Clan Gunn get closer to appointing a chief

William Murray Gunn is making his claim to be recognised as Chief of Clan Gunn, one of Scotland's northernmost clans, with a bloodthirsty reputation that dates back centuries.
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Descended from the Vikings, and with lands that once encompassed Orkney, Caithness and Sutherland, Clan Gunn has survived into the 21st century despite having no chief for more than 200 years.

But now a 41-year-old former lorry driver has stepped forward to claim his right to be the new chieftain after years of dispute over who should be head of the family. William Murray Gunn is now in line to become the latest chief after the recent death of his father William Sinclair Gunn, a plasterer from Wick, who did not want the chieftanship. However, his death last year has left the door open for his son to make a claim.

Genealogists claim Gunn senior's heritage can be traced directly back to the previous chief, Morrison Gunn, who died in Gibraltar in 1785.

William Murray Gunn says he is now considering applying to the Lord Lyon to become the first recognised clan chief since the death of Morrison Gunn. Gunn's elevation to the largely ceremonial position would end years of argument about who is the rightful heir to the title, which used to come with ownership of three northerly castles: Dirlot, Clyth and Halberry, the 15th-century stronghold.

Hugh Peskett, the Scottish editor of Burke's Peerage, said he has proved that the line of descent should pass from Morrison Gunn to William Murray Gunn's father.

The clan claims descent from Sweyn Asleifsson, a warlike Norwegian known as "the Ultimate Viking", and a succession of medieval leaders who skirmished with warlike MacKays and Keiths in the north of Scotland. The Gunns fought with the government against the Jacobites in the 1745 rebellion. But with the death 40 years later of Morrison Gunn, an army officer who died childless, succession was thrown into doubt.

It was thought the chieftainship would fall to a first cousin, but the only one was in the Dutch Army at the time. As he had sworn allegiance to the Dutch Crown, he was disqualified.

When rival claims emerged in the 1990s, genealogists discovered that William Murray Gunn's great, great, great, great grandfather Robert Gunn, who was alive in the early 1800s, was a distant cousin of Morrison Gunn. They also found that Morrison Gunn and Robert Gunn had a common great grandfather, Donald Gunn, who lived between 1685 and 1709 and was clan chief.

While William Murray's father was still alive, however, the issue had been complicated by a rival claim from a Michael J Gunn, a historian descended from the same line.

William Sinclair Gunn was not interested in the chieftainship, and reportedly planned to resign in favour of Michael J Gunn. However that arrangement fell, leaving the succession undecided. While having no official chief, the clan does have a respected commander, appointed by the Lord Lyon in 1972 to fill the gap.

Earlier this month, Iain Alexander Gunn held the clan gathering, annual general meeting and dinner – along with clan presidents from North America and Australia – at his Caithness home.

The 76-year-old commander said he would welcome a resolution. "We are in limbo at the moment," he said. "I was appointed in 1972 until such time as the chiefship was resolved and I'm still here. If they find a legitimate chief, that's fine. The Lord Lyon is considering the questions that people have raised."

Note:Without a chief, Clan Gunn is an armigerous clan, without legal standing.

From Wikipedia: An armigerous clan refers to a Scottish clan, family or name which is registered with the Court of the Lord Lyon and once had a chief who bore undifferenced arms, but does not have a chief currently recognized as such by Lyon Court. Before 1745 all chiefs had arms; however, not all of these are recorded in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, which was only established in 1672. In Scottish heraldry undifferenced arms are only held by chiefs or heads of clans, families or names. A clan is considered a "noble incorporation" because a clan chief is a title of honour in Scotland and the chief confers his or her noble status onto the clan. Because armigerous clans do not have such chiefs, they are not recognised as noble communities and have no legal standing under Scots law.