The History of the Clan Hay

In 1066, The de la Hay's were loyal supporters who followed William the Conqueror to England.

William de la Haye, Butler of Scotland, was granted a charter of the feudal Barony of Erroll in Perthshire in 1178.

Sir Gilbert de la Haye, third feudal Baron of Erroll, and co-Regent of Scotland in 1255; married Lady Idoine, daughter of William Comyn, Earl of Buchan, and sister of the Constable of Scotland.

Their grandson, Sir Gilbert Hay, was rewarded for his loyalty to Robert the Bruce by being given the Lands of Slains in Aberdeenshire, and being made Lord High Constable of Scotland. In 1314 this title was made hereditary and is still enjoyed by the present chief. In addition, the Earl of Buchan's castle near Turriff was granted to the Hays of Delgatie, after the Battle of Bannockburn.

Sir Thomas Hay, 3rd Constable of Scotland, married Robert II's daughter Elizabeth.

Sir William Hay, 5th Constable of Scotland, was created Lord Hay in 1449, and Earl of Erroll and Lord Slains in 1452. He married Beatrix, daughter of the Earl of Douglas.

Armorial of the Clan Hay

In 1650, during the Civil War, Sir William Hay of Delgatie was captured and executed in Edinburgh, together with his Royalist comrade, the Earl of Montrose.

During the reign of James VI, the Hays were declared as rebels, when they refused to convert from Catholicism, and were forced into exile. Slains Castle was blown up, and remains a ruin to this day. The Hays eventually returned to Scotland and converted to the reformed religion.

On the death of the last Hay, Mary, in 1758, the title was passed to her great nephew James Boyd, who assumed the name Hay and the chieftainship of the Clan.

The 18th Earl was Lord High Constable during George IV's visit to Scotland in 1822, and he lavished a fortune on the affair, which nearly ruined him.

The 19th Earl, William Hay, fought in the Crimea where he was wounded in the Battle of Alma in 1854. He was passionately concerned for the welfare of his people, and founded the fishing village of Port Erroll.

His son, Major General Charles Hay, the 20th Earl, saw action in the Boer War and commanded the Household Cavalry and was lord-in-waiting to Edward VII.

It would appear that the DELGATIE families were subjugates of the Hays since Norman times, and are regarded as a Sept of the Clan Hay.