Hugh Bruce Cunningham
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Hugh Bruce Cunningham (1694 - 1790) was a Scottish dominie or minister who was cursed by the Pope for being an Orangeman and for "inflicting great slaughter in battle". He and his son, Roderick, both refused knighthoods from the English King William III.
According to legend, Cunningham was the direct descendant of a Norwegian Thane of great power and influence whose descendants sailed across the North Sea to Scotland in the 16th century. The son of Donald Cunningham, a ruthlessly strict dominie or minister (who was reputed to "thrash any of his congregation who would not contribute one-tenth of his earning to the kirk, or who had not committed the Presbyterian creeds to memory") and his wife Isobel Gordon, Hugh was "of a fiery disposition" and was as ruthless as his father. He married Helen Bruce.
For their loyalty to the Protestant cause, he and his son were offered knighthoods by William III, and were granted coats of arms. Both refused the offer and sent back the escutcheon, in protest at having to take the oath of fealty by kissing the Bible. They would only "swear with uplifted hand". This was taken as an insult to the throne and all official records of the family were stricken off. The English government also insisted that henceforth all English 'Cunninghams' spell the name 'Conyngham', so as to dissociate themselves from Hugh and his son.
Outlawed by the throne, Hugh fled from Scotland to the town of Wexford in Ireland after having killed six of the Clan MacGregor for stealing their cattle. They later moved to the north of Ireland.
[edit] Sources
- "Genealogy of the Cunningham Family" - James Earl Cunningham, 1916
