STRACHAN, Hugh S. J., Prefect at Scots College Douai, served in Scots Mission, Reverend Mr ¹

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  General Notes:

"DOUAI DIARY

1693.

487. 31 Jan. Hugo Strachan, 21 annorum, ex patre ministello haeretico Jacobo Barone de Thornton et matre Catharina Ross de Pittendrich. 3 Junii 1693 factus societatis Tornaci, inde post 3 menses missus in Bavariam et nunc in missione Scoti egregie laborat in vinea Domini apud montanos ."

[31 Jan. Hugh Strachan, 21 years old, son of the heretical minister James Baron of Thornton and his mother Catharine Ross of Pittendrich. 3 June 1693 became a member of the Society at Tournai, thence after 3 months sent to Bavaria and now in the Scottish mission he works exceptionally in the vineyard of the Lord among the highlanders.]

from Records of the Scots Colleges




"Strachan, Hugh, Father (Scotch), born May 4, 1672 ; entered the Society at Tournay, June 4, 1693. In 1700 he was Prefect at the Scotch College, Douay, in November of the following year was sent to the Scotch Mission, and was professed of the four vows March 25, 1710. He is named in a letter of 1712 as 'Mr. Ramsay, alias Strahan, in the district of Braemar, which is his mission, restored many to the worship of the true faith.' He died at Douay, March 23, 1745, aet. 73. (Stony hurst MSS.) ) He is named in a Scotch Catalogue for 1729 as a missioner in the Scotch Mountains (Highlands)."

from Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus




"James Ramsay of Thornton, alias Sir James Strachan, Episcopal minister at Keith, ejected at the Revolution had a son Hugh Ramsay or Strachan, born in 1672, who was converted in 1693 by Dr Jamieson, then a priest at Aberdeen. He was sent to Rome; but, in passing through Douay became a Jesuit. He returned a missionary to his native country in 1701, and died at Douay in 1745."

Hugh Strachan entered Douai College on 31 January 1693. He returned as a Catholic missionary to Scotland 'commonly know under the name of Ramsay'. He worked in Crathie, Kindrochit, Glemmuick and Glencarden or Glencairn in 1713 and was declared fugitive by the Lords Justiciary at Aberdeen."

"The remarkable Braemar register begun in 1703 by an earlier Jesuit, Fr Hugh Strachan...."

"Mr Hugh Strachan, a Jesuit, resides in Ardoch, Glengairn, which belongs to Callum Grierson alias McGregor of Dalfad who has built a house for him and a garden and furnishes him with all necessities."

from Epitaphs and Inscriptions ^{1 2}

  Research Notes:

OTHER JESUITS

"It may be added that, in addition to Hugh Strachan, or Ramsay, Dr Oliver gives the names of other five of this race who be- came Jesuits. Among these is Alexander, eldest son of the sixth baronet of Thornton, who ' succeeded to the title and its slender income, ' and died at Liege in 1793. He was for some time Tutor in a private family, and was succeeded by his brother Robert, who was long a mercantile clerk, and died at Exeter in 1826, aged about 90.

There were other two brothers. One went to America, and the other is said to have taken the title on the death of Sir Robert Strachan, after which it was assumed by his nephew, who died at Cliffden, Teignmouth. It is added that Sir Alexander, the Jesuit, was offered £5000 to give up his family papers to Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, and that, poor as he was, he refused the bribe. The Thornton papers are said to be in the possession of a family in Devonshire, to whom Sir Robert left any little that he died possessed of.

The property of Thornton now belongs to Alexander Crombie, Esq. of Pittarrow"

from Epitaphs and Inscriptions ³