Shorter Notices
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE CLAN ROBERTSON By J. Robertson Reid There are bulky. Histories of the MacDonalds, Macleods, Cameron and other clans, but the Clan Robertson (Clans Donnachaidh) has been neglected, though much has been written, of course, about the Struan chiefs. Major J. Robert- son Reid has supplied a need, and in this brief but compre- hensive compilation, A Short History of the Clan Robertson (Eneas Mackay, Stirling, Bs. 6d.), has compressed a great deal of information concerning the clan, its branches, septs and dependants. 4Accocding to one tradition, the Robertsons were the lineal descendants of the Celtic Earls of Atholl, whose progenitor was King Duncan, the " gracious Duncan " of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The Clans Donnachaidh became Robert-sons after the Battle of Bannockburn, and the old story which explains the change of name seems authentic. At a critical moment in the battle the sudden arrival of the Clan at Galles Hill had a decisive effect and gave Bruce his victory. After the battle King Robert addressed the clan : " Hitherto, ye have been called the sons of Duncan, but hedceforth ye chall be called my children." Major Robertson has collected many stiring tales and anecdotes of the past. such as the exploit of Rob Bane, a simple Highlander who " did his bit " after Forty-Five, by capturing nine Hanoverian soldiers- singlehanded. Among curious items, he notes the fact that a tribe of North American Indians took the name Robertson—a tribute to the humanity and justice of the famous American Judge Robertson, whose ancestors fled to the New World after Culloden. Few remember that Gladstone could claim to be of the clan : his mother was a Robertson of Kindeaee in Ross-shire,
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