On this day in 1663, Mcalaster of Loup and Mcalaster, Captain of Tarbert, were among those appointed justices of the peace for Argyllshire. These commissions were to last until the king decided to issue new orders.[1] The appointment of these men to a position of civic responsibility suggests that for the moment, both of the clan’s main branches were on the right side of the law. That might have had something to do with the company they were keeping: Most of the other appointees were either Campbells or Macleans. Apparently Clan Alasdair’s leaders had distanced themselves from the Macdonalds after MacColla’s rising ended in disaster in 1647. 

Neither Macalister’s personal name is given in transcription, so perhaps they were illegible. I think this is probably the last record of Hector Macalister, 6th of Loup. He was certainly dead by June 1665, when his son is called ‘Laird of Loup’ in a land document (13 June 1665) and ‘Gorrie M’Alister of Loup’ in his brother’s wedding contract (30 June 1665).[2]

Copyright (c) Lynn McAlister, 2012