Lonach Highland & Friendly Society Pages

(on the M^cHardy Family of Corryhoul Website)

What is the Lonach ?

Gordon Casely wrote the following article "Why Lonach Exists", which appeared in the programme for the 159th Lonach Games which were held in the park at Bellabeg on 26th August 2000. It succinctly provides a description of what the Lonach Highland & Friendly Society is and why it was formed.

The origins of the Lonach Highland & Friendly Society Games lie in the most wonderful 21st birthday party held on December 15th, 1822 on the summit of the 1410 ft high Lonach Hill three miles west of here. There a cairn was founded to mark the coming of age of John Forbes, younger of Newe (1801 - 1840), heir to Sir Charles Forbes (1733 - 1849), 1st baronet of Newe. The summit of Lonach Hill lies almost due south of the House of Edinglassie, and those who gathered on the hill of Lonach were the tenantry of the estates of Newe and Edinglassie.

The celebrations were well laced by the water of life, and there was much drinking of health's. In this fine spirit of amity, all who attended decided to found a society for the further commemoration of the same event the following year. One year on in 1823, this they did. The purpose of the new Society formed was threefold: preservation of Highland dress and Gaelic tongue; the "support of loyal, peaceable and manly conduct; and the promotion of social and benevolent feelings among the inhabitants of the district". So when the tenants walked in procession to Edinglassie House, they wore the kilt and were accompanied by the pipes.

First office-bearers of the new Society included Sir Charles Forbes of Newe and Edinglassie as patron; John Forbes, younger of Newe (in whose honour the Society was founded) as Honorary President; with the Honorary Vice-Presidents including the Earl of Aboyne and Lord Forbes, premier baron of Scotland. Some family tradition continue continue: Sir Hamish Forbes of Newe 7th baronet (great great grandson of Charles) is current patron, and current honorary vice-presidents include the Marques of Huntly (whose eldest son is styled Earl of Aboyne); and Malcolm, Master of Forbes, son and heir to the 22nd Lord Forbes, chief of Clan Forbes.

At first this new association was simply a friendly society with an annual event (a "gathering") based round a church parade. The "games" portion of the activities did not start until 1835. Curiously the Society minute book does not mention this games, being more concerned with the collection and distribution of funds. Doubtless it was the evident eye for business which caused the fledgling Society to flourish, and to prosper enough for the erection of the first hall at Colquhonnie in 1845. A stone tablet on the front of the hall commemorates this. The new hall was added in 1896, and in this millennium year, both halls are out of action for the first time in Society history because of renovation, extension and rebuilding. The completed building will re-open to serve the Society and community of Upper Donside in 2001.

All this precludes the question: why did the idea of a Highland society emerge here in Strathdon? Why this particular area? There are three reasons worth airing, one cultural, one local and one national. The first is that the social history of the early part of the 19th century was marked by a tremendous growth in clubs, spcieties, associations, guilds and unions. The second is that in 1822, there were fathers and grandfathers of those attending who would have fought at Culloden; indeed the muster rolls of the army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart contain many surnames and place-names of this corner of West Aberdeenshire . Aberdeenshire as a whole largely rose for the Prince ¹, and residual feelings for Jacobitism and the old culture would have remained strong. The final reason is that in the summer of 1822, King George IV paid a State visit to Scotland, and during his time in Edinburgh, he and his Court enthusiastically adopted what they imagined to be Highland dress and decoration. Instant tartans were produced for any and every surname, and historical accuracy was swiftly over-run by new found Royal fervour for all things Scottish. Sir Walter Scott stage managed the whole event to such effectiveness that there were few corners of Scotland which did not know about it.

So our predecessors planning that first assembly in front of Edinglassie in 1823 would have felt that historically, they were dignifying the memory of their ancestors while at the same time taking part in a genuinely modern Scottish revival.

The story of the Society is largely built on success, the result of the stewardship and prudence of generations of diligent office bearers. Only in one sector can the word "failure" be written, and that is in the use and preservation of the Gaelic tongue. Even as the Society was being born, the ancient language was dying on Donside, even in Corgarff, in those days considered remote. the use of Gaelic is now symbolic, as in the occasional toast Lonach gu brath (Lonach forever), and the motto of the Society Clann nan Gaidheal, ann am guaillibh a cheile (Children of the Gael, shoulder to shoulder).

Down the years, the men of Lonach have gathered in many places including Braemar, Blair Atholl and the famous 1996 visit to Hungry. In the past 12 months, the Banffshire burghs of Aberchirder and Keith have been added to the list. In each case, a detachment of Lonach Highlanders provided the guard of honour for a ceremony marking the formal presentation of a coat-of-arms to each town.

The idea of Lonach leaving the Strath to such an extent would have astonished our forebears. It is a measure of Lonach and its Society that it moves with the times while remaining steadfastly rooted in the land and the people of its birth.

¹ To my own knowledge there is no muster of the Prince's army which exists for the people of Strathdon and Corgarff. Little if any retribution was made on them following the 1745 Jacobite uprising. It has been suggested that this may have been as a result of the notorious methods employed by Gordon of Glenbuchat to get the men of the area to arms. Although the men of the highland glens in Aberdeenshire were out in the '45, it cannot be said that so much of Aberdeenshire was behind the Prince.