afterwards appointed parish minister of Fodderty and Chaplain to
the 71st Highlanders, his father having resigned both offices in
his favour. He was a noted humorist and said by those who knew
him best to be much more at heart a soldier than a minister. He
married first, his cousin, Mary, daughter of John Mackenzie of
Brea, "the Laird," and sister of Alexander, XI. of Hilton, with
issue - (1) Colin, a Colonel of Royal Engineers, who, born in 1793,
married in 1838 Ann Petgrave, daughter of John Pendrill, M.D.,
Bath, and died without issue, in 1869; (2) John, who ultimately
succeeded as IV. of Glack, and of whom presently; (3) Elizabeth,
who married Lieutenant Stewart, R.N., with issue; and (4) Mary,
who died unmarried. Colin married, secondly, Mary, daughter of
the Rev. Mr Fyers, Fort-George, without issue.
3. Forbes Mackenzie, a Captain in the North British (Ross-shire)
Militia, afterwards Major in the East of Ross Militia, and for
thirty-seven years a Deputy Lieutenant for the county. He reclaimed
and laid out the greater part of the valley of the Peffery, where,
on the estate of Fodderty, be was the first to apply lime to the
land and to grow wheat north of the Moray Firth. He was also the
first to introduce Clydesdale horses and shorthorn cattle to the
Highlands, and was, as has been already said, along with Sir George
Mackenzie of Coul and his own cousin, Alexander Mackenzie, XI. of
Hilton, the first to import Cheviot sheep to the northern counties.
He married Catherine, daughter of Angus Nicolson, Stornoway, and
grand-daughter of the gentleman of the same name who commanded and
brought to Poolewe, with the intention of joining the standard of
Prince Charles, the three hundred men ordered back to the Lewis,
as already mentioned, by Seaforth, in 1745. By her Major Forbes
Mackenzie had issue - (1) Nicolson, a surgeon in the army, who was
wrecked near Pictou, Nova Scotia, and there drowned in his noble
attempts to save the lives of others, in 1853, unmarried; (2)
Roderick, heir of entail to the estate of Foveran, and a Colonel
in the Royal Artillery, who, in 1878, married Caroline Sophia,
daughter of J. A. Beamont of Wimbledon Park; (3) Thomas, a Major in
the 78th Highlanders, Ross-shire now retired, and still unmarried;
(4) Mary, who married the late Rev. John Kennedy, D.D., Free Church
minister of Dingwall, with issue - Jessie, unmarried, and Mary, who
married John Matheson, banker, Madras, only surviving son of the
late Rev. Duncan Matheson, late Free Church minister of Gairloch
with issue. Mrs Kennedy died at Strathpeffer in 1892. (5) Dorothy
Blair, who died unmarried; and (6) Catherine Eunice, who married
the late Adam Alexander Duncan of Naughton, county of Fife, with
issue - Catherine Henrietta Adamina.
4. Anne, who married Hector Mackenzie, a Bailie of Dingwall
("Baillidh Eachainn"), to whom Alexander Campbell, the Gaelic bard,
composed the beautiful elegy published in 1893 in the "Scottish
Highlander." He was the second son of Alexander Mackenzie of
Tollie, Provost of Dingwall (third son of Charles Mackenzie, I.
of Letterewe), by his second wife, Catherine, daughter of Bayne
of Delny, and younger half brother of Alexander Mackenzie, I. of
Portmore. By his wife, Bailie Hector had issue, Alexander, whose
daughter, Katherine, in 1836, married Major Roderick Mackenzie,
H.E.I.C.S., and VII. of Kincraig, with issue.
5. Mary, who married Captain John Mackenzie, VI. of Kincraig, whose
descendants, from her, now represent the Mackenzies of Redcastle.
