The Clan Leask

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There are several possible origins of this name. It may come from the Anglo-Saxon 'lisse' (happy), it means "A stirring fellow" in Norse, it may have also come from Liscus, chief of a tribe of Gauls, it may have come from a French family called de Lesque, and there is also an early mention of Erik Leask. Also, the name William de Laskereske is on the Ragman Roll of 1292, which was submitted to Edward I of England.

Local records from the early seventeenth century record that William Lask and his tenants attending a newly reformed church at Ellon. Half the lands of Henry de Brogan, Lord of Achlowne, were inherited by the second known chief in 1390. He then appears as a witness to a charter by the Earl of Orkney in 1391. Then, sometime near the middle of the next century, the earl at that time formed a court around his palace at Kirkwall, from which developed a branch that can still show the longest unbroken male lines in the family.

The family was struck by disaster at the end of the seventeenth century when they borrowed to invest in the Darien scheme. It was a trading venture to South America that was started with high expectations, but ended up turning out miserably. Because of this, Alexander Leask was forced to sell off his estates to pay the family's debts.

There is little record of the family from then until 1963, when a descendant was able to buy back a portion of the land and establish the Leask society with the help of several other prominent members of the family. The present chief was recognized for her lifetime by Lord Lyon in 1968 and re-established a line of descent which has secured the bloodline for at least the next two generations.


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