said to have been deaf and dumb from his youth but who, in spite
of these physical defects - sufficient to crush any ordinary man -
had been able, by the force of his natural abilities and the favour
of fortune, to overcome them sufficiently to raise himself to such
a high and important position in the world. He took a lively
interest in all questions of art and science, especially in natural
history, and displayed at once his liberality and his love of
art by his munificence to Sir Thomas Lawrence, in the youth and
struggles of that great artist and famous painter, and by his
patronage of others. On this point a recent writer says - "The
last baron of Kintail, Francis. Lord Seaforth, was, as Sir Walter
Scott has said, 'a nobleman of extraordinary talents, who must
have made for himself a lasting reputation had not his political
exertions been checked by painful natural infirmities.' Though deaf
from his sixteenth year and though labouring under a partial
impediment of speech, he held high and important appointments, and
was distinguished for his intellectual activities and attainments
... His case seems to contradict the opinion held by Kitto and others,
that in all that relates to the culture of the mind, and the
cheerful exercise of the mental faculties, the blind have the
advantage of the deaf. The loss of the ear, that 'vestibule of
the soul,' was to him compensated by gifts and endowments rarely
united in the same individual. One instance of the chief's
liberality and love of art may be mentioned. In 1796 he advanced
a sum of L1000 to Sir Thomas Lawrence to relieve him from pecuniary
difficulties. Lawrence was then a young man of twenty-seven. His
career from a boy upwards was one of brilliant success, but he was
careless and generous as to money matters, and some speculations
by his father embarassed and distressed the young artist. In his
trouble he applied to the Chief of Kintail. 'Will you,' he said
in that theatrical style common to Lawrence, 'will you be the
Antonio to a Bassanio?' He promised to pay the L1000 in four years,
but the money was given on terms the most agreeable to the feelings
and complimentary to the talents of the artist. He was to repay it
with his pencil, and the chief sat to him for his portrait. Lord
Seaforth also commissioned from West one of those immense sheets of
canvas on which the old Academician delighted to work in his latter
years. The subject of the picture was the traditionary story of the
Royal hunt, in which Alexander the Third was saved from the assault
of a fierce stag by Colin Fitzgerald, a wandering knight unknown to
authentic history. West considered it one of his best productions,
charged L800 for it, and was willing some years afterwards, with a
view to the exhibition of his works, to purchase back the picture
at its original cost. In one instance Lord Seaforth did not evince
artistic taste. He dismantled Brahan Castle removing its
castellated features and completely modernising its general
appearance. The house, with its large modern additions, is a tall,
massive pile of building, the older portion covered to the roof with
ivy. It occupies a commanding site on a bank midway between the
river Conon and a range of picturesque rocks. This bank extends for
miles, sloping in successive terraces, all richly wooded or
cultivated, and commanding a magnificent view that terminates with
the Moray Firth." ["The Seaforth Papers," in the "North British
Review," 1863, by Robert Carruthers, LL.D.]
The remarkable prediction of the extinction of this highly
distinguished and ancient family is so well known that it need not
be recapitulated here, and its literal fulfilment is one of the
most curious instances of the kind on record. There is no doubt
that the "prophecy" was widely known throughout the Highlands
generations before it was fulfilled. Lockhart, in his "Life of
Sir Walter Scott," says that "it connected the fall of the house of
Seaforth not only with the appearance of a deaf 'Cabarfeidh,'
but with the contemporaneous appearance of various different
physical misfortunes in several of the other Highland chiefs, all
of which are said to have actually occurred within the memory of
the generation that has not yet passed away. Mr Morrit can testify
thus far, that he heard the prophecy quoted in the Highlands at a
time when Lord Seaforth had two sons alive, and in good health,
and that it certainly was not made after the event," and then he
proceeds to say that Scott and Sir Humphrey Davy were most certainly
convinced of its truth, as also many others who had watched the
latter days of Seaforth in the light of those wonderful predictions.
