Thomas of Galloway

Who was Thomas of Galloway?

Thomas of Galloway, known in Gaelic sources as Tomás Mac Uchtraigh, was a Gall-Gaidhil prince and adventurer. The son of Lochlann, king of Galloway, Thomas was an active agent of his brother Alan of Galloway as well as the English and Scottish kings. When King John, the English monarch, decided that central and western Ulster were to be added to his dominions, he conscripted Thomas and Alan of Galloway to his aid, offering them much of later counties Antrim, Londonderry and Tyrone as incentive.

Thomas had begun his recorded career as a mercenary in Angevin service, and obtained much land in Ireland while gaining several victories with his fleet. In Scotland he obtained from William the Lion marriage to Isabella of Atholl, heiress to the province of Atholl in central Scotland. Although little is otherwise known about his life in Scotland, he was involved in the affairs of Coupar Angus Abbey, while much of his Irish activity coincided with and supported the interests of the Scottish ruling dynasty there in opposing the allies of the MacWilliams. He left one heir in Patrick, mormaer of Atholl, but the latter's premature death at the hands of the Bisset family meant that Thomas's line had failed by the 1240s.