Clan Nicolson

The surname Nicolson means "son of Nicol". The personal name Nicol meaning "victory people". The surname is shared by two Scottish clans—the lowland Clan Nicolson and the unrelated Clan MacNeacail of Skye. This is because in late 17th century members of Clan MacNeacail began to Anglicise their Gaelic name to Nicolson.[2]

According to the heraldry of the Clan Nicolson and the Clan MacNeacail the two clans are linked: The chiefs of both clans have a gold shield with birds of prey, with falcons for the Nicolsons and hawks for the MacNeacails.[3] However, there is little genealogical evidence to support a link between the chiefs of the two clans.[3] The In Scottish Gaelic, Nic signifies daughter.[3] The Norse raided all around the coast of Scotland as well as the north of England, and the name Nicolson can also be found throughout Tyneside and Yorkshire in England.[3]

During the Scottish–Norwegian War, the last Norse king who invaded Scotland, Haakon IV of Norway, sent an advance party under Anders Nicolassen who was his foster brother and one of his chief barons, to plunder the Isle of Bute before joining the main Norse fleet off the coast of Largs.[3] In the ensuing Battle of Largs the Norsemen were defeated but there is a persistent tradition that Anders Nicolassen settled in Scotland after he had been sent as an envoy from Norway to conclude the Treaty of Perth.[3] The treaty finally ceded Norwegian sovereignty of the isles over to the king of Scotland.[3]

The chiefly line of Clan Nicolson claims descent from James Nicolson, an Edinburgh lawyer who died around 1580.[3] His ancestors had been burgesses of Aberdeen in the 15th century. He had two sons, John and James.[3] James entered the Church and became Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1595.[3] By 1606 he was appointed Bishop of Dunkeld, though died in 1607.[3] James's older brother, John, acquired the lands of Lasswade from Sinclair of Dryden in 1592.[3] In 1629, his son was created a Baronet in Nova Scotia as Nicolson of that Ilk and Lasswade.[3] His titled was succeeded by his grandson who became a Commissioner of Parliament for Edinburgh in 1672.[3]

The direct male line however died out by 1826, and the titles were claimed by a descendant of the branch descending from Nicolson Bishop of Dunkeld.[3]

The title Baron of Carnock passed to another cousin Major General Sir William Nicolson, who was an only son of George Nicolson of Tarviston. The general saw service in the Americas, India, Ireland and Mauritius. He died in 1820 to be succeeded by his son, Admiral Sir Frederick Nicolson. In 1879, the admiral's eldest son, Frederick, was killed fighting the Zulus, so the title was passed to the second son, Arthur, in 1899.[3] In June 1916 Arthur was created Baron Carnock of Carnock.[4]

In the 1980s, David Nicolson, 4th Baron Carnock petitioned the Lord Lyon King of Arms to be recognised as the chief of Clan Nicolson, in virtue of his ancestor—John Nicolson of that Ilk, 1st Baronet of Lasswade (d. 1651). At around the same time another Nicolson was in the process of putting forward a petition to become chief of the Highland Nicolsons.[5] In 1985, after matriculating arms, David Nicolson, 4th Baron Carnock was recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms as chief of the name Nicolson. The position of chief of clan Nicolson is currently vacant,[6] although Adam Nicolson, 5th Lord Carnock, could legitimately claim it.