[Every Highland family has its store of traditionary and romantic
beliefs. Centuries ago a seer of the Clan Mackenzie, known as
Kenneth Oag (Odhar), predicted that when there should be a deaf
Caberfae the gift land of the estate would be sold, and the male
line become extinct. The prophecy was well known in the North,
and it was not, like many similar vaticinations, made after the
event. At least three unimpeachable Sassenach writers, Sir Humphrey
Davy, Sir Walter Scott, and Mr Morritt of Rokeby, had all heard
the prediction when Lord Seaforth had two sons alive, both in good
health. The tenantry were, of course, strongly impressed with the
truth of the prophecy, and when their Chief proposed to sell part
of Kintail, they offered to buy in the land for him, that it might
not pass from the family. One son was then living, and there was
no immediate prospect of the succession expiring; but, in deference
to their clannish prejudice or affection, the sale of any portion
of the estate was deferred for about two years. The blow came at
last. Lord Seaforth was involved in West India plantations, which
were mismanaged, and he was forced to dispose of part of the "gift
land." About the same time the last of his four sons, a young man
of talent and eloquence, and then representing his native county in
Parliament, died suddenly, and thus the prophecy of Kenneth Oag
was fulfilled. -
"Of the name of Fitzgerald remained not a male
To bear the proud name of the Chief of Kintail."
--Robert Carruthers, LL.D., in the "North British Review."]
His Lordship outlived all his four sons, as predicted by the Brahan
Seer. His name became extinct, and his vast possessions were
inherited by a stranger, James Alexander Stewart, who married his
eldest daughter, Lady Hood. The sign by which it would be known
that the prediction was about to be fulfilled was also foretold in
the same remarkable manner, namely, that in the day's of the last
Seaforth there should be four great contemporary lairds, distinguished
by certain physical defects described by the Seer. Sir Hector
Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, was buck-toothed, and is to this day
spoken of among the Gairloch tenantry as "An Tighearna storach,"
or the buck-toothed laird. Chisholm of Chisholm was hair-lipped,
Grant of Grant half-witted, and Macleod of Raasay a stammerer.
[For full details of this remarkable instance of family fate, see
"The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer." - A. & W. Mackenzie, Inverness.]
To the testimony of those whose names have been already given we
shall add the evidence of a living witness when the first edition
of this work was in preparation. Duncan Davidson of Tulloch,
Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Ross, in a letter addressed to
the author, dated May 21, 1878, says - "Many of these prophecies I
heard of upwards of 70 years ago, and when many of them were not
fulfilled, such as the late Lord Seaforth surviving his sons, and
Mrs Stewart Mackenzie's accident, near Brahan, by which Miss
Caroline Mackenzie was killed."
It is impossible not to sympathise with the magnificent old Chief
as he mourned over the premature death of his four promising sons,
and saw the honours of his house for ever extinguished in his own
person.
Many instances are related of his magnificent extravagance at home,
while sailing round the West Coast, visiting the great principality
of the Lewis, and calling on his way hither and thither on the
other great chiefs of the West and Western Islands. Sir Walter
Scott, in his "Lament for the Last of the Seaforths," adds his
tribute -
In vain the bright course of thy talents to wrong.
Fate deadened thine ear and imprisoned thy tongue,
For brighter o'er all her obstructions arose
The glow of thy genius they could not oppose;
And who, in the land of the Saxon or Gael
Could match with Mackenzie, High Chief of Kintail?
Thy sons rose around thee in light and in love,
All a father could hope, all a friend cou'd approve;
What `vails it the tale of thy sorrows to tell?
In the spring time of youth and of promise they fell!
Of the line of MacKenneth remains not a male,
To bear the proud name of the Chief of Kintail.
