Princess Elizabeth and the Lamonts of PEI.
Sir, - I wonder if the Lamonts of PEI know of the
special relationship in which they stand to their Royal visitor, Princess
Elizabeth?
The name "Lamont" has not, as is sometimes supposed,
a French origin. It originated in Argyllshire, Scotland, and is a modified
form of "Lauman" or "Lagman" (English "Lawman"), the name of the founder
of the Clan. Sir Lauman's father was Malcolm - a good Highland name - but
for some reason it was the son's name which became adopted as the surname
of the Clan. He himself flourished in the first half of the 13th century,
and his descendants were for some time known by various names: MacLagman,
Lowman, Lawmont, Lawmonund, etc. etc. But in the 18th and 19th centuries
the spelling became standardized as either Lamont or Lamond.
As everyone knows, the Highlands were for long the
"wild and wooly west" of this country, and the Lamonts did not have their
troubles to seek. Sometimes on account of feuds, and sometimes of course
through the marriage of younger sons or daughters, offshoots from the main
branch in Cowal, Argyllshire, went to live in other parts of Scotland or
in foreign lands.
It is through one of these migrations that the family
of the Earl of Strathmore, Grandfather of Princess Elizabeth, traces it's
connection with the Lamonts. There are two different traditions. One is
that "John of the White Lion", the founder of the Strathmore family was
a son of the Chief of Lamont, and fled from Cowal as a result of a fatal
quarrel. The other is that he married the daughter of Sir Lauman.
Curiously enough, the Lamonts in PEI - or at least
one branch of them - represent another offshoot of the main Cowal line.
Before crossing to PEI about 1829, they had been for some centuries settled
in the Isle of Skye. How they got to Skye has not been established by full
documentary evidence, but all the available evidence makes it practically
certain that they are descended from a son of the laird of Lamont who,
about the year 1400, fled to Perthshire and was fortunate in securing the
patronage of the powerful house of Drummond. It seems that one of his descendants
- known as "Kenneth, son of William, son of James - was given some lands
in Trotternish Skye, about the beginning of the 16th century, trained in
the law and established as a kind of sheriff there to collect the King's
rents and other dues.
Amongst the Lamonts in PEI the descendants of Malcolm
Lamont (Emigrant in 1829) have preserved the names of their forefathers
going right back to Kenneth. The line runs: Malcolm, Murdoch, John, Duncna,
Donald, Murdoch, Duncan, Kenneth.
The old historic lands of the Lamonts in Cowal have,
piece by piece, been passing into other hands, but perhaps the descendants
of Sir Lauman in Canada and all over the new world will be interested to
hear of an attempt which is being made to ensure that the only estate now
remaining will continue permanently in Lamont ownership. The late Sir Norman
Lamont, Baronet of Knockdow, has in his will offered the estate of Knowdow
to the Clan Lamont Society as the representatives of Clan Lamont throughout
the world.
Whether this offer can be accepted will depend upon
the success of an appeal which the Society is now making to clansmen for
the establishment of a maintenance fund. Should this appeal meet with success,
Lamonts visiting Scotland will be able to tramp the heather in their own
land, and reside in a house with all the historic associations of their
forefathers.
I am, Sir, etc.
W.D. Lamont
83 Oakfield Avenue, Glasgow, Scotland.
(Guardian Newspaper, Charlottetown, November 13, 1951)