https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net/ /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-masthead.png Chiefs of Clan MacKinnon — masthead Chiefs of Clan MacKinnon — masthead — Compiled archive of the chiefly line and the Antigua plantation record — Compiled by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-crest.png Clan MacKinnon crest Clan MacKinnon crest — Compiled by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-1-alpin.png Chief 1 Alpin (from 821, died 841 traditional; also given as 834) Chief 1 Alpin (from 821, died 841 traditional; also given as 834) — Legendary / Siol Alpin prestige origin — Royal ancestor at the head of the Siol Alpin tradition. The MacKinnon list counts him as “68th Fabulous, 28th authentic,” placing him inside an older king-list before the later clan pedigree begins. Remembered as father of Kenneth MacAlpin and Donald I, he belongs to the dynastic origin story shared by MacKinnons, MacGregors, Grants, MacQuarries, MacNabs, MacAulays and MacFies. The clan tradition gives his death as 841 in Galloway at the hands of Brudus, King of the Picts; modern reconstructions often place Alpín mac Echdach’s death around 834. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-2-prince-gregor.png Chief 2 Prince Gregor (from 837) Chief 2 Prince Gregor (from 837) — Legendary / traditional Siol Alpin line — Third son of King Alpin in the MacKinnon chiefly list. His elder brothers Kenneth MacAlpin and Donald I occupy the royal line, while Gregor becomes the cadet ancestor in the western Highland tradition. This makes him the bridge between the royal Siol Alpin story and the non-royal chiefly lines that later claimed descent from Alpin without holding the kingship. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-3-doungallus.png Chief 3 Doungallus / Donn-gheal / Dongallus (from 900) Chief 3 Doungallus / Donn-gheal / Dongallus (from 900) — Legendary / traditional — Eldest son of Prince Gregor in the chiefly pedigree. His marriage to Spontana, daughter of an Irish king, adds an Irish royal connection to the early MacFingon story and reflects the Gaelic sea-world linking Ireland, Argyll and the Hebrides. His position in the list carries the line from royal-origin myth into the western seaboard setting where the later clan identity forms. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-4-findanus.png Chief 4 Findanus (from 930) Chief 4 Findanus (from 930) — Traditional founder-type — Founder-type figure of the MacFingon/MacKinnon name-story. Tradition links him to Dunakin, later known as Caisteal Maol or MacKinnon Castle, at Kyle Akin on Skye. His bride is remembered as the Norse princess “Saucy Mary,” who was said to have stretched a heavy chain across the narrows between Skye and the mainland to levy tolls on passing ships. The legend gives the clan a Norse-Hebridean setting, even though the surviving castle remains are much later than the period assigned to Findanus. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-5-macfindanus-1.png Chief 5 MacFindanus MacAlpin / MacFingon MacAlpin (from 976) Chief 5 MacFindanus MacAlpin / MacFingon MacAlpin (from 976) — Traditional — A transitional patronymic figure rather than a richly documented chief. His name carries the line from Findanus into the MacFingon form, the ancestor-name behind MacKinnon. Later clan tradition says this generation expanded or consolidated holdings across the Western Isles, Perth and Ross, creating a wider territorial memory before the later chiefly seat settled around Mull, Skye, Strathaird and Mishnish. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-5-macfindanus-2.png Chief 5 MacFindanus MacAlpin / MacFingon MacAlpin (from 976) Chief 5 MacFindanus MacAlpin / MacFingon MacAlpin (from 976) — Traditional — A transitional patronymic figure rather than a richly documented chief. His name carries the line from Findanus into the MacFingon form, the ancestor-name behind MacKinnon. Later clan tradition says this generation expanded or consolidated holdings across the Western Isles, Perth and Ross, creating a wider territorial memory before the later chiefly seat settled around Mull, Skye, Strathaird and Mishnish. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-6-donald-macfingon.png Chief 6 Donald MacFingon MacAlpin (from 1020) Chief 6 Donald MacFingon MacAlpin (from 1020) — Traditional — Early MacFingon/MacAlpin link in the chiefly pedigree. His placement in the eleventh century keeps the line inside the Gaelic west before the MacKinnons emerge more clearly as a Hebridean clan under the later Lords of the Isles. The name Donald also becomes one of the recurring chiefly names, alongside Lachlan, John/Iain, Ewen/Eobhan and Nial. