The Glencairn Uprising, 1653-54 Helen Baker Department of ...

Royalists should be ruled by a committee rather than commanded by one man.
Glencairn was then forced to produce his royal commission which stifled any debate.
The feud, however, continued even after Balcarres left Scotland for the Continent in
the spring of 1654. 156
A second rift had arisen from Lorne’s quarrels with his own cousin, Lord Kenmore,
and with Glengarry. Lorne also resented Glencairn’s command and, along with
Balcarres and a few others, had written to Charles to express his discontent. When
Glencairn realised he had been crossed, he sent Glengarry to arrest Lorne. Not
surprisingly, when the two men met, they were prepared to fight and parted ‘great
enemies’ just as Campbells and Macdonalds had been for generations. Indeed, it is
possible that Glencairn sent Glengarry to arrest Lorne in order to take advantage of a
long-standing feud. 157
In September and October, Lorne and Kenmore attempted to gain support in the
former’s home region of Argyllshire. The community in Campbell territory refused to
follow Argyle’s instructions to take up arms against the rebels and for a time it
seemed that they might succeed in challenging English control over the entire area. A
major episode in the Argyllshire venture was the Royalist attempt to win over the
people of Kintyre in October 1653. Events in Kintyre led to Lorne’s dispute with
Kenmore and illustrate how clanship loyalties were capable of testing the dedication
of even the most stalwart of Charles’s men. A number of Lowland settlers who had
supported the Presbyterian cause and enjoyed the special protection of Argyle lived in
the peninsula of Kintyre. They had been joined by a group of Remonstrants under the
leadership of William Ralston. When Lorne and Kenmore had attacked Kintyre, the
Lowlanders failed to get support from either Argyle or English forces stationed at
156 Dow calls Bampfield John rather than Joseph. Dow, F.D. Cromwellian Scotland, p.96.
157 Firth, C.H. Scotland and the Commonwealth, pp.220, 222 and Dow, F.D. Cromwellian Scotland,
p.98. John Graham’s narrative of the quarrel between Lorne and Glengarry differs slightly. He
describes Lorne leaving Glencairn and his party at Badenoch on 1 January, 1654. Hearing of his
desertion, Glencairn sent Glengarry in pursuit. Lorne had intended to head for Ruthven Castle in
Badenoch but Glengarry overtook him and arrived first. Realising he was in danger, Lorne slipped
away with his horse, leaving his foot to the mercy of Glengarry’s men. Glengarry subsequently sent a
party of horse to follow Lorne but only managed to capture about twenty of his horse. All the captured
officers and soldiers of Lorne took an oath of allegiance to the King and were given back their arms.
However, within a fortnight, all of them had left Glencairn’s camp and were never seen again. See
Graham, J., of Deuchrie, ‘An Account of the Expedition of William the Ninth Earl of Glencairn’,
pp.65-66.