It is claimed the Barclays of Scotland are descended from the Berkeleys who came over to England with William the Conqueror. In 1165 Walter de Berkeley was Chamberlain of Scotland, and in the 12th and 13th centuries the Berkeleys were numerous and prominent Kincardineshire and the east of Scotland. His son was the first of the clan to spell his name Barclay. The lands remained in possession of the family until David Barclay, born in 1580, was compelled by his own extravagance to sell his estates.

The Barclays of Urie are descended from Colonel David Barclay, who had served under Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and who purchased the estate of Urie in 1647. After the Restoration he was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, where he was converted to Quakerism by a fellow prisoner, the laird of Swinton. By his wife, the daughter of Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstown, he had two daughters and three sons. Robert, the eldest son, became the celebrated apologist of the Quakers. In 1682 he was appointed Governor of East Jersey, but he did not go out, although his brother John settled there. Robert died in 1690.

Other important branches of the family were the Barclays of Collairnie in Fife who possessed the estate for five centuries, the Barclays of Pierston, and the Barclays of Ardrossan, prominent in Ayrshire from the 12th century. The Barclays of Tolly, in Aberdeenshire, remained in possession of the lands from the 12th to the 18th century, and from this family was descended the famous Russian General, Field Marshal Prince Barclay de Tolly, who died in 1818.

Crest: A hand holding a dagger in pale, proper.