only eighteen years of age, and on account of his extreme youth
he had already obtained an unconditional pardon on the 22nd of
June, 1748. In 1777 he was presented at Court, on which occasion
George III. received him very kindly. In return for this gracious
treatment, first pardoning him, and now so generously receiving
him, his Lordship offered to raise a Highland Regiment. The
offer was accepted, and in a very short time, though without any
property or political connections, he soon raised a fine body
of 840 men among his Highland countrymen. To this number 236
Lowlanders and 34 English and Irish were added by some of his
friends, making together a full regiment of 1100 men, embodied at
Elgin, and inspected there by General Skene in April, 1778.
Immediately after, Letters of Service were issued in his favour
for raising a second battalion of the same size as the first.
This he soon accomplished, not less than 1800 of the men having
been raised from the possessions of his ancestors - a splendid
set of men with excellent constitutions, and of most exemplary
conduct. He was appointed Colonel of the first battalion, and
his brother, the Hon. Lieut.-Colonel Mackenzie, received the
command of the second battalion. The Regiment was named Macleod's
Highlanders, numbered the 73rd, and is now well known as the 71st
Highlanders. In 1779 Lord Macleod accompanied his Highlanders
to India, and fought at their head in the Carnatic against Hyder
Ah, under Major-General Sir Hector Munro, where they greatly
distinguished themselves, though the regiment was nearly cut to
pieces at the battle of Conjeveram. In 1782 his Lordship attained
the rank of Major-General, and in the following year he returned
home. In acknowledgment of his distinguished services, an Act of
Parliament was passed, on the 18th of August, 1784, by which the
forfeited estates of the Earldom were restored to him, on payment
of L19,000 to relieve them of existing burdens.
Lord Macleod married in 1786 Marjory, eldest daughter of James,
XVIth Lord Forbes, without issue. She afterwards married John,
fourth Duke of Athole, with issue. The mansion, which had been
almost entirely demolished after the 'Forty-five, was by him rebuilt
and enlarged, and the policies put into good order and properly
attended to. He died on the 2nd of April, 1789, and was succeeded
in the estates by his cousin-german,
V. CAPTAIN KENNETH MACKENZIE of Cromarty, who died in 1796,
without male issue. He was the last direct male heir, and on his
death the representation of the family, carrying with it the dormant
honours of Cromarty and Tarbat, went into the family of Ardloch.
He was succeeded in the estates by Lord Macleod's eldest sister,
VI. LADY ISABELLA, who married the sixth Lord Elibank. She
died on the 28th of December, 1801, without male issue, and was
succeeded by her eldest daughter,
VII. THE HON. MARIA MURRAY, who in 1790 married the Hon. Edward
Hay of Newhall, brother of George, VIIth Marquis of Tweeddale, who
thereupon assumed the name of Mackenzie in addition to his own,
with issue -
1. John Hay, her heir and successor.
2. Dorothea, who on the 2nd of July, 1813, married Sir David
Hunter Blair, with issue.
3. Isabella, who on the 1st of November, 1817, married John Buckle,
with issue.
4. Georgina Ann, who married James, fifth Earl of Glasgow, without
issue.
Her only sister, the Hon. Isabella Murray, died unmarried in 1849.
The Hon. Maria Murray was succeeded by her only son,
VIII. JOHN HAY-MACKENZIE, who on the 23rd of April, 1828, married
Anne, daughter of Sir Gibson-Craig, Baronet, with issue -
1. Anne his heir and successor.
He died at Cliefden on the 9th of July, 1849, and was succeeded by
his only child,
IX. ANNE HAY-MACKENZIE of Cromarty, who, on the 27th of June,
1849, married His Grace the third Duke of Sutherland. On the
21st of October, 1861, her Grace was, by a new creation, made
Countess of Cromarty, Viscountess Tarbat of Tarbat, Baroness
Macleod of Castle Leod, and Baroness Castlehaven of Castlehaven,
with remainder to her second son, Viscount Tarbat. Thus, should the
old title ever be restored, there would be two Earls, with all the
titles exactly similar, excepting that the holder of the original
earldom would also inherit the Nova Scotia Baronetcy, as well as that
of 1704.
On the death of the late Duchess of Sutherland, Countess of
Cromartie, in 1888, she was succeeded by her second surviving son,
X. FRANCIS SUTHLRLAND LEVESON GOWER, as Earl of Cromartie,
in all her other titles, and estates. He was born on the 3rd of
August, 1852, and on the 2nd of August, 1876, married the Hon. Lilian
Janet, second surviving daughter of Godfrey William Wentworth, 4th
Lord Macdonald of Sleat, with issue -
1. Sibell Lilian, born on the 14th of August, 1878.
2. Constance, born in 1882.
The Earl died on the 24th of November, 1893. The limitation of
this earldom being to his heirs male, and on the failure of such
to his heirs, with other remainders over, a question arises as to
whether or not the dignity is now in abeyance between his Lordship's
two daughters and co-heirs.
