The Clan Henderson (''Clann Eanruig''), also known as House of Henderson, is a

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

.Way, George and Squire, Romily. (1994). ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The

Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs (SCSC) is an organisation that represents many prominent Scottish clan chief, clan chiefs and Scottish clan chief#Chief of the Name and Arms, Chiefs of the Name and Arms in Scotland. It claims to be the pr ...

). pp. 166 - 167. The clan's historical seat is at

Fordell Castle Fordell Castle is a restored 16th-century tower house, located north-west of Dalgety Bay and east of Dunfermline, in Fife, Scotland. Parts of the castle date from before 1566, though most dates from 1580 or later. The chapel was rebuilt in ...

Dalgety Bay Dalgety Bay () is a coastal town and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, 9 miles from Edinburgh city centre. It is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is connected to Inverkeithing to the West. The civil pa ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. The current clan chief is Alistair Henderson of Fordell.

History

Origins

There are multiple origins for the Scottish

patrynomic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, b ...

surname of Henderson, meaning "son of Henry" or "son of Hendry", with three being the most well-known. The Hendersons, who lived in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

, were often found in the variant of Henryson. Although these Hendersons were not a significant power in the Borders they were still classed as a riding clan. Henryson was a common name in the 14th century and beyond. Notable documented individuals include: 1373-1377, William Henryeson was chamberlain of

Lochmaben Castle Lochmaben Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Lochmaben, the feudal Lordship of Annandale, Dumfries and Galloway, Annandale, and the united county of Dumfries and Galloway. It was built by Edward I in the 14th century replacing an earlier mo ...

; John Henryson was burgess of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

c. 1387-1395. There were also Hendersons who were

sept A sept () is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used both in Scotland and in Ireland, where it may be translated as Irish , meaning "progeny" or "seed", and may indicate the descendants of a person ...

s of the

Clan MacDonald of Glencoe The MacDonalds of Glencoe, also known as Clann Iain Abrach (Scottish Gaelic: ''Clann Iain Abrach''), is a Highland Scottish clan and a branch of the larger Clan Donald. Named after Glen Coe, the MacDonalds (or MacIains as they were more speci ...

and septs of the

Clan Gunn Clan Gunn () is a Scottish Highlands, Highland Scottish clan associated with lands in northeastern Scotland, including Caithness, Sutherland and, arguably, the Orkney Isles. Clan Gunn is one of the oldest Scottish Clans, being descended from t ...

in the far north of the country. There is no known connection between the Hendersons of Clan Gunn and Clan MacDonald or the Hendersons of the Scottish Borders.

16th century

The clan spread from

Dumfrieshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. In terms of historic counties it bor ...

Liddesdale Liddesdale is a district in the Roxburghshire, County of Roxburgh, southern Scotland. It includes the area of the valley of the Liddel Water that extends in a south-westerly direction from the vicinity of Peel Fell to the River Esk, Dumfries and ...

, however they do not appear in the list of border clans that were named by Parliament in 1594, when it was attempting to suppress the

Border Reivers Border Reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality.Hay, D. "E ...

. From the Dumfrieshire family of Hendersons descended James Henderson or Henryson, who became

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...

in about 1494.Laing, David (1865) '' The Poems and Fables of Robert Henryson'' at xlvi-xlvii, xxxvii-xl (Appendix No. 1: List of Persons of the Name of Henryson, from the Middle of the Fourteenth to the End of the Fifteenth Century). He was later appointed to the Bench. From 1510-1512, he acquired lands in Fordell,

, including the original tower of

. Fordell became the designation of the Lowland Henderson chiefs and it is from them that the present chiefs are descended. He was killed at the

Battle of Flodden The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton or Brainston Moor was fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland and resulted in an English victory ...

in 1513.

17th century and civil war

One of the most prominent of the Clan Henderson was Alexander Henderson of Fordell who was born in about 1583. He was educated at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

where he became a Master of Arts and a Professor of Philosophy before 1611. He later became the minister of the parish of

Leuchars Leuchars (pronounced or ; "rushes") is a town and parish near the north-east coast of Fife in Scotland. The civil parish has a population of 5,754 (in 2011) Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by Nati ...

and was violently opposed to

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

's attempts to reform the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

. He was especially opposed to the new prayer book and travelled to

where he presented a petition to the Privy Council, stating that the book had not received the sanction of the

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray, ...

