The Macleans of Duart are Celtic. They claim descent from a famous Celtic warrior, Gillean of the Battle Axe, and, have lived in Mull from a very remote time. They were vassals of the Lords of the Isles, but became independent on the forfeiture of the latter in 1476.
In many old deeds and Acts of Parliament their chief is styled “Laird of Maclean." Duart Castle, facing Lismore, is their family stronghold. Their Chief, Hector, was slain at Flodden. Lachlan Cattanach Maclean of Duart left his wife on a low rock, hoping that the returning tide would drown her, but she was rescued, and her husband was assassinated in Edinburgh by her brother, Sir John Campbell.
Another Lachlan harried the other Macleans and the MacDonalds. He fell in battle with the MacDonalds of Islay in 1598. Sir John Maclean fought with Claverhouse at Killiecrankie and with Mar at Sheriffmuir. The clan was in the front line at Culloden under the Duke of Perth. On the death of Sir Hector Maclean in 1750 the title
passed to his cousin, great-grandson of Maclean of Brolass, from whom descended the centenarian Chief, Colonel Fitzroy Donald Maclean of Duart and Morvern, Bart., who restored the ancestral castle of Duart in Mull.