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-7-cormac-macfingon.png Chief 7 Cormac MacFingon MacAlpin (from 1033) Chief 7 Cormac MacFingon MacAlpin (from 1033) — Traditional — Early MacFingon/MacAlpin figure placed in the record-dark Gaelic-Norse west. His name keeps the line moving through the eleventh-century Hebridean world, when local power was shaped less by the Scottish Crown and more by island kindreds, Norse-Gaelic rulers, sea routes, monasteries and kinship claims. No personal charter or battle episode is attached to him in the working chiefly list. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-8-lachlan.png Chief 8 Lachlan (from 1066) Chief 8 Lachlan (from 1066) — Traditional — Placed at the same historical horizon as Stamford Bridge, Hastings and the reshaping of Britain by the Normans. For the western seaboard, the more relevant setting was still the Norse-Gaelic Kingdom of the Isles, where Man, the Hebrides and the Clyde islands formed a sea-linked political world. This Lachlan belongs to the period before the MacKinnons emerge in firm documentary light. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-9-lachlan.png Chief 9 Lachlan (from 1096) Chief 9 Lachlan (from 1096) — Traditional — Second consecutive Lachlan in the early pedigree, set just before Magnus Barefoot’s campaigns in the Isles and the treaty context of 1098, when Edgar of Scotland acknowledged Norwegian claims over the Hebrides and Kintyre. His placement anchors the MacFingon tradition inside a western world still pulled strongly toward Norway, Man and the Irish Sea rather than toward Lowland Scotland. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-10-kenneth-1.png Chief 10 Kenneth (from 1126) Chief 10 Kenneth (from 1126) — Traditional — Placed in the reign of David I, inside a western seaboard still shaped by Norse-Gaelic power, Iona, Mull, Arran, Skye, Man and Ireland. This is not an inland clan setting: it is a maritime frontier where royal Scotland, Norse rule and Gaelic sea-lords overlap. The later MacKinnon pattern of Mull, Arran and Skye fits that sea-lane world. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-10-kenneth-2.png Chief 10 Kenneth (from 1126) Chief 10 Kenneth (from 1126) — Traditional — Placed in the reign of David I, inside a western seaboard still shaped by Norse-Gaelic power, Iona, Mull, Arran, Skye, Man and Ireland. This is not an inland clan setting: it is a maritime frontier where royal Scotland, Norse rule and Gaelic sea-lords overlap. The later MacKinnon pattern of Mull, Arran and Skye fits that sea-lane world. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-11-donald.png Chief 11 Donald (from 1156) Chief 11 Donald (from 1156) — Traditional — His slot opens in the year Somerled fought Godred Olafsson off Islay and split the Kingdom of Man and the Isles. The western islands were being reorganised by naval power, marriage alliances and war. For the MacKinnon line, this is the correct political background: Mull, Iona and Skye were not remote edges, they sat inside the main power corridor of the Isles. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-12-lachlan.png Chief 12 Lachlan (from 1186) Chief 12 Lachlan (from 1186) — Traditional — Comes after Somerled's death at Renfrew and the division of his sea-lordship among his descendants. The MacFingon line belongs to that post-Somerled Hebridean order: Iona as spiritual centre, Mull and Arran as early western bases, and Skye as the later strategic seat after the Bruce settlement. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-13-eowin-john.png Chief 13 Eowin / John (from 1216) Chief 13 Eowin / John (from 1216) — Traditional — Carries the Gaelic and anglicised name pair: Eobhan becomes John in documentary language. Politically this chief sits before the final Scottish takeover of the Hebrides, when the islands still belonged to the Norse Sudreys sphere but were under increasing pressure from the Scottish crown. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-14-alpin-1.png Chief 14 Alpin (from 1246) Chief 14 Alpin (from 1246) — Traditional — The name Alpin keeps the Siol Alpin claim visible at a moment when western lordship was about status, kinship and military usefulness. In the same century, Norway and Scotland were still contesting the Hebrides, so royal-origin genealogy was political capital, linking the MacKinnons to the wider Siol Alpin cluster of MacGregors, Grants, MacNabs, MacQuarries, MacAulays and MacFies. