Memorial Ceremony
What will be happening (depending on a continued lack of fire, flood, plague, and pestilence–okay, scratch pestilence, as we can’t do anything about the midges!)…
Saturday, 6th August 2022
– at the McBain Memorial Park above the village of Dores and Loch Ness, near to ‘Kinchyle’ the old home of the Clan’s Chiefs.
2pm
Dedication of the Memorial to Captain Alan LaVern Bean, US Navy (Fourth Man on the Moon, Apollo Mission Pilot – Apollo 12; Skylab Mission Commander – Skylab 3). Alan Bean also made history by being the first person to take a piece of tartan from Earth to the surface of the Moon, and back – MacBean tartan, naturally.
Followed by:
Ceremony of inauguration of Richard McBain of McBain as 23rd Hereditary Chief of the Clan MacBean, in succession to his late father James McBain of McBain, 22nd Hereditary Chief.
Be aware the road to McBain memorial park is very narrow and there is very little parking at the park.
Sunday, 7th August 2022
– at the Culloden Battlefield, near Inverness (specific time tbc, but expected to be from late morning).
Wreath Laying at Culloden Battlefield Memorial, with Clan MacGillivray. (Open to the public.) Now their hereditary descendants, both heads of their clans, will meet for the first time and lay a wreath in honour of their ancestors – men who fought with honour and exceptional swordsmanship, which even their enemies acknowledged – MacBean and MacGillivray, together formally acknowledging the significant loss of both Clan Chiefs, for the first time since the battle occurred, on 16th April 1746. Also, in honour of all those who fell – on either side – in what was both the last civil war battle and the last large-scale pitched battle to occur on British soil.
Following this, there will be demonstrations of 17th and 18th century sword fighting, by highly experienced swordsmen, and presentations on Clan MacBean, weapons of the time period, and our famous Donald McBane, ‘the Expert Swordsman’, soldier and veteran of many battles in Scotland and on the Continent. Donald McBane’s expertise with a sword was legendary – he wrote ‘the’ book on sword-fighting in that era, to which he attached a unique auto-biography.
Location: at the Culloden Battlefield Centre Event Field Laying (open to the public).
Additionally, by Philip Beddows:
We are particularly pleased that the Commander of Clan MacGillivray and members of his clan will be joining us to lay a wreath at Culloden. Our great hero and 14th Chief, Gillies ‘Mor’ MacBean, was the senior Major in Lady Mackintosh’s Regiment at Culloden. The regiment was commanded by young Alexander MacGillivray of Dunmaglass, Chief of his clan. Gillies was a 2nd cousin to Alexander’s father Farquhar MacGillivary of Dunmaglass, who had died six years earlier at Kinchyle, old home of the MacBean chiefs. Farquhar had fought in the 1715 Jacobite Rising alongside Gillies’ older brother Æneas- they both served as Captains in the Mackintosh-Clan Chattan Regiment led by Brigadier Mackintosh of Borlum.
Fighting close together on the battlefield at Culloden, Alexander & Gillies were the Chiefs of their respective Clans, and at no point since the battle – to the best of our knowledge and research – has the Clan MacBean, as a corporate body, met to commemorate those lost at Culloden, on all sides (because there were members of families on both sides of that battle). Nor have the two clans reunited at any time since, for a joint commemoration of the loss of their Clan Chiefs – for both our brave Gillies ‘Mor’ MacBean and his gallant young cousin Alexander MacGillivray of Dunmaglass died on the battlefield. Their courage at the battle became legendary and their loss greatly lamented, so it will be a poignant moment when our two related clans lay a wreath together in memory of our brave clansmen who died on that fateful day in April 1746.
Two other MacBeans and seven MacGillivrays were officers in the regiment, including Æneas/Angus MacBean, Tacksman of Faillie, who was also killed at the battle; and another Gillies MacBean, tenant of Major Gillies ‘Mor’ MacBean who survived. Many other MacBeans and MacGillivrays were prominent in the lists of those who served in the regiment, including a third man called Gillies MacBean – a servant from Aldourie. Donald MacBean of Aldourie near Dores, a farmer and member of a branch of the chiefly family of Kinchyle, is cited in official records as having been another active Jacobite and storekeeper to Prince Charles’ army. And a fourth Gillies MacBean was present but appears to have fought with some Cameron kinsmen – this Gillies was of Free near Tomatin at the time and formerly of Faillie. He survived to old age and was buried in the churchyard at Moy. The stories he told about his experiences escaping government troops after being wounded at Culloden were passed down, and it has been said that he was among those who helped carry ’Lochiel’ the Chief of Clan Cameron off the field of battle.
As a result of this relationship between Gillies ‘Mor’ MacBean and Alexander MacGillivray, our own Chiefs continued to be related to the MacGillivrays of Dunmaglass, and there have been many marriages between MacBeans and MacGillivrays that have further cemented close kinship.