6. Johanna, who married Dr Millar, Stornoway.
7. Una, who died unmarried.
8. Beatrice, who married Peter Hay, a Bailie of Dingwall.
9. Isabella, who died unmarried, and
10. Jean, who married the Rev. Colin Mackenzie, Stornoway.
Rev. Colin Mackenzie was succeeded by his eldest son,
II. RODERICK MACKENZIE, second of Glack. He married first,
Margaret, daughter of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, X. of Gairloch,
Baronet, without issue, and secondly, Christina, daughter of John
Niven, Peebles, with issue -
1. Harry, who died unmarried, in 1828.
2. John, who succeeded as III. of Glack.
3. Roderick of Thornton, Aberdeenshire, who died unmarried, in
1858.
4. James, a Major in the 72nd Highlanders, who died unmarried in
India, in 1857.
5. Mary, who married the late General Sir Alexander Leith, K.C.B.,
of Freefield and Glenkindie, without issue.
6. Rachael, who died unmarried.
7. Christina of Foveran, who died unmarried.
8. Jane Forbes Unice, who also died unmarried.
Roderick was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
III. JOHN MACKENZIE, third of Glack. He was born in 1810,
succeeded his father in 1842, inherited his brother Roderick's estate
in 1857, and Foveran, on her death, from his sister Christina.
He acquired Inveramsay by purchase. He died. unmarried, in 1877,
when he was succeeded by his cousin, the second son of his uncle,
the Rev. Donald, minister of Fodderty,
IV. JOHN MACKENZIE, fourth of Glack. He was born on the 21st of
March, 1795, and married first, in 1817, at Malta, Anne, daughter
of Thomas MacGill, without issue; and secondly, on the 21st of
October, 1822, Margaret Campbell, daughter of John Pendrill, M.D.,
Bath, with issue -
1. The Rev. Duncan Campbell, rector of Shephall, Hertfordshire,
his heir.
2. John Pendrill, M.A. of Oxford, who was born on the 7th of
February, 1825, and married first, on the 20th of October, 1859, Lucy
Adelaide, daughter of Henry Thornton, with issue - Lucy Eleanor and
Margaret Pendrill. She died in 1870, and he married, secondly, on
the 25th of July, 1878, Caroline Maria, daughter of J. H. Wottur
of Hamburg.
3. The Rev. Roderick Bain, M.A. of Exeter College, Oxford, Rector
of Ludbrooke, county of Lincoln. He was born on the 14th of
September, 1834, and married on the 10th of November, 1868, Josepha
Peyton, eldest daughter of Colonel Richard Ignatius Robertson of
Portland Place, London, without issue.
4. Margaret Campbell Pendrill, and
5. Mary, both unmarried.
His second wife died at Sorrento, Naples, on the 7th of June, 1855.
He is succeeded as representative of the family by his eldest son,
V. THE REV. DUNCAN CAMPBELL MACKENZIE, Vicar of Shephall, Herts,
who was born on the 6th of January, 1824, and married on the 31st
of January, 1854, Louisa, daughter of the late Lieutenant-Colonel
Nicolls, of Chichester, with issue -
1. Donald, an officer in the Marines.
2. Allan, an officer in the Ross-shire Militia.
3. Malcolm; 4, Helen; 5, Edith; 6, Lilian; and 7, Amy.
THE MACKENZIES OF LOGGIE.
THE representative of this family, if alive, would succeed to the
Chiefship after the male representative of the family of Glack,
but there is no trace of any heir male of Loggie for two centuries.
