JOHN’S A FYNE CHOICE TO BE CLAN CHIEF
Actor fills role that’s been empty since 1493
A SCOTS clan has chosen its first new chief in more than 500 years.
Actor and writer Sir John McEwen will take up the role with Clan MacEwen in the summer.
Members, who include McEwens, McEwans, McCuins, McEwings and other spelling variants, will meet near their ancestral home at Loch Fyne to make the nomination official.
The last chief was Swene McEwen, who died in 1493.
Father-of-four Sir John, 53, who lives on a smallholding near Duns, in the Borders, hopes becoming chief will allow the clan to make some contribution to Scottish life.
He said: “There’s an awful lot of McEwen doctors, writers, poets and politicians. Clans seem to have a particular identity.
“It would be nice to somehow foster that. Perhaps that could be through charity work, sponsoring a young McEwen, or promoting positive parts of Scotland.
“I would like the clan to be part of modern Scotland. It can give a sense of coherence, identity and belonging.
“Genealogy is the second most popular area to search on the internet. People are interested in their family history.”
In the 50s, the clan, whose motto is “We Shall Rise Again” approached Sir John’s grandfather Sir Jock McEwen, to see if he’d consider becoming chief.
Sir Jock was a poet and MP for Berwickshire and Haddington who served under Winston Churchill as a Lord of the Treasury from 1942 to 1944.
Sir John, 53, said: “It didn’t work out at the time.
“It was about 1992 when the clan society first got in touch with me. They contacted me because my grandfather was made a baronet. But I’m just an actor and writer who looks after my kids and digs the garden.
“It took until 2014 when we had a derbhfine ( family convention) and I was made commander of Clan MacEwen. You have to keep your nose clean to move on to the next stage and you’re approved to become chief.”