The Greatest MacNabs

The man at the root of the entire MacNab line. By clan tradition, Abraruadh was a younger son of Kenneth MacAlpin, first King of the Scots and Picts, who placed him as the hereditary Abbot of Glendochart and Strathearn in Perthshire. Unlike Roman Catholic clergy, Celtic Christian abbots were not bound by celibacy. Abraruadh married, had sons, and those sons inherited the abbacy. Over generations, the hereditary abbots of Glendochart became a dynasty. Their name formed naturally: Mac an Aba, Son of the Abbot. Every MacNab, McNab, McNabb, Macnab, and MacNabb alive today carries the blood of this man. The descent from Kenneth MacAlpin through Abraruadh is consistent with centuries of independent clan genealogical record, though no 9th-century document survives to confirm it. No portrait exists. No tomb survives. Only the name remains, and it has never been broken.

After thirty years of legal limbo following the MacNab land forfeitures of 1306, it was Gilbert MacNab who clawed the clan back from the edge of extinction. In 1336, King David II, son of Robert the Bruce, issued a royal charter to Gilbert granting him the barony of Bovain in Glendochart. The Lord Lyon of Scotland later recognized Gilbert as the first undisputed Chief of Clan MacNab. He did not recover everything the clan had lost. But he laid a legal foundation where there had been none. Every MacNab chief who followed owes the legitimacy of their line to this single charter. Gilbert did not win battles or paint portraits. He did the harder thing: he kept the name alive through thirty years of dispossession and then built it back from one barony. That is enough to make him one of the most important MacNabs who ever lived.

Chief Finlay MacNab received a royal charter from King James IV in 1502, confirming the clan's restored holdings in Glendochart. But he is remembered above all for his military leadership. At the Battle of Glenboultachan on 3 February 1522, Finlay led his MacNab forces south from Loch Tay across the Highland passes to confront Clan MacNeish, who had terrorized the region for decades from their island stronghold on Loch Earn. The battle was savage. The MacNeish chief was killed. The majority of MacNeish fighting men died that day. The clan poet MacCallum Glas later recorded that he managed to drag only twenty MacNeish survivors to the safety of their island refuge. It was the single most decisive military victory in MacNab history until his son finished the job ninety years later. Finlay also survived the catastrophic Battle of Flodden Field in 1513, where his son (the 8th Laird) reportedly died. He was buried at Killin on the MacNab lands of Ewer and Leiragan. A red lichen-covered stone in the glen of Glenboultachan is said to mark the spot where the MacNeish chief fell. It can still be found today.

A significant figure in New Zealand's political and intellectual history. Robert McNab was born near Invercargill in the South Island, the son of Scottish immigrants. He became a lawyer, farmer, and politician, entering Parliament in 1899. He served as Minister of Lands and Minister of Agriculture from 1906 to 1908, and as Minister of Justice and Minister of Marine from 1915 until his death in 1917. He was simultaneously one of New Zealand’s most important early historians. Beginning in the late 1890s he conducted systematic research into New Zealand’s European discovery and colonial history, producing the landmark Historical Records of New Zealand (published 1908-1914) at the request of the government. In 1913 he donated his personal collection of 4,200 books on history and geography to the Dunedin Public Library, an act of remarkable generosity that remains one of the largest private donations to a New Zealand library. He died in office in 1917.

A Scottish painter who lived to the remarkable age of 91, producing work across most of the 20th century. Chica Macnab worked in a bold, colourful style influenced by the post-impressionist tradition. Her work captures Scottish landscapes and figurative subjects with a directness and vitality that sets it apart from the more conservative mainstream of Scottish art of her era. She exhibited regularly throughout her career. Her longevity alone speaks to extraordinary resilience, but it is her sustained artistic output across nine decades that marks her as one of the quietly remarkable MacNabs of the 20th century.

One of the most important figures in 20th century British printmaking, and a MacNab of genuine hereditary distinction: he was hereditary armourer and standard bearer to the Macnab of Macnab. Born in Iloilo in the Philippines to a Scottish banking family, Iain Macnab was educated at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh and studied at Glasgow School of Art and Heatherley’s School of Fine Art in London. He served in France in World War I and then built one of the most influential art teaching careers in British history. In 1925, he became the founding principal of the Grosvenor School of Modern Art at his house in Pimlico, London, where he assembled a faculty that included Claude Flight, Sybil Andrews, and Cyril Power. The Grosvenor School became the crucible in which the British linocut was developed as a major fine art form. Macnab’s insistence on the importance of rhythm, line, and movement in composition shaped an entire generation of British printmakers. He served again in World War II and returned to teaching afterwards. His work is held in the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Ashmolean, the Fitzwilliam, and the Government Art Collection. He was exhibited in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of 1930. His books Figure Drawing (1936) and The Student’s Book of Wood Engraving (1938) remained standard reference texts for decades. He died in London on Christmas Eve 1967.

A Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church who served in the Caribbean, Juan Conway McNabb was appointed Bishop of Mandeville in Jamaica and served the Diocese for many years. He represented the global reach of the McNabb name into religious leadership across the English-speaking world, carrying the traditions of the name from its origins in the Celtic Christian abbacy of Glendochart to episcopal service on the opposite side of the Atlantic. He died in 2016 at the age of 91.

The son of the Olympic gold medallist James Alexander MacNabb, James Charles served as the 23rd Chief of Clan Macnab, recognized by the Lord Lyon. His most enduring act as Chief was the gifting of Innis Bhuidhe, the ancient MacNab burial ground on the Falls of Dochart at Killin, to the MacNab Memorial Trust in 1987. This single act ensured that the island where nine MacNab chiefs are buried would remain in MacNab ownership in perpetuity. It restored what had been sold away in 1823 after the foreclosure of the estate. He died in 2013. The current 24th Chief, James “Jamie” William McNab of Macnab, carries on his work.

One of the finest left backs of his generation in English football. Robert McNab was born in Huddersfield and signed by Arsenal in 1966 for a then-substantial fee of £50,000. He spent the peak years of his career at Arsenal, making over 200 appearances for the club. His greatest achievement came in the 1970-71 season, when Arsenal completed the First Division and FA Cup Double under manager Bertie Mee, one of the rarest achievements in English football. McNab was a key figure in that double-winning defence. He earned four full England international caps and represented his country with distinction. After his playing career he spent time in the United States, where he was involved in coaching and the development of soccer in America during the formative years of the NASL. His career stands as one of the most complete in English football of the 1960s and 70s.

Note: “Andy McNab” is a pen name adopted for security reasons. His real identity remains protected under British law. Whatever his birth name, he chose McNab as the name he would carry into history, and he has earned it. He enlisted in the British Army in 1976 with the Royal Green Jackets, was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in Northern Ireland in 1980, and in 1984 was badged into 22 SAS Regiment, B Squadron, the most elite special forces unit in the British military. In January 1991, during the Gulf War, he commanded Patrol Bravo Two Zero deep inside Iraq with orders to destroy underground communications links and locate mobile Scud missile launchers. The patrol was compromised. In the ensuing contact and escape attempt, three of the eight-man patrol were killed, one escaped to Syria, and McNab and three others were captured. He was held for six weeks and systematically tortured before being released on 5 March 1991. He received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions. By the time he left the SAS in 1993, he was the British Army’s most highly decorated serving soldier. His 1993 memoir Bravo Two Zero became the best-selling work of British military history ever published, selling over 1.4 million copies in the UK alone. He has since written over 30 books. Whatever name he was born with, he chose McNab, and McNab is what he is.

A significant figure in British alternative rock. Ian McNabb is best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist of The Icicle Works, a band formed in Liverpool in 1980 that achieved notable chart success through the mid-1980s with singles including “Love Is a Wonderful Colour” and the anthemic “Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream).” The Icicle Works were critically acclaimed for their blend of post-punk energy and melodic sensibility, often compared to Echo and the Bunnymen and Big Country. After the band dissolved, McNabb launched a successful solo career and was credited by critics with influencing the Britpop movement of the 1990s. His debut solo album Truth and Beauty (1993) was made with members of Crazy Horse (Neil Young’s band) and received strong critical praise. He has continued to record and perform, maintaining a loyal following across four decades of music-making.

The only MacNab to hold the title of International Chess Grandmaster, the highest title in the game, awarded by FIDE (the World Chess Federation). Colin McNab is a Scottish chess player who earned the Grandmaster title through consistent performance at the highest competitive levels. He has been a multiple winner of the Scottish Chess Championship and has represented Scotland in international team competition. Chess at Grandmaster level is an intellectually demanding pursuit that requires sustained performance over years and against opponents of world class. McNab’s achievement of that title places him among the most cognitively formidable MacNabs in recorded history.

One of Australia’s most successful crime fiction writers. Claire McNab wrote the long-running Detective Inspector Carol Ashton series, beginning with Lessons in Murder in 1988, which ran to over 15 novels and built a devoted international readership. Her work was notable not only for its plotting and procedural authenticity but for its pioneering representation of a lesbian police detective as a central protagonist, breaking ground in Australian crime fiction at a time when such representation was rare. The Ashton series was published internationally and translated into multiple languages. McNab also wrote the Denise Cleever thriller series. She was born in Australia of Scottish heritage and remained a prolific author into her later years, producing work that was simultaneously commercially successful and culturally significant. She died in 2022.