As it is possible the old honours may yet be claimed, it may be
interesting to note in a more concise manner the facts concerning
them. The original patent of the Nova Scotia Baronetcy to Sir John
Mackenzie of Tarbat, by Charles I., dated 21st May, 1628, was to
him "suosque haredes masculos quoscunque de tempore in tempus in
posterum per perpetuo," and the re-grant of 29th April, 1704, to
his grandson, Kenneth, second son of George, first Earl of Cromarty,
being confessedly to restore the old Baronetcy - now absorbed in
the Earldom - intact, "as the samen was given to the umquhile Sir
John Mackenzie of Tarbat," was to Kenneth and his heirs male "in
perpetuum," and was therefore granted with the same succession,
presumably to heirs male whomsoever.
Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Grandvale and Cromarty, first Baronet
of this re-grant, having died in 1729, the dignity was enjoyed
by his eldest son, Sir George, second Baronet, who died without
issue in 1748, and afterwards by his youngest son, Sir Kenneth,
third Baronet, who died at Tam in 1763, also without issue. At
this Sir Kenneth's death, it is clear that the succession would,
under the patent of 1704, then devolve upon his heir male, George,
the attainted third Earl of Cromarty, who survived all the male
descendants of the patentee, but whose honours, having been
attainted in 1746, had been restored by the pardon granted to him
under the Great Seal on the 20th of October, 1749. Thus was this
Baronetcy absorbed a second time in the Earldom of Cromarty. Nor
does it appear that it was ever assumed by George, the third Earl
(who died in Poland Street, London, on the 29th of September,
1766), nor by his son Lord Macleod, who obtained a pardon dated
the 26th of January, 1748, and with whom, who died without issue,
on the 2nd of April, 1789, ended the direct line both of the
Earldom and of the Baronetcy.
The succession then opened to his cousin, Captain Mackenzie of
Cromarty, who obtained the estates; but he also died without issue
in 1796, without having assumed either title.
Taking the term "haredibus masculis," according to the opinion
of John Riddell, the well-known Advocate and author "in the sense
of our law, as an equivalent to heirs male whatsoever," the
representation of the Tarbat Baronetcy would then revert to the
brothers of George, first Earl of Cromarty, the next of whom was
Roderick, Lord Prestonhall. But here again the fatality to heirs
male which has dogged the steps of the Cromarty titles in so
extraordinary a manner, ended the succession in the children of
his son, Alexander of Fraserdale. Riddell, in his opinion upon
the revival of 1826, says, "I certainly saw proof of the male
extinction of the Prestonhall branch several years ago." That is,
in one of the Lovat actions of Fraserdale, or Macleod of Macleod;
and, after that family, the succession of the descendants of
Alexander of Ardloch, fourth son of Sir John Mackenzie of Tarbat,
was proved, in the Service at Tam, on the 30th of October, 1826,
in the person of Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Mackenzie, eldest
son of Colonel Robert Mackenzie of Milnmount, who assumed the
dormant Baronetcies of Tarbat and Royston, and who, dying without
issue on the 28th of April, 1841, was succeeded by his only
brother, Sir James Sutherland Mackenzie, who also died unmarried
on the 24th of November, 1858. Since his death these Baronetcies
have remained dormant, no effort to assume them having been made
by the next heir male, although no doubt it was quite in his
power to do so.
It is obvious from what has already been said that the representation
of the Earldom of Cromarty, granted to George, Viscount Tarbat, on
the 18th of September, 1703, the succession of which is "haredibus
masculis et tallia" devolves upon the same head as the above-named
Baronetcies. It is not, however, clear whether the pardon obtained
by George, third Earl, is sufficient to remove the attainder,
or whether an Act of Parliament would not be necessary for that
purpose, although the attainted male-blood is long ago at an end.
Since this question was debated, the restoration of the Airlie
and other forfeited peerages have, in a great measure, cleared
the ground, and in the new creation of 1861 the older title and
honours according to the decisions in these cases could be in no
way affected or disturbed.
THE MACKENZIES OF ARDLOCH.
