Clan Burnett

Clan Motto

Deus juvat
God assists

Chief

JAMES BURNETT OF LEYS
House of Crathes
Banchory
Kincardineshire
AB31 5QE Associated Names

The History of the clan

Although this Clan claims to be of Norman despondence it is also possible that they are connected to the Saxon family of Burnard who had estates in England before the Norman conquest. The name Burnett is a variant of Burnard from the Old English Saxon personal name ‘beornheard’ meaning ‘bear hand’ but is also sometimes romantically translated as ‘brave warrior.’ Alexander Burnett was a faithful partisan of Robert the Bruce and upon defeating the English was rewarded with a grant of land in the Royal forest of Drum with the title of forester.

In the main hall of the ancient seat of the Burnett’s Crathes Castle, the ivory horn named “The Horn of Leys,” said to have been presented by Bruce as a mark of the barony and title bestowed upon Burnett, still remains. Other distinguished Burnetts include Robert Burnett, raised to the Scottish judiciary as Lord Crimond in 1661 and whose son, Gilbert, became an eminent historian and clergyman. In 1698 he was appointed preceptor to the Duke of Gloucester who was Queen Anne’s son.

The distinguished 18th century lawyer, philosopher and judge, James Burnet of Monboddo (born 1714), was the son of George Burnet and Elizabeth Forbes, sister of the Laird of Craigievar. As a descendant of the eleventh Laird of Leys, he studied law in the Netherlands and at the University of Edinburgh before being admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1737. He gained his reputation as one of the counsel in the famous peerage case named ‘The Douglas Cause.’ As an intellectual with varied interests, including the origins of man, he was ridiculed for his belief that man was related to apes and originally had tails. On the other hand he also believed in mermaids and satyrs.

The poet Robert Burns frequently received Monboddo at his house in Edinburgh. George Burnet finally died in 1799 aged 85. Charles Burnett, a prominent museum curator, is Ross Herald at the Court of the Lord Lyon.