Before the Chiefship could come into this family, the descendants
of Kenneth of Inverinate, third son of John Mackenzie of Brea, and
immediate younger brother of Alexander, XI. of Hilton would have
to be disposed of. Thomas, the eldest son of Inverinate, succeeded
in terms of a disposition by John Mackenzie, VII. of Applecross,
and in right of his mother, to the Applecross estates, but not
to the male representation of that family. But the last male
representative of this family failed, a few years ago, in the
person of his third and last surviving son, Thomas Mackenzie,
W.S., Edinburgh, who died unmarried. It will be remembered that
Allan Mackenzie, II. of Hilton and Loggie, married a daughter of
Alexander Dunbar of Conzie and Kilbuyack, third son of the Sheriff
of Moray, with issue - (1) Murdoch, who succeeded as III. of Hilton,
and (2) John, who was served heir to and afterwards designated,
I. JOHN MACKENZIE, first of Loggie, a barony situated in the old
parish of that name, but now forming the western portion of the
modern parish of Urquhart. John married a daughter of John Glassich
Mackenzie, II. of Gairloch, with issue, one son, who succeeded him
as
II. ALLAN MACKENZIE, second of Loggie. He married a daughter
of Hector, sixth son of Murdoch Mackenzie, III. of Achilty, with
issue -
1. Donald, his heir and successor.
2. Murdoch, who was married and left one daughter, Margaret, who
in 1634 married Murdoch Mackenzie, I. of Little Findon, third son
of Alexander Mackenzie, II. of Killichrist, with issue - a son,
John, who succeeded his father. Allan was succeeded by his eldest
son,
III. DONALD MACKENZIE, third of Loggie, who married first, in
1636, Catherine, daughter of Murdoch Mackenzie, II. of Redcastle,
with issue -
1. Colin, a doctor of medicine, educated at the University of
Aberdeen, and afterwards under the most celebrated professors of
the day at Leyden, Paris, and Rheims, at the last-named of which
he took his degree of M.D. He adopted extravagant theological
views, in consequence of which "and his immoral conduct in his
youth" he was disinherited by his father, whereupon he re-visited
the Continent and remained there for several years. He subsequently
returned to Inverness, where he practised his profession with
considerable success, and had a yearly pension settled upon him
by his father, until his death there, unmarried, in 1708.
Donald married, secondly, Annabella, eldest daughter of Alexander
Mackenzie, V. of Gairloch, with issue -
2. Alexander, who succeeded his father.
3. John, who was educated for the ministry at the University
of Aberdeen, and was for several years Chaplain to Major-General
Mackay's Regiment. After the Revolution he was appointed minister
of Kirkliston, near Edinburgh, but soon removed to London, where
he died unmarried, before his brother Alexander, and was buried
in St. Martin's Church, Westminster.
4. Murdoch, who succeeded as V. of Loggie.
5. Margaret, who married first, in 1663, Roderick Mackenzie, V.
of Fairburn, with issue, and secondly, the Rev. Hector Mackenzie of
Bishop-Kinkell, second son of Kenneth Mackenzie, VI. of Gairloch,
with issue.
6. Christian, who married John Mackenzie, I. of Gruinard, with
issue, and
7. Annabella, who married Mackenzie of Loggie in Lochbroom, with
issue.
He married, thirdly, Anne, daughter of the Rev. Donald Morison,
minister in the Lewis (sasine to her in 1666), with issue - an only
daughter, Anne, who married the Rev. Angus Morison, minister of
Contin. Donald had also a natural son, Roderick, a Captain in the
Confederate army under King William, who died in Holland, unmarried.
He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
IV. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, fourth of Loggie, who married first, in
1667, Jane, daughter of Alexander Mackenzie, J. of Ballone, widow
of Simon, second son of the Hon. Simon Mackenzie of Lochslinn,
without issue. He married, secondly, Catherine, second daughter
of William Mackenzie, I. of Belmaduthy, also without issue.
He was succeeded by his youngest brother,
V. MURDOCH MACKENZIE, fifth of Loggie, who was educated at the
University of Aberdeen. He afterwards joined the Earl of Dumbarton's
Regiment, and by his merit and valour soon raised himself to the
rank of Captain. It is said of him that, at the battle of Sedgmoor,
fought on the 6th of February, 1685, during Monmouth's rebellion,
"the valiant Colonel Murdoch Mackenzie, under the command of Lord
Feversham, signally distinguished himself." He at the head of his
Company attacked the enemy on that occasion with such bravery and
resolution that, excepting the officers, there were only nine men
who were not either killed or wounded. Personally he had the
distinguished honour of taking the Duke of Monmouth's standard,
twisting it out of the standard-bearer's hand, and afterwards
presenting it to James II. at Whitehall. For this gallant exploit
he was promoted at once to the rank of Colonel. He married an
English lady, with issue -
1. Murdoch, his heir.
2. George, a young man of promising parts, who was killed in
a duel, unmarried; and three daughters of whom nothing has been
ascertained.