This sketch of the great chief cannot better be closed than in the
words of one already repeatedly quoted: "It was said of him by an
acute observer and a leading wit of the age, the late Honourable
Henry Erskine, the Scotch Dean of Faculty, that 'Lord Seaforth's
deafness was a merciful interposition to lower him to the ordinary
rate of capacity in society,' insinuating that otherwise his
perception and intelligence would have been oppressive. And the
aptness of the remark was duly appreciated by all those who had
the good fortune to be able to form an estimate from personal
observation, while, as a man of the world, none was more capable of
generalizing. Yet, as a countryman, he never affected to disregard
those local predilections which identified him with the County
of Ross, as the genuine representative of Kintail, possessing an
influence which, being freely ceded and supported, became paramount
and permanent in the county which he represented in the Commons
House of Parliament, till he was called to the peerage on the 26th
October, 1797, by the title of Lord Seaforth and Baron of Kintail,
with limitation to heirs male of his body, and which he presided
over as his Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant. He was commissioned, in
1793, to reorganise the 78th or Ross-shire Regiment of Highlanders,
which, for so many years, continued to be almost exclusively composed
of his countrymen. Nor did his extraordinary qualifications and
varied exertions escape the wide ranging eye of the master genius
of the age, who has also contributed, by a tributary effusion, to
transmit the unqualified veneration of our age to many that are
to follow. He has been duly recognised by Sir Walter Scott, nor
was he passed over in the earlier buddings of Mr Colin Mackenzie;
but while the annalist is indebted to their just encomiums, he may
be allowed to respond to praise worthy of enthusiasm by a splendid
fact which at once exhibits a specimen of reckless imprudence
joined to those qualities which, by their popularity, attest
their genuineness. Lord Seaforth for a time became emulous of the
society of the most accomplished Prince of his age. The recreation
of the Court was play; the springs of this indulgence then were
not of the most delicate texture; his faculties, penetrating as
they were, had not the facility of detection which qualified him
for cautious circumspection; he heedlessly ventured and lost. It
was then to cover his delinquencies elsewhere, he exposed to sale
the estate of Lochalsh; and it was then he was bitterly taught
to feel, when his people, without an exception, addressed his
Lordship this pithy remonstrance - 'Reside amongst us and we shall
pay your debts.' A variety of feelings and facts, unconnected with
a difference, might have interposed to counteract this display of
devotedness besides ingratitude, but these habits, or his Lordship's
reluctance, rendered this expedient so hopeless that certain of the
descendants of the original proprietors of that valuable locality
were combining their respective finances to buy it in, when a
sudden announcement that it was sold under value, smothered their
amiable endeavours. Kintail followed, with the fairest portion of
Glenshiel, and the Barony of Callan Fitzgerald ceased to exist, to
the mortification, though not to the unpopularity of this still
patriarchal nobleman among his faithful tenantry and the old
friends of his family." [Bennetsfield MS.]
He married on the 22d of April, 1782, Mary, daughter of the Rev.
Baptist Proby, D.D., Dean of Lichfield, and brother of John, first
Lord Carysfort, by whom he had issue -
I. William Frederick, who died young, at Killearnan.
II. George Leveson Boucherat, who died young at Urquhart.
III. William Frederick, who represented the County of Ross in
Parliament, in 1812, and died unmarried at Warriston, near Edinburgh,
in 1814.
IV. Francis John, a midshipman in the Royal Navy, who died unmarried
at Brahan, in 1813.
V. Mary Frederica Elizabeth, who succeeded her father and of whom
presently.
VI. Frances Catherine, who died without issue.
VII. Caroline, who was accidentally killed at Brahan, unmarried.
VIII. Charlotte Elizabeth, who died unmarried.
IX. Augusta Anne, who died unmarried.
X. Helen Ann, who married the Right Hon. Joshua Henry Mackenzie
of the Inverlael family, anciently descended from the Barons of
Kintail, a Lord of Session and Justiciary by the title of Lord
Mackenzie, with issue - two daughters, Frances Mary and Penuel
Augusta.
Lord Seaforth, having survived all his male issue, died on the
11th of January, 1815, at Warriston, near Edinburgh, the last
male representative of his race. His lady outlived him, and died
at Edinburgh on the 27th of February, 1829. The estates, in virtue
of an entail executed by Lord Seaforth, with all their honours,
duties, and embarrassments, devolved upon his eldest daughter,
then a young widowed lady,
XXII. MARY ELIZABETH FREDERICA MACKENZIE, LADY HOOD,
Whom Scott commemorated in the well-known lines -
And thou, gentle dame, who must bear to thy grief,
For thy clan and thy country the cares of a Chief,
Whom brief rolling moons in six changes have left
Of thy husband, and father, and brethren bereft;
To thine ear of affection how sad is the hail
That salutes thee the heir of the line of Kintail.
