The Clan Fionnlagh or Finlayson_ Collected from casual research by John 
Finlayson, Dunblane, Perthshire, SCOTLAND.


The clan has a peculiar story and from casual research, I have come to believe
the following and I submit the findings in the hope that any one interested
will corroborate or correct this as the case may be.

Fionnla (fair hero) was of the company of St.Columba which came to Iona in the sixth  
century. Eventually the clan took up residence at the Kyle of Lochalsh, but kept in  
touch with the missionary activities of Iona, providing for the preachers and teachers,  
guides and guards for the long pilgrimages and the serious work of spreading  
Christianity throughout the islands of the west and the central and northern mainland  
of Scotland.

These guides and guards did not always return to the clan centre at Lochalsh, but  
often remained in the vicinity of the mission centre. They were not servants as the  
MacGilchrists, but retained their status as equals and their duties accomplished, they  
received their rewards in the form of grants from the church these being lands, rights,  
and privileges.

This is expressed in the latin motto of the clan, "Coelitus Dutum" i.e. "granted by  
heaven", though the original or ultimate motto is "Haud On", typically Scotch as you  
will agree.

Thus it is that we find even now Finlaysons's the vicinity of every abbey, cathedral,  
and ancient ecclesiastical building in the district covered by the Celtic missionaries:-  
Elgin, Aberdeen, Dunfermline, Culross, Dunblane, Crieff, Stirling, Paisley, etc. The  
appearance of the name in industrial centres of course lies outwith this surmise, as  
movement of families is common where necessity calls.

Down the centuries then this continuous exodus from the clan centre at the Kyle of  
Lochalsh kept the members small there, resulting in the clan reticence and aloofness  
in the great Highland historical events, and there may also have been from it's  
associations with the church a wisdom and caution keeping the Finlayson's in the  
background of the wild enthusiasms which had an aftermath of much glamour – and  
also much more misery - among the clans.

When St. Margaret, that wise and gentle benefactor of our country, to whose memory  
and honour every Scottish heart and head should yield high place when St. Margaret  
sorted out her Highlanders with clan tartans, the Finlaysons got none, their number  
being insignificant and their church connections in the various districts rendering a  
distinguishing tartan unnecessary.

There is some slight reason for the mistaken association with the Clan Farquharson,  
whose tartan has been assumed by members of the Clan Finlayson. During the  
passage through Braemar to Aberdeen in St.Machars time it is recorded that strange  
happenings took place when the travelling party was in serious difficulties. Well, it  
may have been that a hostage was taken, the Finlay Farquharson who was standard  
bearer at the Battle of Pinkie during the "Rough Wooing" in 1547. 
There is also an assumption that the Finlayson are a sept of the M'Kinlays, but the  
missionary activities of the holy men of Iona, and the Clan participation therein,  
might have made them septs of every clan in Scotland.

The Clan badge - the deer holding the serpent in it's mouth - emblematical of the  
function of the clan in protecting the Church from the devil in the form of attack or  
danger, and the Clan's motto "Haud On" appear to make the Finlaysons a separate  
clan, though few in number I will be glad to hear from any Finlaysons interested in  
the Clan Macphionnlaigh.