Clan Fletcher
Arrow-makers to the great clans, patriots in their own right.
Motto
Dieu pour nous
— God for us
What does the Fletcher name mean?
From the French 'flèche' — arrow. The Fletchers were arrow-makers, and clans across Scotland included a Fletcher sept.
The history of Clan Fletcher
The name derives from the French 'flèche' — arrow. Fletchers are found across Scotland because they followed the clans for whom they made arrows: with the Campbells and Stewarts in Argyll, with the MacGregors in Perthshire.
Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun (1653–1716), the great Scottish patriot, fiercely opposed the Act of Union of 1707 from his seat in the Scottish Parliament. During the 1745 Rising, Fletchers fought on both sides.
In the early 1800s, hundreds of Fletcher clansfolk were cleared from the Highlands by the Campbells of Breadalbane to make way for sheep — many emigrating overseas in what became part of the Highland Clearances.
Notable bearers of the Fletcher name
- Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, patriot and political theorist