The Haldanes of Gleneagles

The Haldanes have been in Scotland for over 800 years, and their story illustrates many of the defining themes of Scotland's history. Haldanesplayed significant roles in the Bruce war of independence, the political upheavals which accompanied the establishment of the Stewart dynasty,the religious struggles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Darien Scheme and the Act of Union, the Jacobite rebellions, thedevelopment of the East India Company, and in the theological controversies of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, Haldanes arestill to be found in the public eye with some influence on matters of national significance.In this book, Neil Stacy follows the fortunes of the family, highlighting the extraordi-nary contribution they have made in so many areas as wellas uncovering some of the more colourful episodes in the family's history, such as long-buried secrets of romance in the teeth of parentalopposition, a military career threatened by a youthful liaison with a blackmailing barmaid, and an attempt to run a temperance hotel in thewestern Highlands which ended in high farce.