According to the ancient “Lennox Tradition”, a younger son of a Gaelic Earl of Lennox led his father’s men in battle for an unnamed King of Scots.  The fighting went badly and the Scots were “flat running away” until Donald of Lennox and his men stepped into the breach and saved the day.  The grateful King, declaring Donald as having “nae peer” (no equal), commanded him to take that name and give him lands in Fife and Lothian in eastern Scotland.

It is more likely, however, that the first Napiers in Scotland were among those Anglo-French knights and priests whom King David I and his successors brought north from England to establish law and order, feudalism and a hierarchical church.  Notable among them were the Bruces, Comyns, Balliols, and Stewarts, all later claimants to the crown of Scotland.  The first Napier of record in Scotland was Lord Adam Napier, listed among Anglo-French notables witnessing a charter in Aberdeen in 1243.

By 1280, John Napier held the lands of Kilmahew in Dunbartonshire of Malcolm, fourth Earl of Lennox.  He is the first traceable ancestor of the Scottish Napiers.  Although he signed the Ragman’s Roll in 1296 in submission to King Edward I of England, later he fought for Scottish independence.  As one of the 26 heroic defenders of Stirling Castle forced to surrender to Edward I in 1304, he was imprisoned in Shrewsbury Castle, Shropshire.  His descendants continued as Lords of Kilmahew for 18 generations until 1820. 

A William Napier was Constable of Edinburgh Castle at the end of the 14th century. It is not known what his relationship was to the Kilmahews Napiers but it is very likely that he came from that branch.  William received the lands of Wrightshouses, to the south of Edinburgh.  Another branch of the family obtained the lands of Merchiston, very near  Wrightshouses, in the 1430’s.  The Merchiston Napiers quickly became prominent at the royal court and have remained so until now.                               

The eighth Laird of Merchiston, John Napier (1550-1617) was the inventor of logarithms.  His eldest son, Archibald, accompanied King James VI and I in 1603 to London, where he served as Privy Councillor and became the first Lord Napier of Merchiston in 1627.  His, direct descendant, Nigel, 14th Lord Napier and fifth Baron of Ettrick, is Chief of the Name and Arms of Napier and Patron of Clan Napier in North America.  For many years he was private secretary and comptroller to H.R.H. the late Princess Margaret, Countess of  Snowdon, sister of Queen Elizabeth, the present queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In Scotland and England, Napiers were not only lairds and courtiers, but learned men and noted soldiers.  A Kilmahew cadet, Patrick Napier, was a barber surgeon to King Charles I in 1649.  His son Patrick, also a “chirurgeon”, came to Virginia in 1651, possibly as a prisoner of war from the battle of Worcester.  It is he who is the progenitor of most of the Napiers in America.