Clan Donnachaidh: The History of the Robertsons of Struan

Before the Robertsons were Robertsons, they were the Children of Duncan. Clan Donnachaidh is a Highland kindred of Perthshire, and its best-documented story turns on a single day in February 1437, when a king was murdered in a Perth monastery — and on what the clan's fourth chief did about it. This is the history behind the name. For the clan's crest, motto, tartans and the full surname list, see our Clan Robertson hub.

Who Are the Children of Duncan?

"Donnachaidh" is Gaelic. The Scottish Gaelic dictionary Am Faclair Beag gives the personal name Donnchadh as the Gaelic for Duncan, with the genitive form Dhonnchaidh. Clann Donnachaidh therefore means the children, or descendants, of Duncan, and the clan's own society histories translate it as the "Children of Duncan".

The Duncan in question was the clan's first recognised chief, Donnachadh Reamhair, remembered in English as "Stout Duncan". The Council of Scottish Clans & Associations (COSCA) lists the clan's lands as Struan and Rannoch in Perthshire, which places the kindred in Atholl, the mountainous country north-west of Perth.

How Is Donnachaidh Pronounced?

Am Faclair Beag transcribes Donnchadh as /dɔNɔxəɣ/. The sound written with the letter x in that transcription is the soft, back-of-the-throat sound English speakers already know from the Scottish word loch. It is not a hard k. If you can say "loch" properly, you can say Donnachaidh.

How Donnachaidh Became Robertson

Gaelic clan names and modern surnames are two different systems, and the Robertsons are a clear example of one turning into the other. The clan kept the Gaelic name of Duncan's descendants, but the surname that spread among the clanfolk came from a later chief named Robert.

According to the Mid-Atlantic Branch of the Clan Donnachaidh Society, it was Robert's son, Alexander Duncanson, who "definitely assumed the surname of Robertson and supported its common usage among the clanfolk". That is why the clan is properly called Clan Donnachaidh while the surname attached to it is Robertson. Both names are correct; they simply come from different generations of the same family.

The Murder at Blackfriars and the Crest of 1451

In 1437 King James I of Scotland was staying at the Blackfriars monastery in Perth. Historic Environment Scotland describes what happened next: a group of nobles got into the building, the king tried to escape through the sewers, and found the tunnel had recently been blocked — to stop tennis balls escaping. He was stabbed to death at the age of 42.

The Clan Donnachaidh Society's Mid-Atlantic branch dates the attack to 20 February 1437 and names Sir Robert Graham as the leader of the assassins, acting at the instigation of the king's own chamberlain, Sir Robert Stewart.

The killers fled north into Atholl — into Robertson country. Robert "Riabhach", or Grizzled Robert, the clan's fourth chief, hunted them down in a lonely glen with help from Stewart of Garth and handed them over to the authorities. They were hanged, drawn and quartered.

The reward came fourteen years later. James II offered the chief an earldom. He turned it down and asked instead that his lands be erected into a free barony, in the words of the clan's own account, "for the capture of that most vile traitor the late Robert the Graham". That was granted on 15 August 1451, creating the free barony of Struan. On the same occasion the chief received the crest the clan has carried ever since: a right hand supporting an imperial crown.

So the Robertson crest has a date attached to it — 15 August 1451 — and a reason. If you are unsure how a crest, a coat of arms and a "family crest" differ, we explain it in Clan Crest vs Coat of Arms vs Family Crest.

The motto that goes with the crest is Virtutis gloria merces — "Glory is the reward of valour" — recorded by COSCA on its Clan Donnachaidh page. The clan's plant badge is bracken.

Struan, Rannoch and the Lands of Atholl

Struan gave the chiefs more than a barony; it gave them their title. The head of Clan Donnachaidh is styled "Struan", after the estate itself, rather than by a surname alone.

Rannoch, the clan's other heartland in the COSCA record, is the loch and moor country west of Pitlochry. Together, Struan and Rannoch describe a stretch of Highland Perthshire that anyone tracing the name can still drive through in an afternoon.

One Chief, Three Risings: 1689, 1715 and 1745

Few Scottish chiefs had a longer Jacobite career than Alexander Robertson, the clan's 13th chief. The Clan Donnachaidh Society's history of the clan records that he had the distinction of being "out" in the risings of 1689, 1715 and 1745 — three separate attempts, spread across more than half a century, to restore the exiled Stuart line.

Being "out" was not a figure of speech. It meant taking up arms against the government of the day, with the forfeiture and the risk of execution that went with it. One chief, three risings, is an unusual record even by Jacobite standards.

1854: The Year the Chiefs Lost Struan

The estate that James II created in 1451 did not stay in the family. The same clan history records that the 18th chief had to sell his Struan estate in 1854 to pay debts. Four centuries of Robertson landholding in Atholl ended not in battle but over money.

The chiefship itself survived the loss of the land. The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs lists the present chief as Gilbert Robertson of Struan; COSCA gives his fuller name as Alexander Gilbert Haldane Robertson of Struan. The territorial style outlived the territory.

The Clach na Bratach at Perth Museum

Clan Donnachaidh owns a relic called the Clach na Bratach, the Stone of the Standard. In 2025 it went on public display in Perth: Perth Museum included it in Macbeth: An Exhibition, which opened on 25 April 2025 alongside an eleventh-century sword and a Shakespeare First Folio.

