Mill of Strachan
View of Clachnaben and the Maid of Strachan from the Mill of
Strachan
Home of Clan Strachan's Commander, Rob Strachan
The Mill of Strachan, Strachan, Aberdeenshire, is situated on the western outskirts of the village of Strachan.
The property is agricultural, and is used for sheep farming, a riding school, and a highland pony stud. As shown above, there are also two well stocked lochs totaling 8 acres, with one dedicated to fly fishing and the other larger 5 acre loch for bait and fly fishing. The lochs are stocked with rainbow trout, though brown and book trout have also been known to be caught.
Ben Strachan, CMG
Born in Edinburgh, Ben Strachan is a former British Ambassador. He saw war service in the Armoured Corps in France and Germany during World War II, where he was wounded and captured. He was wounded again in the Malayan campaign and eventually commanded a squadron of tanks. He has studied widely: Classics at school, Applied Science at Durham University and the Military College of Science, Arabic in Lebanon and Pure Mathematis at Aberdeen University. Ben served as an intelligence staff officer in Egypt and ended his 20 year military career as Deputy Head of MI 10 (technical intelligence) in London. He started his diplomatic career as head of the Middle East Section of the Foreign Office's counter-propaganda department and went on to head the information services of the British Colonial Government in Aden.
In 1963, Ben Strachan and his Danish wife, Lize, bought the Mill of Strachan, where they raised their family.
He returned to the Foreign Office in 1964, where he served as deputy head of the Scientific Relations Department, in which capacity he represented the British Government at various international scientific conferences, dealing in particular with nuclear energy and the space programme.
This was followed by posts in the British Embassies in Kuwait and Jordan , where, as Deputy to the Ambassador, he witnessed the civil war between the PLO and the Jordan Army.
This was followed by six years in Canada : 3 years in Toronto (as trade commissioner) and 3 years in Vancouver (as consul-general). Here he took advantage of the magnificent Canadian public libraries to read widely on scientific, philosophical and esoteric subjects.
In 1977 he returned to the Middle East to serve as ambassador to Yemen , where his knowledge of Arabic enabled him to enjoy Yemen 's unique and ancient cultural life.
Next followed three years as ambassador in war-torn Beirut , scene of the appalling suffering of the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples. He gained some notoriety in the British media by being the first senior British official to meet Yasser Arafat (privately and without government instructions!) The two hit it off surprisingly well and the dialogue prospered, eventually gaining official acquiescence. Ben likes to think that his initiative started a dialogue which was crowned years later by the Oslo accords between Arafat and Prime Minister Rabin.
After three harrowing years in Beirut , he was transferred to his last post, as ambassador to Algeria. A more positive era in British-Algerian relations was marked by the signing of a wide ranging British-Algerian Defence Agreement, an event which also marked Ben's 60th birthday and automatic retirement.
In 1990, he was invited out of retirement to be 'Special Adviser ( Middle East )'at the Foreign Office for the duration of the first Gulf War.
In his retirement in rural Scotland Ben has started several little businesses (with varying fortunes!) including a language school, a trout fishery, a small sheep farm and a wine importing business. He has also been active in local and Scottish politics and continues to serve on the Scottish Liberal Democrats Policy Committee.
At the age of 85, Ben completed a 4-year degree course in Mathematics at Aberdeen University.
He is blessed 5 children and 10 grand-children.
Due to overwhelming support from an online survey, in 2008, an attempt was made by the Clan Strachan Society to recognise Ben as Chief of the Name and Arms. Robin Blair, Lord Lyon King of Arms, informed the Society it had gone about it all wrong.
In 2014, due to poor health, Ben and Lize appointed their son Rob Strachan to be their family's Representor at the Strachan family Convention (or "Ad Hoc Derbhfine"), which was convened 11-APR under the Supervision of the Court of the Lord Lyon in Edinburgh. Rob is the eldest son of Ben and Lize Strachan, and heir apparent to the Mill of Strachan.
Ben died 12 July 2016, and Lize passed 17 January 2021.
Charles Robert (Rob) Lund Strachan
Rob Strachan, Commander of Clan Strachan
(2014-2024)
During the Family Convention, Rob was unanimously supported by all Family Convention Attendees and received warrants in 2014 and 2019 to serve as Commander of Clan Strachan.
Rob is very well travelled. Born 1960 in Munster W. Germany (BAOR) the family lived in 6 countries in the Middle East, interspersed with 6 years in Canada as his father Ben served as British Ambassador and diplomat.
Rob attended Loretto Nippers and Upper School, outside Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, 1969-77. Attended South London College 1980-81; and Harper Adams Agricultural College Shropshire , 1982-83.
In 1994 Rob and his partner bought a derelict Mill on the Isle of Mull and restored it to a three bedroom house where they lived for 10 years with their children.
Rob has significant experience in the construction and landscape industry, being self-employed for most of his life. Rob returned to The Mill of Strachan in 2008, where he built a home, restored the fish rearing ponds, the dams, and has been managing the fishery and rearing large Rainbow trout for the lochs at the Mill of Strachan.
Luke Strachan, Tanist
Rob has five children, eldest son Luke is heir apparent. Born at the Mill of Strachan 13 of Nov. 1985. Luke graduated from Saint Andrews with a degree in English and Anthropology. He has taught in the Marshall Islands, in the Pacific under the auspices of Harvard University, and in two Tibetan Temple schools in India. Luke worked for an aid organisation in London, and is currently the CEO of Wild Things, an environmental education charitable organisation. Luke met his wife at Saint Andrews University, and together they have two sons: Samuel and Jasper.
Mill of Strachan
The Mill of Strachan is thought to have been constructed in the late 18th century as there are markings outside the building showing the date of 1778, and another with the date of 1787 with initials J.S.
Kincardineshire, Sheet X
Survey date: 1864, Publication date: 1868
Before 1959, the Mill was apparently no longer operational and a farmhouse (or part of the current farmhouse) appears to have been constructed to the east of the mill (see below);
NO69SW - A
Surveyed / Revised: Pre-1930 to 1958, Published: 1959