Walter MacFarlane

This article is about the 18th-century Scottish antiquarian. For the Canadian bard and soldier, see Walter Scott MacFarlane. For the 19th-century Glasgow ironfounder and his eponymous foundry, see Saracen Foundry.

Walter MacFarlane or MacFarlan (died 8 June 1767) was a Scottish antiquarian and 20th chief of the Clan MacFarlane.[1]

MacFarlane was the second son of John MacFarlan of Arrochar (d. 1705), chief of clan MacFarlane, and Helen (d. 1741), daughter of Robert, 2nd Viscount of Arbuthnott.[2] His date of birth is uncertain: he is known to have been under twenty-one in 1709, so was certainly born after 1689, and possibly not long before the death of his father in 1705, when he succeeded as chief of Clan MacFarlane.[2]

He was the author of a number of "collections", among them multi-volume genealogical works. His Geographical Collections relating to Scotland, a work in three volumes that collected historical, geographical, and folkloristic information dating from 1600 to 1730.[3] MacFarlane had gathered much of the material in 1748–49;[4] it was published posthumously by the Scottish History Society in 1906, edited by Arthur Mitchell.[1] The work included a large number of observations recorded by Robert Sibbald, who had attempted a methodical survey of Scotland's parishes.[5]

  1. ^ a b MacFarlane, J. (1922). History of Clan MacFarlane. Glasgow. pp. 130–33. ISBN 9785872257424.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ a b Pollard and Du Toit 2005.
  3. ^ Smout, T. C. (2005). "Soils, Bogs and Woods". Exploring Environmental History: Selected Essays: Selected Essays. Edinburgh UP. pp. 135–52. ISBN 9780748635146.
  4. ^ Withers, Charles W. J. (2001). Geography, Science and National Identity: Scotland Since 1520. Cambridge UP. p. 143. ISBN 9780521642026.
  5. ^ Cramsie, John (2015). British Travellers and the Encounter with Britain, 1450–1700. Boydell & Brewer. p. 420. ISBN 9781783270538.