Murdoch died in London, was buried in St. Martin's Church,
Westminster, and succeeded by his eldest son,
VI. MURDOCH MACKENZIE, who settled in London, and of whose
representatives nothing whatever is known.
THE MACKENZIES OF GAIRLOCH.
THIS family is descended from Alexander Mackenzie, VI. of Kintail, by
his second wife Margaret, daughter of Roderick Macdonald, III. of
Moydart and Clanranald, the famous "Ruairidh MacAlain," by Margaret,
daughter of Donald Balloch of Islay, son of John Mor Tanastair (by
his wife Marjory Bisset, heiress of the Seven Lordships of the
Glens in Antrim), second son of John, first Lord of the Isles, by
his wife Lady Margaret Stewart, daughter of King Robert II. and
brother of Donald, second Lord of the Isles and first Earl of
Ross. [For Alexander, VI. of Kintail's first and second wives see
pp. 81-83.] By this lady the sixth Baron of Kintail had one son -
I. HECTOR ROY MACKENZIE, better known among his countrymen as
"Eachainn Ruadh." He has been already noticed at considerable
length at pp. 113 to 132 in his capacity as Tutor or Guardian to
his nephew, John of Killin, IX. of Kintail, but he played such a
prominent part in the history of his time that it will be necessary
to give his history at much greater length under this head. It has
been conclusively shown that Kenneth a' Bhlair, VII. of Kintail,
died in 1491, and that his only son by his first wife, Kenneth Og,
killed in the Torwood by the Laird of Buchanan in 1497, outlived
his father and became one of the Barons of Kintail, although there
is no record of his having been served heir to the family estates.
It has been said that Duncan of Hilton, Kenneth a Bhlair's eldest
brother, predeceased him, and that consequently Hector Roy succeeded,
as a matter of course to the legal guardianship of his nephew,
Kenneth Og, VIII. of Kintail, he being the eldest surviving
brother of the late Chief, who died in 1491. But this has not been
sufficiently established, although it is quite true that Duncan's
name does not appear after his brother's death in 1491, in any
of the manuscript histories of the clan, or in any known official
document. The author of the Ardintoul MS. states distinctly that
Duncan was dead, and that Hector, John of Kuhn's younger uncle,
"meddled with the estate." The Earl of Cromarty says that "Hector
Roy, being a man of courage and prudence, was left Tutor by his
brother to Sir Kenneth, his own brother-uterine, Duncan being of
better hands than head. This Hector, hearing of Sir Kenneth's
death, and finding himself in possession of an estate, to which
those only now had title whose birthright was debateable, namely,
the children begot by Kenneth the third, on the Lord Lovat's
daughter, with whom he did at first so irregularly and unlawfully
cohabit." The objection of illegitimacy could not apply to
Duncan, or to his son Allan, and it is difficult to understand on
what ground Hector attempted to obtain personal possession of the
estates, unless it be true, as confirmed to some extent hereafter,
that he was himself joint-heir of Kintail; for it is undoubted
that Allan, Duncan's eldest son, who was entitled to succeed
before Hector, was then alive. There is no official evidence that
Hector Roy was at any time appointed Tutor to John of Kuhn until an
arrangement was made between themselves, in terms of which Hector
was to act as such, and to keep the estates in his own bands until
his nephew came of age.