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-14-alpin-2.png Chief 14 Alpin (from 1246) Chief 14 Alpin (from 1246) — Traditional — The name Alpin keeps the Siol Alpin claim visible at a moment when western lordship was about status, kinship and military usefulness. In the same century, Norway and Scotland were still contesting the Hebrides, so royal-origin genealogy was political capital, linking the MacKinnons to the wider Siol Alpin cluster of MacGregors, Grants, MacNabs, MacQuarries, MacAulays and MacFies. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-14-alpin-3.png Chief 14 Alpin (from 1246) Chief 14 Alpin (from 1246) — Traditional — The name Alpin keeps the Siol Alpin claim visible at a moment when western lordship was about status, kinship and military usefulness. In the same century, Norway and Scotland were still contesting the Hebrides, so royal-origin genealogy was political capital, linking the MacKinnons to the wider Siol Alpin cluster of MacGregors, Grants, MacNabs, MacQuarries, MacAulays and MacFies. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-15-lachlan.png Chief 15 Lachlan (from 1276) Chief 15 Lachlan (from 1276) — Traditional — Comes straight after Largs and the Treaty of Perth, when the Hebrides and Man moved out of Norwegian control and into the Scottish crown's sphere. This is the hinge from Norse seaboard to Gaelic island lordship. From here the MacKinnon world increasingly belongs to the Lordship of the Isles, with Mull, Iona, Arran and Skye becoming the important map. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-16-donald.png Chief 16 Donald (from 1306) Chief 16 Donald (from 1306) — Traditional / Bruce-era chief — Critical Bruce-era chief. MacKinnon tradition places the clan with Robert Bruce during his fugitive phase: Bruce withdrew to Arran, where the MacKinnons held land, received protection there, and then the clan fought under him at Bannockburn. After the victory, Bruce rewarded the chief with a new charter of lands in Skye. This is the moment where the Skye chiefship becomes politically loaded: not just residence, but reward for service in the Wars of Scottish Independence. The same tradition places MacKinnon holdings across Mull, Arran, Skye, Tiree, Perth and Ross, with the Gillies fosterage story explaining the Strath connection through Pabbay and inheritance. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-17-eobhan-ewen.png Chief 17 Eobhan / Ewen (from 1342) Chief 17 Eobhan / Ewen (from 1342) — More historical / Lordship of the Isles — Now the line is inside the MacDonald Lordship of the Isles. The first clearly historical MacKinnon footprint belongs to this world: an indenture of 1354 involving John of Islay and the Lord of Lorn names Clan Finnon in connection with Mull and Cairn na Burgh. The clan is no longer just a legendary royal line here; it is a landholding vassal kindred operating between Mull, Skye, Iona and MacDonald lordship politics. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-18-lachlan-sagartach.png Chief 18 Lachlan, called Sa’gartach or Fogarach (from 1350) Chief 18 Lachlan, called Sa’gartach or Fogarach (from 1350) — Lordship conflict / Iona power — His period runs into the violent succession politics after John of Islay's death. John Mór challenged his elder brother Domhnall for the Lordship of the Isles, and the MacDonald account puts the Green Abbot, Finnon, at the centre of the plot. The rebellion failed: the MacKinnon chief was hanged, while the Green Abbot was spared as a churchman and confined on Iona. The cave and fugitive material around this chief should sit beside that harder context: MacKinnon power was tied to Iona, MacDonald succession politics and real factional violence, not just folklore. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-19-lachlan-na-thiomlaidh.png Chief 19 Lachlan na Thiomlaidh (from 1409) Chief 19 Lachlan na Thiomlaidh (from 1409) — More documentable / Lordship of the Isles — Known as “The Barterer” and styled “vir nobilis.” His name sits at the first hard charter horizon of the clan: Lachlan Makfingane witnessed Donald of Islay’s charter to Hector MacLean of Duart on 1 November 1409. The byname preserves the territorial bargain remembered in clan tradition, where MacKinnon lands in Mull were exchanged for Scalpay, tightening the clan’s later focus around Skye, Mishnish, Strathaird and the MacLean-MacDonald power corridor. This is the clan inside the machinery of the Lordship of the Isles: charters, vassalage, island lordship and strategic land exchange. