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 Dalzell
Since 1259 over two hundred
different forms of this name have been recorded
from Dalzeel to Diyell and including the
abbreviation "DL", which approximates
is proper pronunciation. The name is of
Territorial origin from the old barony of Dalziel
in Lanarkshire. The name itself derives from the
Gaelic "dal-gheail", meaning
"white meadow", so named because of the
colour of the local clay soil. There are also
some from Shetland who bear the name; there, it
derives from the island of Yell. The hanged man
on the family’s Coat of Arms is said to have
come from the time of Kenneth II, when a member
of his court retrieved the body of the
king’s friend from a gibbet in enemy held
territory with the words "I Dare",
which is now the family motto. Thomas de Dalziel
is mentioned as a baron of Scotland in the Ragman
Roll of 1296, swearing fealty to Edward I of
England. He became one of the patriots who joined
Robert the Bruce in the struggle for Scottish
independence. Sir Robert Dalzell was created Earl
of Carnwath in 1639. His son, Robert, the second
Earl, was an active supporter of the Marquess of
Montrose, commander of the forces of Charles I in
the civil war in Scotland. Lord Clarendon
attributed the royalist feat at Naseby to the
Earl of Carnwath’s stopping the king’s
horse and redirecting the charge. The fifth Earl,
Sir Robert, fought with the Old Pretender in the
Jacobite rising of 1715 which resulted in the
forfeiture of his title and estates. Sir Thomas
Dalyell of The Binns in West Lothian was from one
of the oldest cadets of the name. He was an
eminent cavalier officer who fought with the
royalist forces at the Battle of Worcester in
1651, where he was captured and committed to the
Tower of London. He escaped and went to the
Continent for some years where he entered the
service of the Tsar of Russia who made him
general of cavalry. In 1666 Charles II appointed
him commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland;
his regiment was known as the Scots Grays.
The House of the Binns was
built by the general’s father in 1623; its
present form dates from around 1820 and it is
still the home of the Dalyells, the present
baronet being Tam Dalyell, the prominent Labour
Member of Parliament.
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