There is no doubt that Hector was in possession of extensive estates
of his own at this period. When the Lords of the Association, a
factious party of the nobility, took up arms against James III.,
Alexander of Kintail despatched his sons, Kenneth and Hector,
with a retinue of 500, to join the Royal standard; but Kenneth,
hearing of the death of his father on his arrival at Perth,
returned home at the request of the Earl of Huntly; and the clan
was led by Hector Roy to the battle of Sauchieburn, near Stirling
but after the defeat of the Royal forces, and the death there in
1488 of the King himself, Hector, who narrowly escaped, returned
to Ross-shire and took the stronghold of Redcastle, then held for
the rebels by Rose of Kilravock, and placed a garrison in it. He
then joined the Earl of Huntly and the clans in the north who were
rising to avenge the death of His Majesty but meanwhile orders
came from the youthful King James IV., who had been at the head of
the conspirators, ordering the Northern chiefs to lay down their
arms, and to submit to the powers that be. Thereupon Hector,
yielding to necessity, submitted with the rest, and he was "not
only received with favour, but to reward his previous fidelity and
also to engage him for the future the young King, who at last saw
his error, and wanted to reconcile to him those who had been the
friends of his father, made him a present of the Barony of Gairloch
in the western circuit of Ross-shire by knight-service after the
manner of that age. He likewise gave him Brahan in the Low Country,
now a seat of the family of Seaforth, the lands of Moy in that
neighbourhood, Glassletter (of Kintail), a Royal forest which was
made a part of the Barony of Gairloch. In the pleasant valley of
Strathpeffer, Castle Leod, part of Hector's paternal estate,
afterwards a seat of the Earl of Cromarty; Achterneed near adjacent,
also Kinellan, were likewise his, and so was the Barony of Allan,
now Allangrange, a few miles southwards. In the Chops of the
Highlands he had Fairburn the Wester, and both the Scatwells, the
great and the lesser. Westward in the height of that country he had
Kenlochewe, a district adjoining Gairloch on the east, and
southward on the same track he had the half of Kintail, of which he
was left joint-heir with his brother Kenneth, chief of the family."
[Manuscript history of the Gairloch family. Another MS. says that
Hector's possessions in Kintail were "bounded by the rivers Kilillan
and Cro."]
The original Gairloch charters are lost, but a "protocol" from John
de Vaux, or Vass, Sheriff of Inverness, whose jurisdiction at that
time extended to Ross and the other Northern counties, is conclusive
as to their having existed. This document, its orthography
modernised, is in the following terms:
To all and sundry to whom it effeirs to whose knowledge these
present letters shall come, John de Vaux, burgess of Dingwall and
Sheriff in this part, sends greeting in God everlasting, to you
universally I make it known that by the commands of our Sovereign
Lords Letters and "precess" under his white wax directed to
me as Sheriff in that part, and grants me to have given to Hector
MacKennich heritable state and possession of all and sundry
the lands of Gairloch, with their pertinents, after the form and
tenour of our Sovereign Lord's charter made to the foresaid Hector
thereupon, the which lands with their pertinents extends yearly
to twelve merks of old extent, lying between the waters called
Inverewe and Torridon within the Sheriffdom of Inverness, and
I grant me to have given to the foresaid Hector heritable state
and possession of all and sundry the foresaid lands with their
pertinents, saving other men's rights as use and custom is, and
charge in our Sovereign Lord's name, and mine as Sheriff, that no
man vex, unquiet, or trouble the said Hector nor his heirs in the
peaceable brooking and enjoyment of the lands foresaid under all
pain and charges that after may follow: In witness of the which I
have appended to these my letters of sasine my seal at "Allydyll"
(? Talladale) in Gairloch, the 10th day of the month of December,
the year of God, 1494, before these witnesses - Sir Dougall Ruryson,
Vicar of Urquhart, Murchy Beg Mac Murchy, John Thomasson, Kenneth
Mac-anleyson, Donald Mac-anleyson, Dugald Ruryson, and Duncan
Lachlanson servant, with others divers.