The museum introduced it as "the historic Clach na Bratach stone from Clan Donnachaidh, the descendants of the real King Duncan I who was killed in a battle against Macbeth in 1040". That is how Perth Museum described the clan. It is worth noting that the Duncan I of 1040 is a different and much earlier Duncan from Donnachadh Reamhair, the first chief the clan's own histories name.

Where to See Clan Donnachaidh Today

The clan has a permanent home at Bruar, near Blair Atholl in Highland Perthshire. COSCA records that the Clan Donnachaidh Museum was opened on 30 August 1969 by the Duke of Atholl and was the first purpose-built clan museum in Scotland.

Highland Perthshire's visitor listing gives the address as Bruar, Blair Atholl, PH18 5TW, and describes a reading room where visitors can research the clan and its society. COSCA notes the museum covers the clan under its main modern surnames: Robertson, Duncan and Reid.

Around it sit the places in this article: Perth to the south, Struan and Rannoch to the west, and the Atholl glens where the regicides were run down in 1437.

The Surnames of Clan Donnachaidh

Because the clan name and the surname parted company early, Clan Donnachaidh covers a wide spread of names. COSCA's list of surnames and spellings for the clan runs to roughly fifty entries and includes Robertson, Robinson, Robson, Duncan, Duncanson, Donachie, Reid, Read, Reed, Roy, Stark, Dobbie, Dobson, Inches, Kynoch, Mac Inroy, Mac Iver and Mac Robert.

Reid is worth pointing out, because it is a common Scottish surname in its own right and does not look like a Robertson name at all — yet COSCA lists it with the clan, and the Clan Donnachaidh Museum covers it as one of the clan's three main modern surnames. If you are checking a name, you can type it into the surname search on our homepage, or look it up in our A–Z list of Scottish clans and families to see which clan's surname list it appears on.

Is Robertson Still a Common Scottish Name?

Yes — it is still in Scotland's top ten. National Records of Scotland, the government body that keeps the registers, published its most common surnames for 2025 on 26 May 2026. Robertson came 7th, appearing 958 times in that year's birth, marriage and death registers. At the top of the list were Smith (1,827), Brown (1,248) and Wilson (1,205).

A clan that takes its name from one Perthshire chief is still, six centuries later, among the ten names a Scottish registrar writes most often.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Clan Robertson the Same as Clan Donnachaidh?

Yes. Clan Donnachaidh is the clan's Gaelic name and means the children of Duncan, after its first recognised chief, Donnachadh Reamhair ("Stout Duncan"). The surname Robertson comes from a later chief named Robert.

How Do You Pronounce Donnachaidh?

Am Faclair Beag transcribes the underlying Gaelic name Donnchadh as /dɔNɔxəɣ/. The key sound is the soft back-of-the-throat ch you hear in loch, not a hard k.

Why Does the Robertson Crest Show a Hand Holding a Crown?

Because the clan's fourth chief, Robert "Riabhach", captured the men who murdered James I in 1437. James II granted the crest of a right hand supporting an imperial crown on 15 August 1451, when the chief's lands were erected into the free barony of Struan.

Where Were the Robertson Clan Lands?

Struan and Rannoch in Perthshire, according to COSCA. The chief is still styled "Struan" after the estate, even though the 18th chief sold it in 1854.

Who Is the Chief of Clan Donnachaidh Today?

The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs lists Gilbert Robertson of Struan. COSCA gives his fuller name as Alexander Gilbert Haldane Robertson of Struan.

Which Surnames Are Listed With Clan Donnachaidh?

COSCA's list runs to about fifty spellings and includes Robertson, Robinson, Robson, Duncan, Duncanson, Donachie, Reid, Read, Reed, Roy, Stark, Dobbie, Dobson, Inches, Kynoch, Mac Inroy, Mac Iver and Mac Robert.

Carry the Name

Our Clan Robertson tartan collection includes pieces printed with the same hand-and-crown crest badge and the motto Virtutis Gloria Merces that this article describes.

Explore Clan Robertson: tartans, crest and surnames.

Sources

• Council of Scottish Clans & Associations (COSCA), Find a clan: Clan Donnachaidh — motto, plant badge, lands, chief's full name, surname list.
• COSCA, Clan Museums and Heritage Centers — the Clan Donnachaidh Museum, opened 30 August 1969 by the Duke of Atholl.
• Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, list of chiefs — Gilbert Robertson of Struan.
• Mid-Atlantic Branch of the Clan Donnachaidh Society, Creation of Free Barony of Strowan – 1451 — the 1437 murder, the capture, the 1451 grant and the crest.
• Clan Donnachaidh Society, Mid-Atlantic Branch, Clan Donnachaidh History by James E. Fargo FSA Scot — Donnachadh Reamhair, the 1451 crest, the risings of 1689, 1715 and 1745, and the 1854 sale of Struan.
• Historic Environment Scotland, A Series of Unfortunate Events — the killing of James I at Blackfriars, Perth.
• Perth Museum, Macbeth exhibition announcement — the Clach na Bratach on display from 25 April 2025.
• National Records of Scotland, Most common surnames, 2025 — Robertson 7th with 958 occurrences.
• Am Faclair Beag, Donnchadh — Gaelic for Duncan, genitive Dhonnchaidh, transcription /dɔNɔxəɣ/.
• Highland Perthshire, Clan Donnachaidh Centre — address and reading room.