Sir Thomas Urquhart

Sir Thomas Urquhart was born in 1611 into a family which had long held the hereditary sherrifdom of Cromarty. At one time the Urquharts owned extensive property throughout the Black Isle and Aberdeenshire. The family coat-of-arms includes 3 boars' heads which can just be deciphered in this Urquhart family tomb at Cullicudden Old Burial Ground.

During the 17^th century it was fashionable for nobles to turn to scholarly pursuits like writing. Sir Thomas was no exception. He studied at King's College in Aberdeen and completed his education with a course of European travel.

He was a keen Royalist and fought for Charles I who knighted him in 1641. He was also involved in the abortive attempt to place Charles's son (Charles II) on the throne. Unfortunately he was imprisoned by Cromwell after the Royalist defeat at Worcester. His estates were forfeited and he was forced into exile.

Despite these adventures, Sir Thomas still managed to produce many interesting works on a vast variety of subjects. He put forward a new style of trigonometry and wrote a colourful account of the Admirable Crichton. He produced a family genealogy which traced his ancestors back to Adam. He also tried his hand at a universal language which read backwards as well as forwards!

His most famous work, however, was the first English translation of ' Gargantuan and Pantagruel' by the French author Rabelais. It proved to be very popular and for many years was used as the standard translation.

Sir Thomas died in 1660 just as Charles II was being restored to the throne. It is said he died from a fit of excessive laughter on hearing this news!