She was born at Tarradale, Ross-shire, on the 27th of March, 1783,
and married, first, at Barbadoes on the 6th of November, 1804, Sir
Samuel Hood, K.B., Vice-Admiral of the White, and afterwards, in
1806, M.P. for Westminster. Sir Samuel died at Madras, on the
24th of December, 1814, without issue. Lady Hood then returned
home, and, in 1815, entered into possession of the family estates,
which had devolved upon her by the death of her father without
male issue, when the titles became extinct.
She married secondly, on the 21st of May, 1817, the Right Hon. James
Alexander Stewart of Glasserton, nephew of the seventh Earl of
Galloway, who assumed the name of Mackenzie, was returned M.P.
for the County of Ross, held office under Earl Grey, and was
successively Governor of Ceylon, and Lord High Commissioner to
the Ionian Islands. He died on the 24th of September, 1843. Mrs
Sewart-Mackenzie died at Brahan Castle on the 28th of November,
1862, and was buried in the family vault in the Cathedral of
Fortrose. Her funeral was one of the largest ever witnessed in
the Highlands, many thousands being present on foot, while the
vehicles that followed numbered more than 150. By her second
marriage she had issue -
I. Keith William Stewart, her heir and successor.
II. Francis Pelham Proby, Lieutenant 71st Highlanders. He died
unmarried in 1844.
III. George Augustus Frederick Wellington, who, born in 1824,
married in November, 1850, Maria Louisa, daughter of General Thomas
Marriot, H.E.IC.S., and died, without issue, in 1852.
IV. Mary Frances, who married, in 1838, the Hon. Philip Anstruther,
Colonial Secretary of Ceylon, with issue.
V. Caroline Susan, who, in 1844, married John Berney Petre, and
died in 1867.
VI. Louisa Caroline, who, on the 17th of November, 1858, married,
as his second wife, William Bingham second Lord Ashburton, who
died on the 23rd of March, 1864, with issue, an only daughter, Mary
Florence, who, in 1884, married the Hon. William George Spencer
Scott, Earl Compton, M.P., eldest surviving son and heir of
William Douglas Compton, fourth Marquis of Northampton, born in
1851, with issue - William Bingham Lord Wilmington, born in 1885;
and Lady Margaret Louisa Lizzie.
Mrs Stewart Mackenzie and her husband, on her death on the 28th of
November, 1862, were succeeded in the estates by their eldest son,
XXIII. KEITH WIILLIAM STEWART MACKENZIE,
Born on the 9th of May, 1818. He was an officer in the 90th
Regiment and subsequently Colonel-Commandant of the Ross-shire
Highland Rifle Volunteers. He sold what remained of Kintail in
1869. He married first, on the 17th of May, 1844, Hannah Charlotte,
daughter of James Joseph Hope Vere of Craigie Hall and Blackwood,
Midlothian, with issue -
I. James Alexander Francis Humberston, his heir.
II. Susan Mary Elizabeth, who on the 15th of August, 1871, married,
first, the Hon. John Constantine Stanley, Colonel Grenadier Guards,
second son of the Right Hon. Edward Lord Stanley of Alderley. He
was born on the 30th of September, 1837, and died on the 27th of
April, 1878, leaving issue - two daughters. She married, secondly,
the Right Hon. Sir Francis Henry Jeune, Q.C., President of the
Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of
Justice, with issue - one son.
III. Julia Charlotte Sophia, who on the 8th of October, 1873,
married, as his second wife, the Right Hon. Arthur, ninth Marquis of
Tweeddale, who died in 1878, without issue. In 1887 she married,
secondly, as his second wife, the Right Hon. Sir John Rose, Baronet,
G.C.M.G., of Queensgate, London, who died in 1888, without issue.
