 In the 18th and 19th centuries, the common members of the clan and other families living on the Clanranald estates, suffered grievously from the Highland Clearances and also religious persecution at the hands of the Clanranald chief.Clan members and others living on the Clanranald estates also suffered from religious persecution at the hands of their own chief.In 1769, the chief of the Macdonalds of Clanranald attempted to forcibly convert his tenants on South Uist to Presbyterianism, threatening to remove them of his lands.