Hannay Clan Crest
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CREST: A cross cresselt fitchée issuing out of a crescent Sable MOTTO: Per ardua ad alta TRANSLATION: Through difficulties to higher things VARIATIONS: N/A |
| The Scottish Clan Hannay is an ancient and storied clan with roots that stretch back over 800 years. The clan is believed to have originated in the ancient princedom of Galloway, with the original spelling of the name being ‘Ahannay’. Although the exact origin of the name is uncertain, it is thought to derive from the Gaelic ‘O’Hannaidh’ or ‘Ap Shenaeigh’.
The Hannays were a proud and influential clan, with many distinguished members throughout their history. One of the earliest recorded members of the clan was Gilbert de Hannethe, who appeared on the Ragman roll in 1296, among the Scottish Barons submitting to Edward I of England. The Hannays were suspicious of the ambitions of the Bruces, and supported the claim of John Balliol, who was descended from the Celtic Princes of Galloway. |
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| In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Hannays extended their influence over much of the surrounding countryside, building a tower on their lands at Sorbie around 1550. The tower became the seat of the chief family of this name until the seventeenth century when it fell into disrepair after the family were outlawed. In 1965, the tower was presented to a clan trust, and a maintenance scheme was put in hand.
Many distinguished scions of the chiefly house were produced, including Patrick Hannay, the distinguished soldier and poet whose literature was once highly regarded but is now almost forgotten. The grandson of Donald Hannay of Sorbie, he entered the service of Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia, the daughter of James VI. On his death, many eulogies were published, and the best of these expressed the high regard with which Patrick and his kin were held. Other notable members of the clan include James Hannay, the Dean of St Giles’ in Edinburgh, who attempted to read the new liturgy in St Giles’ in July 1637. It was at Dean Hannay’s head that Jenny Geddes flung her stool crying, ‘Thou false thief, dost thou say Mass at my lug?’ A full-scale riot ensued, which ultimately had to be suppressed by the town guard. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Hannays of Sorbie became locked in a deadly feud with the Murrays of Boughton, which ended in the Hannays’ being outlawed and ruined. The lands and tower of Sorbie were lost around 1640, and one consequence of the family’s being outlawed was the emigration of large numbers of Hannays to Ulster, where the name is still found widely in Counties Antrim, Down, and Armagh. The Hannays of Newry are reckoned to the senior branch of the emigrant families. In 1582, Alexander Hannay, a younger son of Sorbie, purchased the lands of Kirkdale in the Stewartry Kirkcudbright. His son, John Hannay of Kirkdale, inherited the estate and established the line that is now recognized by the Lord Lyon as chief of the name. The present chief of the clan is a descendant of William Rainsford Hannay, who inherited the estate of Kirkdale and the representation of the family in 1850. |
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