Chief Fergus Hort Day McDowall &

Chief Macdowall has confirmed that he will accept Kyle families in the the Macdowall Clan, if they so wish, as variants of the Coull Sept.

The Macdowall Clan does not have an independent Society but Macdowalls generally join the MacDougal Clan and participate at games together with them. Chief Macdowall is an honorary President of the MacDougal Society.

According to the Garthland "Greenbook" the Macdowalls (M'Doualls, McDowells, Makdougalls, etc.), descended in ancient Galloway from their eponymic Duegald de Gallouyia (k.1185) the second son of Uchtred Lord of Galloway the elder son of "Prince Fergus" (1096-1169), the first native feudal Lord of Galloway under DAVID I, and his wife Elizabeth, a daughter of HENRY I of England. Duegald's lineal successor, Sir Dougal MacDougall, or MacDowyll in the Ragman Roll (1296) of EDWARD I of England, received a confirmatory charter to the lands of Garochloyne, Lougan and Eldrig from JOHN I (Balliol) of Scotland in 1295. This Sir Dougal and his heirs of two more generations led the defending forces of Galloway in the name of the Balliol Crown of Scotland from 1306 until 1357 upon the return from captivity of DAVID II with whom they had defended Scotland in 1347 at the battle of Neville's Cross where they were also captured. A grandson of Sir Dougal, Sir Fergus Macdougall, later of Makerston, also fought, was wounded, captured and ransomed in 1402 at the battle of Homildon Hill. His nephew, the Head of the Family- Thomas Macdowall, received a charter to the old family lands on the Rhinns of Galloway with the caput baroniae of Garochloyne or Garthland in 1414, shortly after which the Feudal Baronies of Logan, Makerston and Freuch (Freugh) were recorded. The original family archives were lost to EDWARD I of England to ROBERT and Edward Bruce and to Sir Archibald Douglas as new Lords of Galloway, and there was a further loss in the burning of Castle Balzieland of Patrick M'Douall of Logan in 1500.

Uchtred Macdowall of Garthland and his heir Thomas, together with Charles McDouall of Logan, Gilbert Macdowall of Freugh, the Laird of Makerston and most male relations, were killed with JAMES IV at the battle of Flodden in 1513. John Macdowall of Garthland and Corswall and Fergus McDouall of Freugh were killed at the battle of Pinkie in 1547. The widely reputed Chief Uchtred Macdowall of Garthland and Uchtred the younger, defended cadet stirps in a feud with cousins, the Gordons of Lochinvar and they were drawn into the Gowrie conspiracy of 1582 against JAMES VI who later made warrant to delete their summons. The younger Uchtred then married Janet Gordon of Lochinvar and in 1598 he beseiged the Kennedy Earl of Cassilis to obtain legal terms on feud properties the Earl had claimed by force of arms.

In 1613 Sir John Macdowall of Garthland, in the court of JAMES VI, petitioned for the restoration of the Lordship of Galloway that had been dormant in the Crown since the Douglas attainder in 1455, which was then achieved by his first cousin, Sir Alexander Stewart Lord Garlies as Earl of Galloway. Sir John's son Sir James, a Commissioner of the Estates and an M.P. in 1644, raised men to suppress the Irish rebellion as did Alexander McDouall of Logan and Uchtred McDouall of Freugh and he took a force of the Scots army to relieve CHARLES I outside Newark where he was knighted in 1647. John McDouall of Freugh was a high Royalist in support of CHARLES I and escaped from capture but his house "Balgreggan" and his fortalice "Castle MacDougall" were burnt with their records. His grandson Patrick McDouall of Logan lost the Barony to John Graham of Claverhouse ("Bonnie Dundee") in protest to his martial law but it was recovered by his son Patrick with a charter to the "Barony of McDougall alias Freugh" in 1707.

William Macdowall of Garthland, M.P. under WILLIAM and MARY, lost his family archives when lent to Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh whose house Preston Hall and all in it were destroyed by fire in 1686. In 1725 Patrick McDouall of Logan married the Crichton heiress, Countess of Dumfries, which led to the listing of Freugh Macdowalls as collaterals of the Stuart Marquess of Bute. Similarly, the Macdowells or Makdougalls of Makerston became latent in 1722 when the heiress married Sir George Hay (Hay-Makdougall) whose heiress-granddaughter married Lieut. Gen. Sir Thomas Brisbane of that Ilk (Brisbane-Makdougall), 6th Governor of New South Wales, followed by their Aunt Ann Makdougall who married John Scott of Gala, and the Barony of Makerston was lost. After Peter Macdowall of Machermore disponed Cruggleton castle of ancient Galloway in 1606, that Barony also faded out.

Col. William Macdowall of Castlesemple, brother of Patrick in the Garthland family who died at the battle of Ramilies after taking supplies to relieve the Darien Expedition, brought the West Indian sugar trade to Scotland in 1725. His seven grandsons included William Macdowall of Garthland and Castlesemple, M.P. in five Reform Parliaments and King's Lieut. of Renfrewshire (1793-1810); James, Provost of Glasgow; Gen. Hay Macdowall, conqueror of Ceylon and Commander-in-Chief of the army in India and Day Hort Macdowall whose son, Lieut. Gen. Day Hort Macdowall of Garthland and Castlesemple, Col. of 'The Buffs', was followed by his nephew Capt. Day Hort Macdowall, M.P. for Prince Albert, Sask., Canada, who helped to subdue the Riel Rebellion; he died not long before the McDoualls of Logan, Andrew and Nigel, who developed the Logan Botanical Garden but left that Feudal Barony dormant. His Grandson, Professor Fergus Day Hort Macdowall, former Research Scientist in Government of Canada, Ottawa, matriculated at the Lyon Court in 1987 as the Laird and Baron of the Feudal Baronies of Garthland and Castlesemple, Chief of the Name and Arms of Macdowall. He was born in and retired to Victoria, B.C., Canada but retains the site of Garthland Castle (1211) at Garthland Mains nr. Stranraer, Wigtownshire, Scotland and the substitute estate of Garthland with seat at Barr Castle nr. Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

I thank you and the Board of Directors of the Kyle family Society who on behalf of your officers and Members have paid me the high compliment of recognizing me as the Patron of your Society.

This conclusion is founded on our mutual antiquity in the South-West of Scotland and on the patronym shared by our Septs. The honour you have given to my House of ancient Galloway is magnified by the neighborly precedence of your ancestral Strathclyde Britons throughout ancient Cumbria.

Your "Commemorative Certificate" to me is a grand heraldic matriculation that I should like to value as an historic achievement for us all.

I am most grateful for your kind thoughts and I look forward to our collaborating at Scottish Games and related events.