BattlefieldsGraham Clan Deportation 1605
English Civil War

Graham Clan Deportation 1605

1605
Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
Era
English Civil War
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Graham Clan
Forces
Graham clan resistance
VS
Victor
Border Commission
Forces
Border Commission c.200
Outcome
Graham clan forcibly deported to Low Countries; Debatable Land pacified; clan's reiver power broken
The Battle

History & Significance

The Graham clan of the Debatable Land — the most persistently troublesome of all the Border families — were subjected to forced deportation in 1605 by the Border Commission. Some two hundred Grahams and their dependants were forcibly shipped to serve as soldiers in the Low Countries under the terms of a scheme devised by the commissioners. Those who tried to return were hunted down. The deportation broke the coherence of the Graham clan as a territorial force. Many Grahams eventually returned informally or settled in Ireland under the Plantation, but as a raiding community they were destroyed.

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