Clan Stewart of Appin

In, the Stewarts of  are the West branch of the  and have been considered a distinct  since the. They are descended from Sir James Stewart of Perston, who was himself the grandson of, the fourth hereditary.

Geography
is located in the western of Scotland between  and. It is a region in running along  from  in the south to  on the shores of  in the north.

History
Most of the Stewarts of Appin did not use the surname "Stewart". The leadership of the Clan was held by the Chief and his many cousins, who were tacksmen who held minor estates in Appin as cadets of the chief. Many of the clansmen were descended from families which had lived in Appin long before the Stewarts arrived, including McColls,, McQuorquodales and the.

Clan Conflicts
The Stewarts of Appin were traditional allies of the of, the  and the  (or MacIans) of. They were inveterate enemies of the of  and.

In 1403 by a band of Highlanders, said to have been the Clan Stewart of Appin led by Alexander Stewart, the son of the Wolf of Badenoch are said to have murderd Sir Malcolm Drummond, chief of the.

In 1497 some of the stole cattle from the Braes of Lochaber from the. The MacDonalds followed them and overtook them at a place called Glenurchy where a battle took place. The MacDonalds won and recovered their cattle. However the MacLarens then looked for assistance from Dugel Stuart of Appin. Another battle then took place where the MacLarens were now joined by the Stuarts against the MacDonalds. During the battle Dugel, the chief of the Clan Stewart of Appin and the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch chief were both killed.

Civil War
They served with and participated in  where they defeated  at  in February. After was deposed in, the Stewarts of Appin supported the deposed.

Jacobite Risings
The Stuarts naturally supported the and sent men to fight in both the  and.

At the in, the Stewarts of Appin suffered appalling casualties breaking the ranks of the Government  of the British Army. Charles Stewart of Ardsheal led the men of Clan Stewart of Appin during the rising of 1745, and many fell at the grim field of Culloden, having first gained glory by breaking the Redcoat ranks. Colin Campbell of Glenure, ‘the Red Fox’, was placed as government factor on the forfeited Stewart estates. His murder in 1752 has been immortalised by Stevenson in the novel, Kidnapped. After the chief suspect,, made his escape, James Stewart, the half-brother of the chief, was tried by a jury composed entirely of Campbells at Inverary presided over by Argyll himself, and, perhaps not surprisingly, was convicted and hanged.

Cadet Branches
The most important of Appin were the Stewarts of Ardsheal. Traditionally, Ardsheal was the tutor to the minor Appin Chiefs. During the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, Charles Stewart of Ardsheal led regiment raised by the Stewarts of Appin. After Culloden, he fled to exile in and his lands were forfeited to the. His son succeeded in having the lands restored later in the and the Stewarts of Ardsheal succeeded to the chiefdom of Appin upon the extinction of the Appin family.

The Clan branch Stewart (sometimes spelled Stewart-Ferrer) is the result of the long tradition of intermarriage between the (de)  family and the Stewarts - a tradition begun in the 11th century (i.e., before the Stewarts began using that name) and lasting well into the 18th century, encompassing Ferrers in both the British Isles and Spain.

Appin Murder
Appin was the site of the infamous of, when Colin Campbell of  - a factor of the Stewart lands in Appin - was shot by an anonymous gunman while riding along the shore of  at. Whoever the assassin may have been, a cadet named James Stewart of Glen was charged with the murder, tried by a Campbell jury in the Campbell stronghold of, and hanged on the shore of Loch Leven at Ballachulish. The consensus at the time and the general opinion of historians has been that James Stewart had nothing to do with the murder. The incident was made famous by, the plot of whose novel  incorporated the murder.

Castle Stalker
The stronghold of the Stewarts of Appin was a castle located at the mouth of Loch Laich called. This Castle was built in the and was held by the Stewarts and the Campbells of  until the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, when it was occupied by a small  garrison. The Castle fell into disrepair by the end of the eighteenth century, but was restored by the Allward family in the. Today, it is one of the most photographed and photogenic castles in Scotland.

The Chief
The current chief of the Stewarts of Appin is Andrew Francis Stewart of Lorn, Appin and Ardsheal (born, ), who is the 17th Chief of Appin and the 12th Cadet of Ardsheal.