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-20-nial-buidh.png Chief 20 Nial Buidh / Neil Buidhe (from 1439) Chief 20 Nial Buidh / Neil Buidhe (from 1439) — Lordship of the Isles / Ross expansion period — Placed in the strongest generation of Alexander of Islay, Lord of the Isles, who by 1439 was recognised as Earl of Ross and appointed Justiciar of Scotia. That matters for the MacKinnons because the Lordship was no longer only an island sea-lordship based on galleys and kinship; it now stretched into Ross, Dingwall, Inverness and mainland legal power. Nial Buidh’s period belongs to a Lordship operating as a near-princely state across the Hebrides, Skye, Mull, Ross and the north-west mainland. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-21-lachlan-bhan.png Chief 21 Lachlan Bhan / Lachlan Bàn (from 1469) Chief 21 Lachlan Bhan / Lachlan Bàn (from 1469) — Late Lordship / Iona and Mishnish line — Falls in the last tense decades of the MacDonald Lordship of the Isles. A Lachlann M'Fynwyn de Myschenys witnessed a charter of the Lord of the Isles in 1467, placing the MacKinnon chiefly house directly in the written lordship network of Mishnish, Mull and Skye. His family’s Iona power is visible in MacKinnon’s Cross, carved in 1489 for Lachlan MacKinnon and his son John, Abbot of Iona. This chiefship sits between the partial forfeiture of John of Islay in 1476 and the final collapse of the Lordship in 1493, when James IV ended the old MacDonald island sovereignty. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-22-nial-bhan.png Chief 22 Nial Bhan / Neil Bàn (from 1513 / 1517) Chief 22 Nial Bhan / Neil Bàn (from 1513 / 1517) — Post-Lordship rebellion / Mishnish line — Chief in the broken post-1493 world after the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles, when island chiefs were no longer operating under a MacDonald prince but under direct Crown pressure, Campbell influence and repeated attempts to revive the old Isles power. In 1515, Neil MacKinnon of Mishnish is named as head of the clan. In 1517, he and MacLean of Duart petitioned the Regent and Council for remission for themselves and their partakers after taking arms in the rebellion of Sir Donald MacDonald of Lochalsh. This puts the clan directly inside the failed attempt to reactivate the old Lordship of the Isles political order after Flodden. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-23-ewen-ruadh-nan-cath.png Chief 23 Ewen Ruadh nan Cath (from 1545) Chief 23 Ewen Ruadh nan Cath (from 1545) — Warrior chief / Isles council / Crown rebellion — One of the hardest military figures in the line. His byname means Ewen the Red of the Battles, and the record fits it: he fought the MacLeans with MacDonald support in defence of MacKinnon lands in Mull, was charged with rebellion in 1531 and 1545, and received a remission in 1541 for being with the MacDonalds of Sleat and others at the attack on Eilean Donan Castle. On 2 August 1542 he received a royal charter of the twenty-merk lands of Mishnish in Mull and the twenty-merk lands of Strathaird in Skye, with male-tail succession language. In 1545 he was one of the Barons and Council of the Isles who went to Knockfergus in Ireland with four thousand men and one hundred and eighty galleys to treat with Henry VIII under the Lennox-English project against the Scottish regency. In 1546 he received a nineteen-year respite as one of Hector MacLean of Duart’s special friends for treasonable assistance to Lennox and the English. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-24-lachlan-dubh-fynnoun.png Chief 24 Lachlan Dubh / Fynnoun (from 1557) Chief 24 Lachlan Dubh / Fynnoun (from 1557) — MacLean alliance / MacDonald conflict period — Chief in the generation after the suppression of Iona’s monastery in 1561 and the collapse of the old ecclesiastical world that had anchored MacKinnon power on the island. His line turned toward the MacLeans against the MacDonalds, a major political shift after Ewen Ruadh’s MacDonald-backed fighting against the MacLeans. In 1562, Donald McKynnyne, Neill Achwayne McKynnyne and John Dhu Mackynnye appear in a remission with the MacDonalds of Sleat and their friends for devastation in Mull, Tiree and Coll, showing that the clan network was still tangled across both sides of the feud. Around the same period, the conflict of Culivi or Coolin between the MacLeods and MacDonalds took place, and John Og, second son of Lachlan Dubh, was recorded among the slain. This chiefship is not quiet succession: it is the clan repositioning itself in the violent sixteenth-century Isles, between Skye, Mull, Sleat, Duart, Coll and Tiree. