MACARTHUR members around the world

MACARTHUR Family History

Recorded in a number of spellings, this very famous surname is of early Scottish origins. First recorded in the time of King Robert, The Bruce, in about 1310, the clan were it is claimed, at their peak during this medieval period. They held large estates in Lorne, Argyllshire, had the hereditary keepership of the castle of Dunstaffnage from the crown of Scotland, held their seat at the castle of Strachur, and were also the hereditary pipers to the great MacDonald clan, the Lords of the Isles. Sadly the MacArthur influence seems to have waned with the later Scottish monarchs, and after only a hundred years the clan began to lose both its powers of influence in the great affairs of state, and the lands granted by the crown when the then chief John MacArthur fell foul of King James 1st, and paid with his life on the scaffold...