In 1892 she married, thirdly, Captain William Evans Gordon, without
issue.
IV. Georgina Henrietta, who died young, on the 15th of October,
1868.
His first wife died in June, 1868. He married, secondly, on the
2nd of June, 1871, Alicia Almeira Bell, with issue - one daughter.
Keith Stewart Mackenzie died in June, 1881, when he was succeeded
by his only son,
XXIV. JAMES ALEXANDER FRANCIS HUMBERSTON STEWART MACKENZIE,
Who was born on the 9th of October, 1847, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding
the 9th Lancers, and now of Seaforth. He is still unmarried.
THE CHIEFSHIP.
It has been shown at p. 343 that the male line of Colonel
Alexander Mackenzie of Assynt, fourth son of Kenneth Mor, third
Earl of Seaforth, became extinct on the death, in 1815, of Francis
Humberston Mackenzie, who survived all his male issue. It has
also been proved that the male line of George, second Earl of
Seaforth, who died in 1651, terminated in Kenneth, XIX. of Kintail
and sixth Earl of Seaforth, whose only child, Lady Caroline
Mackenzie, formed an irregular union with Lewis Drummond, Count
Melfort, a French nobleman. It was shown earlier, at p. 246,
that the lineal representation of the original line of Kintail
was diverted from heirs male in the person of Anna, Countess of
Balcarres, eldest daughter of Colin, first Earl of Seaforth, who
had no surviving male issue; and the male line of Colonel Mackenzie of
Assynt having terminated in "The Last of the Seaforths," who died
in 1815, we must go back beyond all these to an earlier collateral
branch to pick up the legitimate male succession, and for ever dispose
of the various unfounded claims hitherto made to the Chiefship of
the clan.
Before the appearance of the former edition of this work there had
been several claimants to this highly honourable position; and
this is not to be wondered at, for whoever proves his right to
the Chiefship of the Mackenzies establishes at the same time his
right to the ancient honours of the house and Barons of Kintail.
In an earlier part of the work, at p. 316, it is shown that the
original title of Lord Mackenzie of Kintail did not come under the
attainder of William, the fifth Earl, for the part which he took
in the Rising of 1715, and therefore the Chief of the Mackenzies,
as heir male of the first Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, is, in virtue
of that position, we believe, entitled to assume that ancient title.
The first formal claim to the Chiefship is one by a Captain
Murdoch Mackenzie, "of London," who claimed "the titles, honours,
and dignities of Earl of Seaforth and Baron Mackenzie of Kintail,"
in virtue of a pretended descent and pedigree from the Hon.
John Mackenzie of Assynt, second son of Kenneth Mor, third Earl
of Seaforth. This pedigree and claim is before us. According to
that document the Hon. John Mackenzie of Assynt had a son "Murdoch
Mackenzie of Lochbroom, who, having shown a disposition of enterprise
like his kinsman Earl William, left his native parish in 1729 or
1730, first for Aberdeen and afterwards for Northumberland, where,
in consequence of the unsettled state of Scotland, he resided
with his family." This Murdoch had a son, John Mackenzie, "born
in Beadnall, parish of Bamborough, county of Northumberland, in
1738, who married Miss Isabella Davidson in 1762, and died in 1780,
in his forty-second year." John had a son, "Captain Murdoch
Mackenzie, the claimant, who was born at Beadnall, county of
Northumberland, in 1763, and married in 1781, Miss Eleanor Brown
of the same place, and has issue. He commanded the ship Essex,
transport 81, of London, during the late war. Being desirous to
see his clan in the North, in 1790 he visited the late Francis Lord
Seaforth, who in the true spirit of Scotch sincerity, hospitality,
and nobility received him with demonstrations of pleasure. After
talking over family matters his Lordship candidly said that Captain
Murdoch ought to have been the peer in point of primogeniture."