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-25-lachlan-og.png Chief 25 Lachlan Og (from 1590) Chief 25 Lachlan Og (from 1590) — Gaelic line — Little detail survives in the working list, his chiefship spanning the closing years of the sixteenth century into the union of the crowns. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-26-sir-lachlan.png Chief 26 Sir Lachlan (from 1601, died 1634) Chief 26 Sir Lachlan (from 1601, died 1634) — Gaelic line — Held a 1606 charter with Finlay MacNab of Bowaine. The charter, between two Siol Alpin chiefs, formally rehearsed the kinship between the MacKinnons and the MacNabs and confirmed the alliance of the two houses. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-27-ian-balbhan.png Chief 27 Ian Balbhan, “The Dummy” (from 1628) Chief 27 Ian Balbhan, “The Dummy” (from 1628) — Gaelic line — Died under suspicious circumstances. Buried at Castle Dunara. His byname Balbhan (“The Dummy”) referred to his being mute, and clan tradition holds that he was murdered by a rival within the kin to clear the succession for his more capable younger brother. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-28-sir-lachlan-mor.png Chief 28 Sir Lachlan Mòr Mackinnon (from 1641, died 1700) Chief 28 Sir Lachlan Mòr Mackinnon (from 1641, died 1700) — Major Stuart-war and Antigua split point — The heavy seventeenth-century war entry. Under this chiefly period the MacKinnons are placed on the Stuart royalist side in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, fighting with Montrose at Inverlochy in 1645 and Auldearn in 1645, where clan tradition preserves the battlefield story of Ranald MacKinnon of Mull defending Montrose's standard party. Lachlan Mòr then appears personally in the royalist recovery attempt of Charles II: in 1650 he received letters of service to raise a MacKinnon regiment, led them south, fought at Worcester on 3 September 1651, and was made Knight Banneret after saving Charles II's life. In 1671 he entered the bond with the MacGregors, explicitly framing MacKinnon and MacGregor as old Siol Alpin kin obliged to support each other with their men and servants. This is also the critical family split point: the Gaelic direct line continues through John Og and then John Dubh, while the Antigua branch is attached by later family tradition to Donald or Daniel, Lachlan Mòr's younger son, whose break with his father becomes the route by which the colonial Mackinnon line eventually re-enters the chiefship in 1808. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-29-john-dubh-jacobite.png Chief 29 John Dubh / Iain Dubh / Ian Dubh Mackinnon (born 1682, from 1700, died 1756) Chief 29 John Dubh / Iain Dubh / Ian Dubh Mackinnon (born 1682, from 1700, died 1756) — Gaelic direct / Jacobite line — Grandson of Lachlan Mòr through John Og, and the great Jacobite chief of the direct Gaelic line. In 1715 he was summoned by the Hanoverian authorities to Edinburgh to give bail for allegiance to George I, but instead raised around 150 MacKinnons, joined the Earl of Seaforth, and fought beside the MacDonalds of Sleat at Sheriffmuir. He was attainted for the rising and later pardoned on 4 January 1727. In 1745 he rose again for Prince Charles Edward Stuart, first with around 100 men and then with a force reported as 250 or even 300, a huge number for a small clan. The MacKinnons are singled out as one of the rare Highland contingents whose numbers increased on the march from Carlisle to Derby, and Iain Dubh is listed among the principal officers gathered at Tain before the operations ending at Culloden. After Culloden, the MacKinnons helped move Charles Edward Stuart through Skye and toward the mainland; Iain Dubh personally guided him from Strath toward Loch Nevis, escaped a militia pursuit by boat, and was captured the next day. He spent about a year in Tilbury Fort and the Tower of London, faced trial, and was released because of his advanced age. He died at Kilmorie on Skye on 7 May 1756, leaving two sons and a daughter. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-30-charles.png Chief 30 Charles Mackinnon (born 1753, from 1755 / 1756, died 1796) Chief 30 Charles Mackinnon (born 1753, from 1755 / 1756, died 1796) — Gaelic direct line in financial collapse — Son of John Dubh Mackinnon and Janet Macleod of Raasay, inheriting as a child after the Jacobite disaster had already broken the material base of the chiefship. His minority is important: the estate was not simply passed into a stable post-war world, but into trusteeship, debt pressure, forfeiture pressure, and the aftermath of state punishment after the '45. The remaining Skye property was bought in 1765 by the trustees of Sir James MacDonald, while later accounts describe Charles as inheriting Strathaird and Mishnish but living under serious financial difficulty and selling off both. He was intellectually active in the 1780s, writing on national wealth, force, Ossian, music, fortification, and metaphysics, and Boswell met him on Raasay in 1773 as a physically delicate but highly learned young man. His life closes the direct Gaelic line's territorial collapse: he died at Dalkeith in early 1796, divorced, destitute, and by his own hand. His son John inherited after him, but died unmarried in 1808, which is when the chiefship moved sideways into the Antigua-descended line. