his Jacobite sympathies, Roderick was consigned to a prison ship, the Royal Sovereign. He was then taken to London and not released until July 1747. The clan prospered until the twenty-first chief, General Roderick Macneil, was forced to sell Barra in 1838. McNeills of Argyll (in Taynish, Gigha and Colonsay) The origins of the Argyll MacNeills is also obscure. In the late 15th century, one MacNeill is recorded as the keeper of Castle Sween. In the mid 16th century, a certain Torquil MacNeill was known as the "chief and principal of the clan and surname of Maknelis". The 19th century scholar W.F. Skene considered Torquil to be the last of the hereditary MacNeill keepers of the castle. Skene believed that after Torquil's demise, the hereditary office passed to the MacMillans. During the time of Torquil, there are records of separate clans on Barra and Gigha. Skene did not consider Torquil to be a member of either of these clans, since both clans had chiefs of their own. A recent hypothesis make Torquil, son of Niall, living in 1440, the eponym of the clan, thus totally unrelated to the Barra MacNeils. His Norse name suggests his kindred were remnants of the lordship of Somerled, along with the Clan McCorquodale and Clan MacIver. The chief of the Gigha MacNeills at this time was Neill MacNeill, who was killed in about 1530. His only daughter inherited his lands and handed them over to her illegitimate brother, Neill. According to historian John Bannerman, while the lands of the chief passed to his daughter, the chiefship passed over to Torquil who was her second cousin. Bannerman considered it likely that when Torquil died, the chiefship passed to the illegitimate Neill. In 1553, this Neill sold the island to James MacDonald of Islay. Neill died without issue, and the next in line to the chiefship was another Neil, who obtained the lands of Taynish. His descendant Hector MacNeill of Taynish purchased Gigha in 1590. With the power of the Campbells growing and spreading out into the Inner Hebrides, the influence of the McNeills of Gigha decreased. At about this time the MacNeils on more remote island of Barra, far removed of Campbell power, began to grow in prominence and for a long time since have been regarded as Chief of the Clan and Name. Descending from this branch were the MacNeils of Colonsay who obtained Colonsay