Darroch

This name is sometimes said to derive from the Gaelic ‘Macdara’, meaning ‘son of oak’. The Darrochs who settled around Stirling appear to derive their name from the lands of Darroch near Falkirk, where there may once have been an oak grove. The chief’s coat of arms bears three oak trees in deference to this legend. John Darroch was baillie of Stirling in 1406. John Darach de Cruce is mentioned in 1445, and may be the same as John Darraugh who was Commis-sioner to Parliament for the burgh of Stirling in 1450. Mariote Darrauch was nurse of Lady Margaret, second daughter of James II, in 1462. Marion Darroch of Stirling protested in 1471 that she had not given consent to the alienation of an annual rent due to her. Jacobus Darroch was a notary public who appears as a witness to a charter relating to the lands of the Stirlings of Keir around 1477. The Darrochs were, however, most numerous on the islands of Islay and Jura, where they were part of the mighty Clan Donald. The Clann Domhnuill Riabhaich took their name from a corruption of the Gaelic ‘dath riabhach’, meaning ‘brindled colour’. This is said to have been adopted to distinguish them from the many fair-haired in- habitants of Jura, who were known as ‘dath buidhe’, from which the modern name ‘Bowie’ derives. In 1623 the Mic ’ille Riabhaich appear on a bond acknowledging as their overlord and protector Sir Donald Macdonald, first Baronet of Sleat, while he promises due protection to them in return. The patronymic of the chief became settled as ‘McIlliriech’. From McIlliriech of Jura descended the family who became Barons of Gourock, the port on the Clyde. Duncan Darroch, who was born on Jura sometime before the middle of the eighteenth century, left to make his fortune abroad, ultimately settling in Jamaica. He prospered, amassed a considerable estate and determined to return to his native soil. In 1784 he acquired the lands and barony of Gourock from the Stewarts of Castlemilk. He matriculated arms and in the Lyon register was designated as ‘Chief of that ancient name the patronymik of which is McIliriech’. The supporters assigned to him by the Lord Lyon are presumably an allusion to his sojourn in exotic lands. In 1791 he married Janet, daughter of Angus Maclartie, a prosperous Greenock merchant, by whom he had several children. He was succeeded by his son Duncan, who commanded the Glengarry Fencibles, rising to the rank of lieutenant general. In 1799 he received public acknowledgment of his work by Marquess Cornwallis, who congratulated him on bringing the regiment into a fine state of discipline and efficiency. The general married Elizabeth, granddaughter of Sir James Cotter of Rockforest, Baronet. His eldest son, another Duncan, succeeded as third Baron of Gourock and followed a military career. As Major Darroch of Gourock he married Susan Parker, the daughter of the Laird of Fairlie in Ayrshire, who amassed a fortune from the West Indies trade. From this point it became traditional for the heir to the chiefship to be named Duncan, and this has continued to the present day.

The fourth Baron acquired the estate of Torridon in Ross-shire in 1873. Educated in England, he became a lawyer and was called to the Bar. He was, however, still Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire until his death 
in 1910. Miss Margaret Darroch of Gourock married in July 1927 the chief of Clan Mackintosh, Rear-Admiral Lachlan Mackintosh of Mackintosh, the father of the present chief. She actively assisted the Mackintosh in clan matters and eventually published a definitive history of her new family which is still highly regarded by modern historians.

Duncan Darroch, sixth Baron of Gourock, the father of the present chief, was a distinguished soldier who served in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in both world wars, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was a member of the Royal Company of Archers (the monarch’s bodyguard in Scotland) and Commandant of the Cadet Corps for Stirlingshire. 
Not all the Darrochs went to the mainland, however: in 1658, Dugald Darroch presented fifty psalms translated into Gaelic to the Church authorities, who declared them unacceptable in their construction. He then collaborated with other Gaelic scholars in Campbeltown, and ultimately a corrected version, known as the Caogaed (‘Fifty’), was published in Glasgow in 1659. Dugald con-tinued to minister to his congregation in Campbeltown, conducting services both in Gaelic and English. William Darroch, the minister of Kilchrenan and Dalavich, was a son of the manse, born around 1675. He was ultimately deposed from the ministry, allegedly for neglect of proper family worship.