Nicholson History

Tradition, reinforced by the Gaelic genealogy of 1450, gives one branch of the Nicolsons or Mac Nicols an extremely ancient origin in the lands between Assynt and Durness on the north coast.

One of the Prince Thanes gave the parish of Assynt to Mackrycul, who was identified as the Gregall mentioned in the genealogy of the Mac Nicols in the MS. of 1450, but on the marriage of Torquil Mac Leod to the daughter of the last of the Mac Nicol chiefs, the lands of Assynt passed to the Mac Leods.

Another tradition gives a different branch an equally ancient past in the Hebrides, where Mac Nicol of Portree was said to have been one of the sixteen members of the Council of the Lordship of the Isles before it was abolished in 1493. Here the earliest historical references to the name begin in Skye in 1507, and the Nicolsons of Scorrybreck become established from that time as a line of chiefs.

The clan played an important part in the history of Skye. In 1263, at the battle of Largs, Sir Andrew Nicolson, a Danish knight from the Isle of Skye, commanded one of Haco's ships. Members of the family settled at Lonfeaon, Penefiler Aird, and elsewhere in Skye, but Nicolson of Scorrybreck was always looked upon as the head of the clan in the west. The Rev. Donald Nicolson, who was chief of the Scorrybreck family at the end of the 17th century, was minister of Troternish for over thirty years.

In 1629, John Nicolson of Lasswade was created a baronet of Nova Scotia; he is said to be a descendant of the Dean of Brechin in Angus.

In the 18th century, Donald Mac Nicol from Argyll made a collection of Ossianic ballads. A few years later, Samuel Johnson made his Hebridean tour. His comments on Gaelic literature incensed Mac Nicol, resulting in the latter' s Remarks on Dr. Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Hebrides.

The last chief of Scorrybreck emigrated to Australia, where the Chief of the Hebridean clan of Mac Nicol, Ian Nicolson (b. 1921), lives in New South Wales.