Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 38 on 11/04/2008.

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The clan Graham

James Irvine Robertson turns his attention to another of Scotland's great families.

William I, Duke of Normandy, conquered England in 1066. The adventurers in his army, most of whom, like William himself, had been Vikings a few generations earlier, were granted lands throughout the country supplanting the native aristocracy.

Their takeover of much of Scotland was a later and more stealthy affair, the responsibility of David I, youngest son of Malcolm III (Canmore), and his Queen, St Margaret, when he became King of Scots in 1124. The role of important clans whose chiefs descend from such continental immigrants who came north with the king is astonishing: Fraser, Hay, Lindsay,Gordon, Stewart, Murray, Menzies, Cumming, Sinclair are a few examples, What is also startling is the contribution they made to their adopted country, both locally and nationally.

Amongst the most distinguished of such clans is the Grahams, or Graemes – the spelling of the name makes no difference to its origins. The Graham progenitor was an Anglo-Norman holder of the manor of Graegham which is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The member of the family who came to Scotland was William, who witnessed his patron David’s charter founding the Abbey of Holyrood in 1128. In subsequent generations, the family acquired extensive lands in the Lowlands and no less than seven Grahams signed the Ragman Rolls in which the nobility of Scotland swore fealty to Edward I, his condition for umpiring the dispute for the Scots throne.

Sir Patrick Graham was killed in 1296 carrying the Scottish ban.....

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By James Irvine Robertson

Section : Scotland Clans

Page number : 52