A short account of the family accompanies the pedigree and claim,
which concludes in these terms - "In consequence of the death of
the last peer it has been discovered in Scotland that the titles
and family estates have devolved upon Captain Murdoch Mackenzie
of London. This gentleman is naturally anxious to establish his
rights, but being unable to prosecute so important a claim without
the aid of sufficient funds he has been advised to solicit the
aid of some individuals whose public spirit and liberal feelings
may prompt them to assist him on the principle that such timely
assistance and support will be gratefully and liberally rewarded.
Captain Mackenzie hereby offers to give his bond for L300 (or more
if required) for every L100 that may be lent him to prosecute his
claim - the same to become due and payable within three months after
he shall have recovered his titles and estates." The result of
this appeal has not been ascertained, but it is certain that Captain
Murdoch Mackenzie did not succeed in establishing any claim either
to the titles or estates of the House of Kintail and Seaforth.
It was, on the contrary, placed absolutely beyond dispute by the
evidence produced at the Allangrange Service in 1829 that the eldest
and only surviving son of the Hon. John Mackenzie of Assynt was
not Murdoch but Kenneth, and there is no trace whatever of his
having had any son but Kenneth. In an original Precept issued by
the Provost and Magistrates of Fortrose on the 30th of October,
1716, the son of the then late John Mackenzie of Assynt is designated
"Kenneth Mackenzie, now of Assynt, grandchild and apparent heir to
the deceased Isobel, Countess Dowager of Seaforth, his grandmother
on the father's side." In the same document Kenneth is described
as her Ladyship's "nearest and lawful heir," conclusively showing
that he was her son John's eldest son. It is thus fully established
that Captain Murdoch Mackenzie's genealogical chain fails at the
very outset - is broken in its initial link. The Hon. John Mackenzie
of Assynt had only one son. His name was Kenneth, not Murdoch,
and he died without issue. If any additional proof be required to
show that the male line of the Hon. John Mackenzie of Assynt has
long been extinct, it will be found in the fact that on the death
of Earl Kenneth, known as "the Little Lord," in 1781, the succession
to the representation and ancient honours of the family of Kintail
and Seaforth, devolved upon the heir male of Colonel Alexander
Mackenzie of Assynt, who was the fourth son of Kenneth Mor, third
earl, and a younger brother of the Hon. John Mackenzie of Assynt,
apart altogether from the conclusive parole evidence given by very
old people at the Allangrange Service in 1829. This effectually
disposes of Captain Murdo Mackenzie.
Now as to the more plausible but equally baseless claim of Captain
William Mackenzie of Gruinard, and his cousin, the late Major-General
Alexander Mackay Mackenzie of the Indian Army. Captain Murdoch
Mackenzie's claim having failed, we must go back another step in
the chain to pick up the legitimate succession to the honours of
Kintail and Seaforth. Here we are met on the way by another claim,
put forward by the late Captain William Mackenzie of Gruinard,
in the following letter addressed to George F. Mackenzie, then of
Allangrange:
11 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square,
London, 24th October 1829.
My Dear Allangrange, - Having observed in the "Courier" of the 21st
inst., at a meeting at Tain, that you were proceeding with the
Seaforth Claims, I take the earliest opportunity of communicating
to you a circumstance which I am sure my agent, Mr Roy, would have
informed you of sooner, did he know that you were proceeding in
this affair; and which, I think probable, he has done ere this;
but lest it might have escaped his notice, I deem it proper to
acquaint you that on Mr Roy having discovered, by authenticated
documents, that I was the lineal descendant of George, Earl of
Seaforth, he authorised an English counsellor to make application
to the Secretary of State to that effect, who made a reference to
the Court of Exchequer in Scotland to examine the evidence - Mr Roy
having satisfied them with having all which he required to establish
my claim. I therefore am inclined to address you in order that
you may be saved the trouble and expense attending this affair.
Indeed, had I known you were taking any steps in this business, be
assured I would have written to you sooner.
I had not the pleasure of communicating with you since your marriage,
upon which event I beg leave to congratulate you, and hope I shall
soon have the pleasure of learning of your adding a member to the
Clan Kenneth. Believe me, my dear Mac, yours most sincerely,
WM. MACKENZIE.