Sir Robert de Colquhoun, Knight

De Colquhoun II, Sir Robert Birth: ABT 1220 Dumbarton, , , Scotland Death: ABT 1280 Dumbarton, , , Scotland Gender: Male Parents: Father: Colquhoun, Umfridus_De_Kilpatrick 1st of

Family: Children: De Colquhoun III, Sir Ingelramus

COLQUHOUN CLAN - LOCH LOMOND

Colquhoun sometimes pronounced Co'hoon

Motto: If I can (Si Je Puis)

Crest: A stags head, couped, gules, attired, argent.

Badge: Hazel Saplings War Cry: Cnoc Ealachain

Pipe Music: The Colquhoun's March Plant

A Chief of the Colquhouns was issued a command by the King to seize the well-fortified Dumbarton Castle. He wrote the King back in French, the accepted universal language of the time, "Si Je Puis" (If I Can). The Chief gathered a group of men close to him and hid them in the woods outside of Dumbarton's gates. Then he lured a red stag (deer) by the gates chased by two greyhounds. The starving garrison in the castle opened the gates to chase the stag, whereupon the chiefs clansmen rushed the castle and captured it for the King. One of the most unusual details passed down with this story is that the Chief captured the castle without killing anyone which is remarkable not only for that time but for now, as well. The tour book that used to be passed out at Rossdhu states that the Chief could have been John Colquhoun 10th of Luss and the King, James I, who did choose Sir John to wrest the castle from the "too powerful" Lennox family in 1424.

Other sources say it could be Sir Robert 2nd de Colquhoun (1220-1280 AD) who apparently was the first to take the Colquhoun name (his father was the first Chief, Umfridus de Kilpatrick de Colquhoun).

Whatever the source of their name the Colquhouns have had a long, interesting and sometimes violent history. This Clan may well derive from a Norman immigrant family, or even earlier from a succession of Celtic Priests who were the custodians of the Crozier of St Kessog and who had lived on Monks Island on the loch. The name Colquhoun comes from the territory of that name situated to west of Loch Lomond.