or the Parliament. Henderson and Johnston of Warriston together drafted the

National Covenant The National Covenant () was an agreement signed by many people of Scotland during 1638, opposing the proposed Laudian reforms of the Church of Scotland (also known as '' the Kirk'') by King Charles I. The king's efforts to impose changes on th ...

which was first sworn and subscribed in

Greyfriars Kirk Greyfriars Kirk () is a parish church of the Church of Scotland, located in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is surrounded by Greyfriars Kirkyard. Greyfriars traces its origin to the south-west parish of Edinburgh, f ...

in Edinburgh. Henderson was unanimously elected moderator of the General Assembly in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 1638 and was therefore at the forefront of church politics during the troubled reign of Charles I. Henderson was also responsible for drafting the

Solemn League and Covenant The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians in 1643 during the First English Civil War, a theatre of conflict in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. On 17 August ...

in 1643. When the king sundered himself to the Scottish army it was to Henderson that he sent to discuss with his disaffected subjects. Henderson met with the king but failed in his attempts to make him accede to the Church's demands. Henderson died due to ill health in August 1646 and was buried in Greyfriars church yard, the scene of his greatest triumph and where there is a monument to him. Meanwhile,

John Henderson, 5th of Fordell Sir John Henderson, 5th of Fordell (3 November 1605, Fife, Scotland – 11 March 1650, Denmark) was a Scottish laird and mercenary, distinguished as a Cavalier in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. He was born in 1605 at Fordell Castle, Fife. A dis ...

fought as a staunch royalist for the king during the Scottish Civil War.

Hendersons of Glencoe

The Hendersons of

Glen Coe Glen Coe ( ) is a glen of glacial origins, that cuts though volcanic rocks in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the north of the shires of Scotland, county of Argyll, close to the border with the history of local governm ...

, in the Highlands, take the English version of their name from the Gaelic ''MacEanruig'', claiming descent from a

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

prince, Eanruig Mor Mac Righ Neachtain, or ''big Henry son of King Neachtain''. Neachtain (

Nechtan mac Der-Ilei Naiton son of Der-Ilei (; died 732), also called Naiton son of Dargart (), was king of the Picts between 706–724 and between 728–729. He succeeded his brother Bridei IV in 706. He is associated with significant religious reforms in Pictlan ...

) is said to have reigned between 700 and 724. It is not known when the Hendersons came to Glen Coe but it is said Dougall MacHenry, the last of their chiefs in the direct line, fathered an heiress, who according to tradition had a son by her lover

Aonghus Óg of Islay Aonghus Óg Mac Domhnaill (died 1314 × 1318/ 1330), or Angus Og MacDonald, was a fourteenth-century Scottish magnate and chief of Clann Domhnaill. He was a younger son of Aonghus Mór mac Domhnaill, Lord of Islay. After the latter's apparent ...

, and that their son was Ian (John) Fraoch. Ian Fraoch's son was Iain Abrach whose patronymic was MacIain and that became the designation of the chiefs of the MacDonalds of Glencoe. The Hendersons were the hereditary pipers and armor-bearers of the chiefs of the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe. The

Henderson Stone The Henderson Stone (''Clach Eanruig'' in Scottish Gaelic) is a granite boulder in a field in the Glencoe (Carnoch) area of Scotland. ''Clach Eanruig'' is translated alternatively as Henderson Stone or Henry's Stone.

—''Clach Eanruig'' in Gaelic—is a granite boulder in a field a little south of Carnach in the Glencoe area. Historic tradition in the area includes two separate stories involving the Henderson Stone and a warning from a Campbell soldier of the impending massacre of 1692. One version of the story involves a soldier speaking a warning to the stone, in the presence of a local resident: "Great stone in the Glen, though you have every right to be there, if you knew what was to happen tonight you would not stay there on any account." The other version involves a Campbell piper playing a song at the stone, meant as a warning to the residents. Tradition has it that the local who heard the cryptic message escaped, but was unable to warn many others. In 1692 when the

Massacre of Glencoe The Massacre of Glencoe took place in Glen Coe in the Argyll region of the Scottish Highlands on 13 February 1692. An estimated 30 members and associates of Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by Scottish government forces, allegedly for fa ...

took place, it is said that the chief's personal attendant and piper, Big Henderson of the Chanters, was among those killed.

Hendersons of Caithness

Another group of Hendersons originated in

Caithness Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Scotland. There are two towns, being Wick, Caithness, Wick, which was the county town, and Thurso. The count ...

in the far north of the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

. In the late 15th century, a family difference led Henry Gunn, youngest son of the

chief, to branch off, forming the Henderson family line in Caithness.

