Hamish

Hamish was born in 1318, but by 1323 he had been orphaned; his father James was killed in the Scottish invasion of 1322 and his mother died in early child birth bought on by her husband’s death. Luckily Hamish was taken in by his Uncle Hugh, who had gained lands, honour and a title under Robert the Bruce. He already had children, 3 sons and 2 daughters, and felt that another child would not make much difference for him but educated in the right way would make a difference to Scotland.

So young Hamish began training as a page and then a squire, learning about the ways of court, all forms of fighting and warfare, arms, and armour. He did well in all areas, but seemed fascinated mostly by armour. He interest grew and he spent more and more time skiving off to watch the armour smith at work than practising. Eventually the smith began to allow Hamish to work on some small metal projects. His uncle had finally decided to give into his interest as he felt it wouldn’t last once he had permission to do it. Hamish however took to the work with enthusiasm, passion and talent. Within a short period of time Hamish proved himself to be a skilled and talented armourer. His Uncle realised that this was not such a bad thing, after all a good armourer in the family was an advantage. As his skills grew and his work became well known Hamish felt stifled under his Uncles restrictive life. He had worked for many years providing armour for his family and selling his increasingly sought after work to his Uncle’s friends, and he felt it was time for him to move on.

His uncle was not happy but could do little to prevent Hamish leaving. So in 1345 he began his travels across Scotland. Over time his reputation grew, so did the amount he could charge and it was not long before Hamish could ask any price he wanted. He was also under duress to associate himself with a household rather than continue his nomadic life through Scotland. Hating to be put under such pressure and realising how limited his options were in Scotland, Hamish began to consider going further afield to England or maybe France.

He was travelling near Haddoe, Aberdeenshire and heard of a Knight, Alexander de Gordon, who was preparing to travel into England. Seizing the opportunity he introduced himself to the Knight, who charged him with the repair of his armour as a test of his skills. Hamish agreed but declared, on inspection, the armour really needed replacing not repairing. De Gordon said he didn’t have the time before he was to leave to have complete new armour made. Hamish suggested he could accompany the knight on his travels and work as they went. So Hamish McGregor joined Alex de Gordon’s entourage. When the Scottish knight joined forces with Sir John of Lancaster it couldn’t have been better for Hamish as they were to travel the country, therefore showing off Hamish’s work far and wide.