Urquhart History

Like the neighbouring name Munro, Urquhart is considered to be of Gaelic origin, and various topographical derivations have been attempted for it. The locality called Urquhart lies on the north side of the Great Glen, where woods descend steeply to a promontory that dominates the eastern end of Loch Ness. It was the obvious place to build a fortress guarding old Pictland from the Gaelic west. The great mediaeval stone castle of Urquhart that was erected on this promontory has one of the most spectacular settings in Scotland.
It stood within the vast sphere of influence of the Comyn family. When Robert Bruce won the crown and destroyed the Comyn power in the north it was natural that he should have built up the authority of his supporters there. William of Urquhart became during his reign Sheriff of Cromarty, the fertile peninsula beyond Inverness which is called the Black Isle because the snow will not lie there when the hills beyond are white. In 1357 David II granted the hereditary sheriffdom of Cromarty to Adam of Urquhart, William's son, and so this dynasty was established. in 1470 William Urquhart of Cromarty built there a castle of the characteristically Scottish tower form.
His successor, Sir Thomas Urquhart (1582-1642), became something of a favourite of James VI, sharing with him a love of learned pursuits. Sir Thomas was also a spendthrift, though his son explained piously: "too strict adherence to the austerest principles of veracity proved oftentimes damageable to him in his negotiations with many cunning sharks, who knew with what profitable odds they could screw themselves in upon the windings of so good a nature."This son inherited his father's name and erudition. He attended Aberdeen University during its golden age, and also fell under the spell of his great-uncle John, of whom he wrote: "he was over all Britain renowned for his deep reach of natural wit, and great dexterity in acquiring of many lands and great possessions, with all men's applause."
Such was the background of Sir Thomas Urquhart (1611-1660), surely the most eccentric genius in Scottish history. From university he went on the grand tour of Europe, where he collected a library of books for his ancestral tower. He supported Charles I in the Civil War, and fought for Charles II when he was routed by Cromwell at Worcester in 1651. Unfortunately he had brought all his writings with him in four trunks filled with manuscripts. While Urquhart was taken prisoner English soldiers ransacked his lodgings, where his papers were discovered. "The soldiers merely scattered them over the floor; but reflecting after they had left the chamber on the many uses to which they might be applied, they returned and bore them out into the street."While the greater part of his work on a universal language and on the genealogy of the Urquharts was used to light soldiers' pipes, and for an even less savoury purpose, Sir Thomas was carried a prisoner to the Tower of London. Here in 1653 he published the first book of Rabelais, one of the world' s supreme masterpieces of translation. In 1660 he died, not yet fifty years old: according to tradition, what killed him was a fit of Rabelaisian laughter when he was informed of the Restoration of the King. His last draft of Rabelais was published after his death.
His line was extinguished. the Cromarty properties sold, the ancestral tower demolished. But the chiefship of Urquhart was kept alive by the descendants of Sir Thomas's ingenious great-uncle John. In 1766 George Urquhart (c.1733-1799) went to Florida, and his son David settled in New Orleans. His descendant Kenneth Urquhart of Urquhart (b.1932), a historian, lives still in Louisiana.