GRANT, John 'Ian Ruadh', Sheriff-Principal of Inverness, Sir ^{2 3}

   Other names for John were GARNT, Ian Roy and GRANT, John Roy Sheriff of Inverness.¹

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  General Notes:

"Bigla, or Matilda Cumyn, daughter and heiress of Sir Gilbert Cumyn of Glencherneck, appears to have been the last of her name and line. Bigla married Sir John Grant, Sheriff-Principal of Inverness, whose date is proved
by an inscription on the barrel of a musket amongst the arms at Castle Grant, 'Dominus Johannes Grant, miles, Vicecomes de Inverness,' anno 1434, with the Grant arms-three crowns, this being about two hundred years later than Douglas and other authorities suppose; but it is also proved by charters under the Great Seal to their son, 'Sir Duncan Grant,' who is the first of the Grant name designated 'Dominus de eodem et de Freuchie in 1442.' There is also a retour of 'Sir Duncan Grant,' knight, as heir to his 'guidsire' (grandfather), Sir Gilbert of Glencherneck, 6th February 1468, and a precept of sasine on said retour by King James III. in his favour, as heir to his guidsire, Sir Gilbert Cuntyn, in the lands of Congash and others, dated 3d March 1469."

from Bruces and Cumyns ²

John married Matilda of Glencarnie, daughter of Gilbert (V) of Glencarnie and Unknown, after 1408.^{1 2} (Matilda of Glencarnie was born about 1395 and died before 31 January 1434.)

  Marriage Notes:

"John Grant (Ian Ruadh), said to have been a knight and Sheriff of Inverness in 1434. He was most probably the husband of Matilda of Glencarnie, the daughter of Gilbert of Glencarnie. The date of Ian Ruadh Grant's death is uncertain, but Matilda of Glencarnie died before 31 January 1434, leaving issue"

from Scots Peerage (vol 7)




"Bigla, or Matilda Cumyn, daughter and heiress of Sir Gilbert Cumyn of Glencherneck, appears to have been the last of her name and line. Bigla married Sir John Grant, Sheriff-Principal of Inverness, whose date is proved by an inscription on the barrel of a musket amongst the arms at Castle Grant, 'Dominus Johannes Grant, miles, Vicecomes de Inverness,' anno 1434....."

".... when Robert Bruce's nephew Randolph was created Earl of Moray, he was called 'Chief of Clanallan,' and 'Kinchardine and Glencarnen' were specially named as part of the earldom - that is, the superiority of those districts; but their duchus or possession remained with the Cumyns, as we have seen, till Bigla's day, when Thomas Dunbar, Earl of Moray, promised them to Sir Alexander Cumyn of Altyre, with his sister Euffame, 'if he should be able to obtain them' which he was not. This was in 1408, we believe, before Bigla's marriage with Sir John Grant, to whom she brought the greater part, if not all his possessions on the Spey."

from Bruces and Cumyns




"The only evidence of a trustworthy nature for the name of the husband of Matilda is to be found in a MS. family history of the Mackintoshes, called the Kinrara MS., preserved by the Laird of Mackintosh. The MS. is thus described by a recent writer, who lays considerable weight upon the accuracy of its statements, and has used it largely in a work devoted to the history of the Mackintoshes. He states that the

'ms. History of the Mackintoshes, by Lachlan Mackintosh of Kinrara, . . .was written in Latin about the year 1670, and was partly founded on three earlier mss., the matter of which it embodied. These were, 1st, a history of the family from the Earl of Fife to Duncan, eleventh chief, who died in 1496, written by Ferquhard, twelfth chief, during his imprisonment at Dunbar for sixteen years before 1513; 2d, a similar history by Andrew MacPhail, parson of Croy, from the Earl of Fife to William, fifteenth chief, murdered in 1550; and 3d, a history by George Munro of Davochgartie, of Ferquhard, twelfth chief, and his three successors.'

In the notice of Malcolm, the tenth chief of Mackintosh, who is said to have died in 1457, the writer records that he had five daughters, and that of these,

'Muriel married John Mor Grant of Freuchie; Mora married Hucheon Rose of Kilravock; Janet married Patrick Mac Ian Roy, brother of Sir Duncan Grant,' etc. ,

thus implying that a John Roy Grant was the father both of Sir Duncan and Patrick.

Apart from tradition, this is all the testimony for the statement that John Grant Roy was the husband of Matilda of Glencarnie, and the father of Sir Duncan Grant. But if the information thus afforded be taken from the earliest MS., written before 1513, it may almost be considered contemporary history."

from Chiefs of Grant ^{1 2 3}

John had a relationship with Marjory LUDE 'Lady of half the Barony of Freuchie'. (Marjory LUDE 'Lady of half the Barony of Freuchie' was born about 1395 and died after 28 July 1473 ³.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Ian Roy married around 1410 and his father was murdered by the Comyns around that time - so he was born shortly before 1390. It was indeed Ian Roy who sired a boy with either the daughter or the wife of Baron Lamb in Tullochcarn in Stratha'an. This boy was Patrick (named after Ian Roy's father) the progenitor of Tullochgorm and widely referred to as Patrick mac Ian Roy."

from The Grants of Gartinberg




The Scots Peerage suggests in volume 7, page 455, that Matilda of Glencarnie may have been the mother of Patrick Mac Ian Roy, but acknowledges the strong possibility of his illegitimacy:

"John Grant (Ian Ruadh), said to have been a knight and Sheriff of Inverness in 1434. He was most probably the husband of Matilda of Glencarnie, the daughter of Gilbert of Glencarnie. The date of Ian Ruadh Grant's death is uncertain, but Matilda of Glencarnie died before 31 January 1434, leaving issue :

1. Duncan Grant, afterwards Sir Duncan Grant of Freuchie.

2. Patrick Mac Ian Roy, who is said by the Kinrara MS. to have married Janet, third daughter of Malcolm, tenth Chief of Mackintosh. To him, by some, is attributed the position of ancestor to the Clan Phadruig or House of Tulloch Gorm, while others say he was illegitimate. On 28 July 1473, Marjory Lude, a widow, styling herself 'Lady of half the Barony of Freuchie,' alienated her lands of Auchnarrows, Downan, Port and Dalfour (Dellifure), to her carnal son Patrick Grant. He is also called Reoch. He died before 2 December 1508, leaving a son Reoch, who probably is the Patrick Reoch said to have died in 1513 in a charter of apprising of 1 May 1585."

from Scots Peerage (vol 7) ³