The Siol Murdoch were an ancient Scottish family and a sept of the Clan Donald or MacDonald, a

Scottish clan A Scottish clan (from Gaelic , literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred') is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared identity and descent to members, and in modern times have an official structure recognis ...

of the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland ...

. Siol Murdoch in

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...

means ''seed of Murdoch'' with the full Gaelic being Siol Mhurchaidh and may also be known by the Anglicised Gaelic surname of MacMurchie. They inhabited North Uist.

History

The Siol Murdoch are noted for their feud during the 14th and 15th centuries with the Siol Gorrie (surname MacGorrie) who were another sept of the Clan Donald. The Siol Gorrie were apparently the legitimate possessors of North Uist but this was disputed by the Siol Murdoch and a struggle began between the two factions. The Siol Murdoch inhabited the valley of Hosta and the Siol Gorrie apparently dug away the soil embankment of a nearby loch, which in turn formed a new loch, the present Loch Hosta, and in the resulting deluge many people of Siol Murdoch were killed. The survivors however attacked the Siol Gorrie near the township of Udal and there was only one survivor who found refuge in Lochboisdale. According to tradition there are those in Uist who pride themselves as being descended from the ''legitimate and honourable'' Siol Gorrie and not from the ''deceitful and illegitimate'' Siol Murdoch. A short Gaelic verse about the Siol Murdoch is as follows: This translates in English as: Angus MacDonald who was a member of the Siol Murdoch family (Sio Mhurchaidh in Gaelic) from North Uist was named as the last piper of the Great Highland bagpipes who could play the ''Lament for the Laird of Valley'' all the way through. This Angus MacDonald was a veteran of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

References

{{reflist Murdoch Murdoch North Uist 14th century in Scotland 15th century in Scotland Gaels