Clan Cathcart Places & People

Clan Cathcart People

General Charles Schaw Cathcart, 9th Lord Cathcart (1721-1776)

The son of Charles Cathcart, 8th Lord Cathcart and Marion Shaw. Opposed to the restoration of the Stuart monarchy, he became an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland and during the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745, was shot in the face. Joshua Reynolds’ portrait (1753-5) shows the black silk patch he used to cover the scar on his cheek. This seemingly earned him the soubriquet ‘Patch Cathcart’. The following year at the Battle of Culloden again acting as ADC to Cumberland, Cathcart was once more wounded in battle.

Charles was the last Lord Cathcart to inherit the family estate of Sundrum. Upon inheriting his mother’s estates in Greenock he sold Sundrum to James Murray of Broughton in 1758. In 1763 he was created a Knight of the Order of the Thistle. In February 1768 he was appointed ambassador at St Petersburg and was well received by Catherine the Great. He served at the Russian court until 1772. On his return to Britain he was elected Rector of Glasgow University in 1773.

He died on 14 August 1776.

Clan Cathcart Places

Cathcart Castle was built sometime in the 1400s on lands that had been in the Cathcart family since the 12th century. It is thought that construction of the fortress began around the time that the head of the Cathcart clan was made a Lord in the mid-15th century.

Cathcart Castle passed to the Semples in 1546, who abandoned it to ruin in 1740 after building Cathcart House, which has also since been demolished. In 1814, William Schaw Cathcart, 1st Earl Cathcart (son of the 8th Lord Cathcart), purchased the remains of the castle, but to sell the stones of the remains, rather than to rebuild the former stronghold. In 1927 Glasgow City Council purchased the lands around the castle, incorporating it into Linn Park. By 1980, the ruins of the castle were considered dangerous, and were removed by the council, with the foundations being the only part of the castle now remaining.