Chief

The

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

of Clan Henderson is Alistair Henderson of Fordell. The Chief is recognised by Lord Lyon, King of Arms, and is a member of the

Clan Castles

which is about one mile north of

Inverkeithing Inverkeithing ( ; ) is a coastal town, parish and historic Royal burgh in Fife, Scotland. The town lies on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, northwest of Edinburgh city centre and south of Dunfermline. A town of ancient origin, Inverke ...

was held by the Hendersons for over 300 years. It is not known when the original castle structure was constructed, but the main entrance tower is believed to date from the 1400s. James Henderson, 3rd of Fordell, started to extend the castle in 1566. The castle burned in 1568. During the Civil War of the seventeenth century the castle was sacked by the forces of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

after the

Battle of Inverkeithing The Battle of Inverkeithing was fought on 20 July 1651 between an English army under John Lambert and a Scottish army led by James Holborne as part of an English invasion of Scotland. The battle was fought near the isthmus of the Ferry ...

in 1651, after which troops were garrisoned at the castle and mill. The castle later passed by marriage to the Duncans of Camperdown. *Otterston Tower is close to Fordell, about two miles west of Aberdour. It is an L-plan tower house although a mansion was later added and remodelled. It was held by the Hendersons in the early sixteenth century and it was they who built the tower, however it had passed to the Mowbrays of Barnbougle by 1589. *Broomhill House to the south of Edinburgh was held by the Hendersons between 1508 and 1648. However a castle followed by a mansion have since been demolished. The lands later passed to the Bairds of Newbyth and then to the Trotters of Mortonhall.

Septs

Septs A sept () is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used both in Scotland and in Ireland, where it may be translated as Irish , meaning "progeny" or "seed", and may indicate the descendants of a person ...

and surname variations of the Clan Henderson include: Gaelic variations: *MacEanrig / Eanrig *MacEnrig / Enrig *MacIanruig / Ianruig *MacIanrig / Ianrig *MacInrig / Inrig *MacCanruig / Canruig *MacCanrig / Canrig Latin variations: *(filius) Henrici *Henrisoun / Henrisone Anglicised variations: *(Mac) Anrig / Andrig / *(Mac) Enrig / Endrig / Endrigson *(Mac) Henrig / Hendrig / Hendrigson *(Mac) Kenrig / Kendrig / Kendrigson *(Mac) Kanrig / Kandrig / Kandrigson *(Mac) Canrig / Candrig / Candrigson *(Mac) Anri(c)k / Andri(c)k / An(d)ri(c)kson *(Mac) Enri(c)k / Endri(c)k / En(d)ri(c)kson *(Mac) Henri(c)k / Hendri(c)k / Hen(d)ri(c)kson *(Mac) Kenri(c)k / Kendri(c)k / Ken(d)ri(c)kson *(Mac) Kanri(c)k / Kandri(c)k / Kan(d)ri(c)kson *(Mac) Canri(c)k / Candri(c)k / Can(d)ri(c)kson *(Mac) Anry / Andry / An(d)ryson *(Mac) Henry / Hendry / Hen(d)ryson / Hen(d)rysoun *(Mac) Kenry / Kendry / Ken(d)ryson *(Mac) Anrie / Andrie / *(Mac) Henrie / Hendrie / / *(Mac) Kenrie / Kendrie / *(Mac) Anree / Andree / *(Mac) Henree / Hendree / *(Mac) Kenree / Kendree / *End(h)erson *Henderson *Hendron *Hendren *Henders *Hendry *Henerson The surname spelling variations arose from regional pronunciation differences, and sometimes perversely creative spelling.See Chalmers, George, (1824) "Preface" t
''Robene and Makyne, and the Testament of Cresseid, by Robert Henryson''
p. xi n.12 ("In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the name was variously written, Henrison, Henrisoun, Henryson, Hendrison, and Henderson, which last became the established form"). Some individuals used multiple surname spellings, and sometimes different surname forms. For example, a traveling Henderson might use the surname MacEanruig in the

, Henderson in the

Lowlands Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of a ...

, McHenry in

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

, and Henry in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Notes and references

External links

The Hendersons, Clan Henderson, or clann Eanruig

Clan Henderson at the Standing Council of Scottish ChiefsThe Clan Henderson Society
{{Scottish clans