His association with the rebellious samurai clans of Satsuma and Chōshū, and his interest in samurai generally seems to have contributed to his being referred to as the "Scottish Samurai" in Scotland.
Keterikatannya dengan para pemberontak klan samurai Satsuma dan Choshu, dan pengetahuannya dalam bidang samurai yang umumnya terlihat pada kontribusinya membuatnya disebut sebagai "Samurai Skotlandia" di Skotlandia.