The next authentic document in Hector's favour is a precept by the
King to the Chamberlain of Ross commanding that functionary to obey
a former precept granted to Hector of the mails, etc., of Brahan
and Moy, in the following terms:
Chamberlain of Ross we greet you well - Forasmuch as we directed
our special letters of before, making mention that we have given to
our lovite Hector Roy Mackenzie the mails and profits of our lands
of Brahan and Moy, with arriage, carriage, and other pertinents
thereof, lying within our lordship of Ross for his good and thankful
service done and to be done to us, enduring our will, and that it
was our will that he should brook and enjoy the said lands with
all the profits thereof enduring our will, and so the tenants now
inhabitants thereof brook their tacks and not remove therefrom,
the which letters, as, we are surely informed, you disobeyed in
great contemption and littling of our authority Royal; Herefor
we charge you now as of before that ye suffer the said Hector to
brook and enjoy the same lands and take up and have all mails,
fermes, profits, arriage, carriage, and due service of the said
lands, and that the tenants and inhahitants thereof to answer
and obey to him and to none others till, we give command by our
special letters in the contrary, and this on no wise you leave
undone, as you will incur our indignation and displeasure. These
our letters seen and understood, deliver them again to the bearer
to be kept and shown by the said Hector upon account of your warrant
before our Comptroller and auditors of our Exchequer at your next
accounting, and after the form of our said letters past of before
given under our Signet, at Edinburgh, the 5th day of March, 1508,
and of our reign the twentieth year.
JAMES R.
It will be seen from these documents that Hector had at this time
large possessions of his own; and the dispute between him and his
nephew, John of Killin, already fully described, probably arose
in respect of Hector's rights to the half of Kintail, which his
father is said to have left him jointly with his eldest brother,
Kenneth, VII. of Kintail. Hector kept possession of Ellandonnan
Castle until compelled by an order from the Privy Council to give
it up in 1511 to John of Killin, and it appears from the records
of the Privy Council that from 1501 to 1508 Hector continued to
collect the rents of Kintail without giving any account of them;
that he again in 1509 accounted for them for twelve months, and
for the two succeeding years for the second time retained them,
while he seems to have had undisturbed possession of the stronghold
of Ellandonnan throughout. No record can be found of his answer
to the summons commanding him to appear before the Privy Council,
if he ever did put in an appearance, but in all probability he
merely kept his hold of that Castle in order to compel his nephew
to come to terms with him regarding his joint rights to Kintail,
without any intention of ultimately keeping him out of possession.
This view is strengthened by the fact that John obtained a charter
under the Great Seal granting him Kintail anew on the 25th of
February, 1508-9 [Reg. of the Great Seal, vol. xv, fol. 89.] - the
same year in which Hector received a grant of Brahan and Moy - probably
following on an arrangement of their respective rights in those
districts also from the fact that Hector does not appear to have
fallen into any disfavour with the Crown on account of his conduct
towards John of Kintail; for only two years after Kuhn raised the
action against Hector before the Privy Council, the latter receives
a new charter, dated the 8th April, 1513, [The original charter is
in the Gairloch Charter Chest.] under the Great Seal, of Gairloch,
Glasletter, and Coirre-nan-Cuilean "in feu and heritage for ever,"
and he and his nephew appear ever after to have lived on the most
friendly terms.
Gairloch, originally the possession of the Earls of Ross, and
confirmed to them by Robert Bruce in 1306 and 1329 was subsequently
granted by Earl William to Paul MacTire and his heirs by Mary
Graham, for a yearly payment of a penny of silver in the name of
blench ferme in lieu of every other service except the foreign
service of the King when required. In 1372 Robert the II. confirmed
the grant. In 1430 James I. granted to Nele Nelesoun (Neil son
of Neil Macleod) for his homage and service in the capture of his
deceased brother, Thomas Nelesoun, a rebel, the lands of Gairloch.
["Origines Parochiales Scotiae," vol. ii, p. 406]