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-31-john.png Chief 31 John Mackinnon (from 1796, died 1808) Chief 31 John Mackinnon (from 1796, died 1808) — End of direct senior Gaelic line — Son of Charles Mackinnon and last chief of the direct senior Gaelic line descending from Sir Lachlan Mòr through John Og and Iain Dubh. By the time he inherited in 1796, the old territorial base had already collapsed: Strathaird, Mishnish and the remaining island estate had been lost or sold under the debts and pressures left by the Jacobite period. He died unmarried and without children in 1808, ending the senior male line of the Gaelic chiefs. His death is the hinge that transfers the chiefship away from the war-broken Skye line and sideways into the Antigua-descended branch of Donald/Daniel Mackinnon, turning a colonial plantation lineage into the recognised chiefly line. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/omni-150daf1b-1867-4875-b917-da9d74b9f538.png Chief 31 John Mackinnon (from 1796, died 1808) Chief 31 John Mackinnon (from 1796, died 1808) — End of direct senior Gaelic line / hinge into Antigua branch — Last chief of the direct senior Gaelic line descending from Sir Lachlan Mòr through John Og, Iain Dubh and Charles. By his lifetime the old territorial base had already collapsed under the pressures left by forfeiture, debt, post-Jacobite punishment and estate sale. He died unmarried and without children in 1808. His death is the hinge: the chiefship leaves the war-broken Skye line and moves sideways into the Antigua-descended branch of Donald/Daniel Mackinnon. This is not a minor genealogical transfer; it changes the moral centre of the later chiefly line, because the next chiefs come through a colonial plantation lineage rather than through the direct Gaelic Jacobite line. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-32-william-antigua.png Chief 32 William Mackinnon (born 1732, from 1808, died 1809) Chief 32 William Mackinnon (born 1732, from 1808, died 1809) — Antigua branch enters chiefship — The first chief from the Antigua-descended branch. He was the grandson or lineal descendant of the colonial Mackinnons who had built their position through estates and enslaved labour in Antigua. He reportedly never knew he had become chief, holding the title for barely a year after the direct Gaelic line failed in 1808. His importance is structural: he is the transfer point by which the colonial plantation branch becomes the recognised chiefly line. The clan title now passes through a family whose wealth and status were tied not to Skye military service alone, but to Caribbean sugar, land ownership and slavery. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-33-william-alexander-antigua.png Chief 33 William Alexander Mackinnon (born 1782 / 1784, from 1809, died 1870) Chief 33 William Alexander Mackinnon (born 1782 / 1784, from 1809, died 1870) — Antigua / imperial branch / slavery compensation — The central colonial chief. Born to William Mackinnon and Harriet Frye, both connected to Antigua, he inherited a line in which Daniel Mackinnon, William Mackinnon, another William Mackinnon and his own father had all owned estates and enslaved people in Antigua. In 1834 he and Catherine Mackinnon received compensation connected to Mackinnon Estate, and the UCL claim for Antigua 35 records 276 enslaved people and an award of £3,942 2s 1d. The record also notes heavy correspondence from W. A. Mackinnon MP defending his right to one-third rights and profits of the estate under his father’s 1783 marriage settlement. This makes him not just a passive descendant, but an active defender and beneficiary of plantation property rights at abolition. Under him the chiefship is fully merged with British parliamentary, imperial and compensation-era wealth. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-34-william-alexander.png Chief 34 William Alexander Mackinnon (born 1812 / 1813, from 1870, died 1903) Chief 34 William Alexander Mackinnon (born 1812 / 1813, from 1870, died 1903) — Post-emancipation chiefly line / inherited colonial wealth — Son of the compensation-era chief. He belongs to the generation after legal emancipation, so his role is not slave ownership in the old legal sense, but inheritance: family position, property, political access and chiefly status had already been shaped by Antigua wealth. This is where the colonial past begins to turn into background respectability. The plantation connection is no longer the headline in the chiefly story, but the social and economic residue remains inside the line. His period should be marked as post-emancipation inheritance, not innocence or disconnection. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-35-francis-alexander.png Chief 35 Francis Alexander Mackinnon (born 1848, from 1903, died 1947) Chief 35 Francis Alexander Mackinnon (born 1848, from 1903, died 1947) — Later chiefly line / inherited post-slavery status — Born after abolition, so he was not a slave-owner himself. His significance is continuity: the line now presents as British gentry, sport, military society and clan respectability, while the Antigua origin of the restored chiefship recedes into the background. He inherited a title and status that had passed through the plantation branch, but the public memory around the chiefship increasingly detaches itself from Mackinnon Estate, compensation and the enslaved people who made that wealth possible. This is the start of the long silence problem in the modern chiefly narrative. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-36-arthur-avalon.png Chief 36 Arthur Avalon Mackinnon (from 1947, died 1964) Chief 36 Arthur Avalon Mackinnon (from 1947, died 1964) — Modern line / inherited silence — Commander in the Royal Navy and post-war chief. By this point the colonial transfer of the chiefship is several generations old, and the public story has largely become one of clan continuity, military service and modern association life. The Antigua estate, the enslaved workers, Juncho’s testimony and the compensation records do not appear as central elements in the standard chiefly memory. This does not make him personally responsible for eighteenth-century slavery, but it places him inside a line that carried the benefits and status forward while the plantation history remained marginal. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-37-alasdair-neil-hood.png Chief 37 Alasdair Neil Hood Mackinnon (born 1926, from 1964, died 1980) Chief 37 Alasdair Neil Hood Mackinnon (born 1926, from 1964, died 1980) — Modern line / late twentieth-century transition — Modern chief whose tenure ran from 1964 to 1980. His period sits after decolonisation had already made imperial history impossible to treat as a neutral backdrop, yet the public clan story still appears to have centred Gaelic heritage, kinship and chiefly continuity rather than the Antigua branch’s slavery-derived wealth. He is part of the inherited memory structure: the line carries the chiefship forward, while the plantation record remains largely outside the main clan narrative. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-38-anne-gunhild-1.png Chief 38 Anne Gunhild Mackinnon of Mackinnon (from 1980) Chief 38 Anne Gunhild Mackinnon of Mackinnon (from 1980) — Modern recognised line / unresolved public reckoning — First woman to be MacKinnon of MacKinnon and modern recognised chief of the name and arms. Her entry is where the whole unresolved colonial memory has to be named clearly. The chiefly line she inherits passed through the Antigua branch after 1808, and that branch was tied to Mackinnon Estate, enslaved labour, compensation money and the testimony of Juncho, a woman enslaved on McKinnon’s Estate who described field labour in cane, forced separation from her sick child, a child tied or held down and whipped by the driver, and expulsion from house and garden after emancipation. The modern Clan MacKinnon Society has an Equity Statement denouncing a MacKinnon forebear’s involvement in the slave trade and racial discrimination, but the public statement is brief and general: it does not name Mackinnon Estate, Juncho, the compensation claim, William Alexander Mackinnon’s rights and profits, or the fact that the colonial branch became the chiefly line. This entry should therefore carry the memory problem directly: recognition exists, but a full historical reckoning remains thin, partial and underdeveloped. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-38-anne-gunhild-2.png Chief 38 Anne Gunhild Mackinnon of Mackinnon (from 1980) Chief 38 Anne Gunhild Mackinnon of Mackinnon (from 1980) — Modern recognised line / unresolved public reckoning — First woman to be MacKinnon of MacKinnon and modern recognised chief of the name and arms. Her entry is where the whole unresolved colonial memory has to be named clearly. The chiefly line she inherits passed through the Antigua branch after 1808, and that branch was tied to Mackinnon Estate, enslaved labour, compensation money and the testimony of Juncho, a woman enslaved on McKinnon’s Estate who described field labour in cane, forced separation from her sick child, a child tied or held down and whipped by the driver, and expulsion from house and garden after emancipation. The modern Clan MacKinnon Society has an Equity Statement denouncing a MacKinnon forebear’s involvement in the slave trade and racial discrimination, but the public statement is brief and general: it does not name Mackinnon Estate, Juncho, the compensation claim, William Alexander Mackinnon’s rights and profits, or the fact that the colonial branch became the chiefly line. This entry should therefore carry the memory problem directly: recognition exists, but a full historical reckoning remains thin, partial and underdeveloped. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-chief-38-anne-gunhild-3.png Chief 38 Anne Gunhild Mackinnon of Mackinnon (from 1980) Chief 38 Anne Gunhild Mackinnon of Mackinnon (from 1980) — Modern recognised line / unresolved public reckoning — First woman to be MacKinnon of MacKinnon and modern recognised chief of the name and arms. Her entry is where the whole unresolved colonial memory has to be named clearly. The chiefly line she inherits passed through the Antigua branch after 1808, and that branch was tied to Mackinnon Estate, enslaved labour, compensation money and the testimony of Juncho, a woman enslaved on McKinnon’s Estate who described field labour in cane, forced separation from her sick child, a child tied or held down and whipped by the driver, and expulsion from house and garden after emancipation. The modern Clan MacKinnon Society has an Equity Statement denouncing a MacKinnon forebear’s involvement in the slave trade and racial discrimination, but the public statement is brief and general: it does not name Mackinnon Estate, Juncho, the compensation claim, William Alexander Mackinnon’s rights and profits, or the fact that the colonial branch became the chiefly line. This entry should therefore carry the memory problem directly: recognition exists, but a full historical reckoning remains thin, partial and underdeveloped. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net/about /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-emma-jane-tasadora-rural.png Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee · Tasadora Rural · Rural Appraiser · Galicia, Spain · Isle of Skye, Scotland Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee — Tasadora Rural · Rural Appraiser — Galicia, Spain · Isle of Skye, Scotland — born 14 September 1988 — Trained in rural valuation in Galicia in the late 2000s, then worked at a small appraisal office in Lugo for several years. Moved to the Isle of Skye after starting research on the MacKinnon line on the island. Now works between the two — Galician smallholdings on one desk, Highland croft cases on the other. Started this calendar a couple of years ago. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-ronald-macdonald-forensic.png Ronald MacDonald · Forensic Analyser · Edinburgh, Scotland Ronald MacDonald — Forensic Analyser — Edinburgh, Scotland — born 22 November 1991 — Started out in document forensics at the National Records of Scotland in the early 2010s. Moved into private practice a few years later, authenticating charters and estate papers for heritage trusts and family historians. Based in Edinburgh since the mid-2010s, with a slow specialism in pre-1700 Highland charters. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net /images/emmajanemackinnonlee-kenneth-macleod-archivist.png Kenneth MacLeod · Archivist · Saint John's, Antigua Kenneth MacLeod — Archivist — Saint John's, Antigua — born 6 March 1971 — Born in Saint John's. Trained at the University of the West Indies, then spent close to ten years at the Antigua and Barbuda Museum working through estate and parish records. Has been freelance since the late 2010s, focusing on the plantation papers and the slavery-compensation trail connected to the British families who held land on the island. — Indexed by Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee, Ronald MacDonald, Kenneth MacLeod for An Clann Mhic Fhionghain Ùr. https://emmajanemackinnonlee.net