though! On researching my ancestry I noticed that the Welsh women, on many occasions, tended to be seduced by “foreigners”, both Scottish and English ~ not casting aspersions against Welshmen as I’ve married two myself. My mother’s maiden name is Lewis (nee Sutton), born to a Welsh mother and English father. My father’s parents were a Welsh/English/Scottish mix and his surname, Ingram, descends from a Scottish clan, the Colquhouns. Colquhoun Tartan
The name “Colquhoun” comes from the Gaelic place name "cuil cumhann" meaning "narrow corner". The location of Colquhoun (pronounced "ca-hoon" with the accent on the second syllable) is on the western shores of Loch Lomond . The clan has had a long, interesting and sometimes violent history and derives from a succession of Celtic Priests, custodians of the Crozier of St. Kessog, who had lived on Monks Island on Loch Lomond.
Loch Lomond The Colquhouns supported King Robert the Bruce and backed the early Stewart Kings.
Surnames regarded as septs (sub-branch) of the Colquhoun clan include Ingram, Cowan, King, MacCowan and MacManus. In the USA the name is often found as Calhoun (there was a vice-president of the USA of that name). Cohen is another form of the name.
MOTTO: "Si je puis" which means "If I can"
NAME ORIGIN: (Placename) Dunbartonshire
CREST: A stags head, couped, jules, attired, argent
BADGE: Hazel Saplings
WAR CRY: Cnoc Ealachain
PIPE MUSIC: The Coquhoun’s March Plant
| Colquhoun Clan History In 1241, the time of Alexander II (1214 – 1249), Malduin (Malcolm), Earl of Lennox, granted the estates of Auchentorily, Dumbuck and Colquhoun in Dunbartonshire to Umfridus (Humphrey) de Kilpatrick. This was confirmed by King Robert the Bruce for the Clan's support in the War of Independence. The chief’s early stronghold was Dunglas Castle , near the royal castle of Dumbarton. Humphrey’s son, Ingram, is the first person recorded as taking Colquhoun for his surname. He adopted the surname from the name of the area. He was issued a command by the King to seize the well-fortified Dumbarton Castle . He wrote the King back in French, the accepted universal language of the time, "Si Je Puis" (If I Can). He gathered a group of men close to him, hid in the woods outside of Dumbarton's gates and drew a red stag near the gates. The starving garrison opened the gates to chase the stag, whereupon the chief’s clansmen rushed the castle and captured it for the King without killing anyone, which is remarkable for that time. The Colquhouns became governors and keepers of that castle. Around 1368, Sir Robert Colquhoun married the fair Maid of Luss, heiress to nearby lands in Glen Luss and since then the clan name has properly been “Colquhoun of Luss”. The Colquhouns also controlled the Castle of Camstradden , which was obtained by a younger son of Luss in 1395. The sixth Colquhoun Laird of Camstradden was a renowned knight who fought at Pinkie in 1547. Grandson of Sir Robert Colquhoun, Sir Iain (John) Colquhoun of Luss, married Margaret, the daughter of the Earl of Lennox. A few years later in 1424, James I returned from English imprisonment and took his vengeance upon the unsupportive Lennox . The position of Lennox was decimated and Sir John took advantage of this to win the King’s favour by capturing Dumbarton Castle from Lennox ~ he was appointed governor of Dumbarton Castle during the minority of James II. He was murdered in 1439 during a raid at Inchmurrin, like his King, killed by those he had treated so badly. By way of compensation, James II, in 1457, granted a charter making Luss a free barony for Colquhoun’s grandson Sir Iain (John) and it remained this way until the Rising of 1745. Sir John Colquhoun rose to become Comptroller of the Royal Household and expanded considerably the family estates to include the forests of Rossdhu and Glenmachome together with the lands of Kilmardinny. In 1474 he was part of the embassy to Edward IV of England seeking to negotiate a marriage between the infant James IV and Edward’s daughter, Cecilia (this was not successful but the later marriage of James IV to Margaret Tudor eventually led to the Union of the Crowns in 1603). Sir John fought at the siege of Dunbar Castle , held by rebels against the king, where he was killed by a cannonball. In the 16th century, a Colquhoun emigrated to Sweden and began a cannon making factory. Names such as Cahun, Caun, Gahn and Kharun can still be found in Sweden. The strategic nature of the Colquhoun lands made them particularly vulnerable to clan raids, sometimes of great ferocity. In 1602, the MacGregors raided the Colquhouns in Glen Luss killing 2 clansmen, injuring others and carrying off hundreds of livestock. Following this, Alexander Colquhoun of Luss was given a royal commission to pursue the clan. In 1603, Luss was raided by thieving MacGregors and which led to a bloody battle. Alasdair Macgregor of Glenstrae marched into Colquhoun territory with a force of over four hundred men. His band followed a track along the eastern hills above Loch Long. The chief of the Colquhouns, who was granted a royal commission to suppress the MacGregors, assembled his followers and neighbours, and with a force of five hundred on foot and nearly three hundred horsemen, advanced up Glen Fruin to repel the Highland raiders. Macgregor split his force in two and while the Colquhouns and the main Macgregor force locked in deadly combat, the second band of MacGregors outflanked their foes and attacked from the rear. The Colquhouns were caught in a vice and were driven into the Moss of Auchingaich, a peat bog where their cavalry were useless and they received heavy losses ~ it is believed that over two hundred Colquhouns were killed. In revenge for the massacre, the Colquhouns made a dramatic representation to King James VI and the clan Macgregor was proscribed, their name forbidden under pain of death. The ancient enmity between the Colquhouns and the MacGregors gradually subsided until, at the end of the eighteenth century, the chief of Colquhoun and the chief of Clan Gregor visited Glen Fruin and shook hands on the very site of former slaughter. The 11th Laird of Luss, Sir John Colquhoun was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia on 30 August, 1625 . He was accused in 1632 of absconding with his wife’s sister, Lady Catherine Graham, daughter of the Earl of Montrose. It was alleged that he had used witchcraft and sorcery to accomplish his intrigue by seducing her and so, wisely, he never returned to answer charges and clear his name. He became a fugitive and as so was excommunicated and his estates forfeited. The estates were recovered, after much negotiation, by Sir John’s eldest son in 1646. The 5th Baronet of Luss, Sir Humphrey Colquhoun, represented Dunbartonshire in the last Scottish Parliament in 1703 and strongly opposed the Treaty of Union. On 30 March 1704 , having no male heir, he resigned his baronetcy to the Crown and obtained a new patent, allowing the title to pass on his death to the male issue of his daughter’s husband, James Grant of Pluscardine. When Pluscardine’s elder brother died, he succeeded to the substantial estates of his father and once more assumed the name of Grant. He was ancestor of the Earls of Seafield and the Barons Strathspey, on whom the baronetcy devolved. His fourth son, Sir James Grant Colquhoun, succeeded to the estates and built the great mansion of Rossdhu which was the seat of the chiefs until recently. Sir Ian Colquhoun, the seventh Baronet of the new creation and father of the present chief, was a distinguished and popular figure in Scottish society. He was mentioned in dispatches no less than five times in the First World War and twice wounded. He was created a Knight of the Thistle and was Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. A member of the Royal Commission on ancient and historical monuments in Scotland and some time Rector of Glasgow University, he was at the forefront of the movement to preserve Scotland’s ancient monuments and countryside.
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