Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 6, 1898

156
THE CELTIC MONTHLY.
MAJOR ALEXANDER W. D. MACLEAN.
^jagpAJOR ALEXANDER W. D.
^jlffi) MACLEAN was born at Bristol
■3l'^k in 1858, educated at Clifton College,
passing through Sandhurst, he in 1878 obtained
a commission in the 94th Regiment, now the
Connaught Rangers, though originally one of
the " Highland Brigade." He was through
the Zulu War of 1879, and was present
in the operations against Sekukuni, including
the storming of the stronghold, and obtained
the medal and clasp. He has pas.sed much of
his service in Ireland, and was Adjutant to the
3rd Battalion of his Regiment at Castlebar, Co.
Mayo. On leaving that place he was presented
with a magnificently illuminated address, signed
by many of the leading county landowners and
townsmen, of all opinions and denominations,
and amid an almost unparalleled scene of Irish
enthusiasm was bidden " God speed." He was
also for some time in Malta, and is now in
India, being Commandant at Kailana, N. W.
Provinces Major Maclean is the representative
of the Macleans of CrossapoU, Coll, his father
having been Colonel Alexander Maclean, 94th
Regiment, who was only son of Alexander
Maclean, Surgeon, 64th Regiment, and who was
present at the battle of Waterloo, who was
eldest son of the Rev. Donald Maclean, minister
of Small Isles, and acting chaplain to the
" Reay Fencibles " during the Irish Rebellion
of 1798, who was eldest son of Neil Maclean of
CrossapoU, who was son of Hector, son of
Hugh, 3rd son of John Garbh, 7th Laird of
Coll. This Hugh was killed at the battle of
Inverkeithing, and of whom the Marquis of
Montrose wrote in 1646 to the Laird of Coll,
his letter being still preserved, and was one of
those heroic clansmen, who, though having both
legs shattered, endeavoured to shield the body
of Sir Hector, Chief of the Clan, and gave to
his descendants the famous war ciy " Fear eil'
airsoii Eachainii " (Another for Hector). From
this descent it will be seen that Major Maclean
must now be the representative of the "Macleans
of Coll," there being no nearer male repre.senla-
tive living to Alexander, last Chief of Coll in
the direct line. Major Maclean married in 1889
Rose, daughter of Admiral William Fenwick, of
an ancient Northumbrian family. His second
brother. Hector A. C. Maclean, who last summer
visited the Island of Coll, lives in London
with his mother, and may be known to some as
the London Secretary of his Clan Association,
and for the great interest he takes in all clan
matter.s ; he has recently been engaged in the
translation of the old Charters of the Coll family
dating from early in 1400, and there are few
Highland families can boast of such perfect
ones. The youngest brother, H. D. Neil
Maclean, whose portrait is given with Major
Maclean, is a Lieutenant in the King's Own
Scottish Borderers, and has recently been with
his regiment through the Indian Frontier War
where he has seen much service.
lAIN-A'-BHREACAIN.
A Hero of Clan Ciiattan.
fAIN-A'-BHREACAIN (John of the plaid)
was born in the upper part of that bleak
— brown region of crag and heather watered
by the Findhorn, to which Clan Chattan for
long ages have clung with a grip that Morays or
Gordons could not loosen, or the axes of the
Lochaber men sever. His father, in the rising
of '45, marched with his Chief into England,
and fell, with many of his clansmen, at Preston.
His mother shortly after perished in a snow-
storm while crossing the hills between Badenoch
and Strathdearn. She carried Iain, quite a
child, with her at the time, and her last act
before the numbness of death seized her was to
strip herself of nearly all her clothes, wrap them
round her child, swathe him in her tartnn plaid,
and lay him beneath a bank overhung with long
heather and bracken. The child survived, and
was known in after life as lain-a'-Bhreacain.
Iain was found in the place of refuge in which
his mother laid him, by Angus MacQueen, a
Strathdearn man. Angus's wife begged of the
child's relations that he should be left with her
as a companion for her little Mary. To this
they consented, knowing they were leaving the
child in good hands. The large-hearted couple