THE first of this family, on which devolved the representation of
the original Earldom of Cromarty and the Baronetcies of Tarbat
and Royston in the male line, was
I. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, fourth son of Sir John Mackenzie of
Tarbat, created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1628, by his wife,
Margaret, daughter of Sir George Erskine of Innerteil, a Lord of
Session and Justiciary. Alexander, who has a sasine as fourth son,
dated June, 1654, married Barbara, daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie,
VI. of Gairloch, and relict of Fraser of Kinneries, with issue -
1. Roderick, who died young.
2. John, his heir and successor.
3. James, of Keppoch, who married Isabella, daughter of Kenneth
Mackenzie, I. of Dundonnel, with issue - (1) Alexander, who married
Henrietta Mackenzie of Fisherfield (sasine 1773); (2) Simon of
Keppoch, who married with issue - Alexander of Kildonan, on record
in 1755; (3) George of Kildonan, who married, first, Ann, daughter
of Roderick Mackenzie of Kernsary, with issue - James. George
died in 1809, aged 109 years; (4) Colin, of Jamaica, who married
Janet, daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie, III. of Dundonnel, without
issue; (5) Mary, who married Donald, grandson of John Mackenzie,
I. of Gruinard, with issue; (6) Isabella, who married Allan
Mackenzie, of the family of Hilton. James sold Keppoch in 1730.
5. Barbara, who married Roderick, son of George Mackenzie, II.
of Gruinard, with issue.
6. Ann, who married William, sixth son of George Mackenzie, II.
of Gruinard, with issue.
7. Margaret, who died unmarried; and three others who married
respectively, Sinclair of Dunbeath; Gordon of Auchintoul, a cadet
of the Gordons of Embo; and Colin Mackenzie of Kildun.
He died in 1736, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
II. JOHN MACKENZIE, second of Ardloch, who married Sibella,
daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie, I. of Dundonnel, with issue -
1. Alexander, his heir and successor.
2. Kenneth. 3. John. Nothing is known of either.
4. Annabella, and others; issue, if any, unknown.
John was succeeded by his eldest son,
III. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, third of Ardloch, who married Margaret,
daughter of Robert Sutherland of Langwell, Caithness, twelfth in
descent from William de Sutherland, fifth Earl of Sutherland, by
his wife, the Princess Margaret Bruce, sister and heir of David
II., King of Scotland, with issue -
1. James, a Major in the army, who married a daughter of Mackenzie
of Fairburn, with issue - one son, who died before his father.
2. Robert, of Milnmount, Colonel H.E.I.C.S., married first, a
daughter of Mackenzie of Bayfield, without male issue; and secondly,
Katharine, daughter of Colonel Sutherland of Uppat, with issue - Sir
Alexander Mackenzie, Lieutenant-Colonel H.E.I.C.S., who, on the
30th of October, 1826, assumed the dormant Baronetcies of Tarbat
and Royston, as heir male collateral of Sir Kenneth Mackenzie,
brother of John, second Earl of Cromarty. On the 17th of August
at Tam, in the same year, he was served nearest and lawful heir
male to George, first Earl of Cromarty. He died, unmarried,
in 1841 (his father, Colonel Robert, having died in 1809), and
was succeeded in the Baronetcies by his next brother, Sir James
Sutherland Mackenzie, who in 1858 also died without issue. Sir
James' sister, Elizabeth, married Lieutenant Sutherland, Royal
Navy, with issue; and his sister, Margaret, married the Rev.
James H. Hughes, Chaplain H.E.I.C.S., Bombay, with issue. On
the death of Sir James the Baronetcies and other dignities of the
Cromarty family reverted to his cousin, the late John Mackenzie,
Lochinver, son of Kenneth Mackenzie, Ledbeg, Assynt, who, however,
never assumed the titles.
3. George, minister in Caithness, who died at sea, unmarried, in
1825.
4. Kenneth, of Ledbeg, who married, first, a daughter of Mackenzie
of Elphin, with issue - (1) the late John of Lochinver, heir male
to the Tarbat and Cromarty honours, twice married, without issue;
(2) Robert; (3) James; (4) Charles; and (5) Royston, all of whom
died without surviving issue; (6) Jane; (7) Georgina; (8) Jessie,
who married the Rev. John Kennedy, minister of Redcastle, who died
in 1841, with issue, one of whom was the Rev. John Kennedy, D.D.,
late Free Church minister of Dingwall.
5. Charles Stuart, who died unmarried.
6. Roderick, who also died unmarried.
7. John, who died unmarried, abroad.
8. Murdoch, who married Janet, daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie of
Dundonnel, without issue.
9. Alexander, who married a daughter of Mackenzie of Stronchrubie,
with issue - James, who died in Assynt, unmarried, and two
daughters - Margaret, who married Kenneth Macleod and Anne, who died
unmarried.
Failing the male succession of this family, which has become extremely
difficult if not impossible to trace now that the representatives
of Kenneth Mackenzie of Ledbeg have failed in the male line, the
dormant honours of Tarbat and Cromarty reverts to the family of
Scatwell.
THE MACKENZIES OF SCATWELL.
I. KENNETH MACKENZIE, first of this family, was the second son of
Sir Roderick Mackenzie of Coigeach, Tutor of Kintail, by Margaret,
eldest daughter and co-heiress of Torquil Macleod of the Lewis.
