W. Maclauchan of Edinburgh Scottish shotgun

[Arnie Dowd]

Help  -  Since my library is focused on American firearms and especially Kentucky's
can some one help with where and when this Scottish maker worked.  The gun is sweet little percussion 20 ga. SXS in lovely condition and the workmanship is typical of what one would expect in a fine English or Scottish birding gun.
Thank You,
Arnie

[Arnie Dowd]

Just noted that I left the "L" out of the name !!

[Feltwad]

William Mclauchlan Gunmaker  was first recorded as working at 8, Lothian St Edinburgh in 1806,15 Lothian St 1811, 37 Nicolson St 1814, moving to 39 Nicolson St 1815, Frederick St 1830,  Home St 1848 , last recorded at 2 Morrison St 1849,
Feltwad

[Arnie Dowd]

Feltwad -  That has to be him even though the listing left out the "a" in Mac which is quite clear on the locks.  However the "u" in the name is much less common as
it is a carryover from the Irish spelling.  Thank You very much for the info.
Arnie

[woodsrunner]

I remember having read years ago that it was common for the Scot-Irish in Northern Ireland to spell their names "Mac" which denoted being Protestant in religious leanings, whereas those Irish who were Roman Catholic usually dropped the "a" spelling it simply "Mc". Am I right about this? Feltwad, do you know?

[JV Puleo]

Its pretty unlikely that there is any significance to that for a number of reasons. There are plenty of Scottish Catholic families that used "Mac" and "Mc" interchangeably. In fact, in the early 19th century is was often written simply M' (i.e. M apostrophe)... The whole notion of consistent spelling is a 20th century invention and it is still very common for there to be multiple spellings of the same name in the same family. Often enough many of these people couldn't read. My great-grandmother, Elizabeth MacDonald, signed her name both ways. That was all she could do... she couldn't read.

[woodsrunner]

What you say makes a lot of sence, JV. One of my family names is McDonnel, and in old family papers I've also seen it spelled McDonell, McDonald and Mcdonel. But always without an "a" as in Mac. Now these were all North Carolina/South Carolina border folks, and about as far removed from being Roman Catholic as you can get! Yet no "a" in Mc!