He married, in 1634, Margaret, eldest daughter and co-heiress of
Robert Munro the Black Baron, XX of Fowlis (tocher 15,000 merks),
with issue -
1. John, his heir and successor.
2. Jean, who married a son of Munro of Lemlair.
3. Anne, who married MacCulloch of Park, without issue.
4. Catherine, who married Kenneth Mackenzie, I. of Langwell, with
issue.
He married, secondly, Janet, daughter of Walter Ross of Invercharron,
relict of Thomas Ross of Priesthill, life rentrix of Priesthill,
Ulladale, etc. (who died on the 17th of March, 1699), with issue -
5. Roderick, who died young.
6. Alexander, who succeeded his half-brother John as III. of
Scatwell.
7. George, who died young.
8. Kenneth, who succeeded his brother Alexander.
9. Isabella, who married John Macleod of Contullich, Tutor of
Macleod of Macleod, with issue.
10. Christian, who married, first, John Gray of Arboll, and
secondly, George Gordon of Ospisdale, without issue.
He has a sasine of Little Scatwell in 1619, and a charter of
Allangrange, from George, Earl of Seaforth, in 1636. He died at
Lochluichart, of which place he has a sasine in 1634, on the 3rd
of March, 1662, and was buried in St. Clement's Chapel, Dingwall,
when according to the Wardlaw MS. "My Lord Lovat paraded there
with near 100 horse and 500 foot," to do honour to "a gallant and
a great spirit."
Kenneth was succeeded by his only son by the first marriage,
II. JOHN MACKENZIE, second of Scatwell, who has a sasine in
1667. He married Anne, daughter of Roderick Mackenzie, III. of
Redcastle, with issue - an only child, Lilias, who married Colin
Mackenzie, III. of Kincraig, with issue (sasine to her in 1679). He
died on the 13th of May, 1677, and was succeeded by his half-brother,
III. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, third of Scatwell, who married Janet
Ross of Ulladale, who died in March, 1699. He died on the 18th of
March, 1680, without issue, and was succeeded by his brother,
IV. SIR KENNETH MACKENZIE, fourth of Scatwell. He was created
a Baronet of Nova Scotia on the 22nd of February, 1703, by Queen
Anne, six weeks after the elevation of his cousin-german, George,
Lord Tarbat, to the Earldom of Cromarty. He was member of
Parliament from 1702 to 1706. Dr George Mackenzie says that "he
was a member of the Union Parliament, and joined those patriots
of the country who stood by the ancient and inalienable privileges
of the nation." In 1688 he acquired by purchase from his relative,
Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh and Mary Haliburton his wife,
the lands of Pittonachty. About the same time he married Lilias
(then only eighteen years old), eldest daughter of Sir Roderick
Mackenzie of Findon, fourth son of Alexander Mackenzie, I. of Kilcoy,
who, on the death of her father and mother, and that of her only
brother the year following, was, on the 12th of October, 1693, served
heir of tailzie and provision to her father in the lands of Findon,
which property she brought to her husband. The fortunes of the family
of Scatwell having thus been much improved, in 1696 a dwelling-house
was erected by Kenneth and his wife at Findon, into which they
removed from Lochluichart; and they continued to reside in it until
the erection of the new mansion at Pittonachty by Sir Roderick
Mackenzie, the second baronet, in 1795. The old residence at Findon,
now used as a farm house, still bears the following inscription
on the lintel of the main door:
"Omnia terrena per vices sunt aliena,
Nunc mea, nunc hujus,
Post mortem nescio cujus,
Null certa domus."
"K. MK. 16. 96 I. MK."
By his first wife, Lilias of Findon, who died in childbed on the
21st of October, 1703, Sir Kenneth had issue -
1. George, who was educated at Oxford, where he remained from
July, 1702, until May, 1704, during which period he cost his father
8192 merks. He is described as "a youth of great hope and spirit,"
but he died "of a decay," unmarried, in 1705, in his 21st year.
2. Roderick, who succeeded as second Baronet.
3. Alexander, who died in 1711, in his 18th year.
4. Simon, I. of Scotsburn - who was born on the 16th of May,
1702 - representation extinct, Charles Roderick Mackenzie, the last
male representative of the family having died at Seaford, Sussex,
on the 25th of April, 1893, without issue.
5. Margaret, who on the 13th of February, 1703, married, first,
Aeneas Macleod of Cadboll (tocher 6000 merks), with issue; and
secondly, Roderick Mackenzie, IV. of Applecross, with issue.
6. Isabel, who married, first, Kenneth Bayne of Tulloch, without
issue; and secondly, Roderick Chisholm, XXI. of Chisholm, with
issue.
7. Elizabeth, who married William Mackenzie, III. of Belmaduthy,
with issue - a daughter, who married Fraser of Culduthel.
8. Margaret, who married James Cuthbert of Farnese, merchant,
Inverness.
Sir Kenneth married, secondly, in 1707, Christian, eldest daughter
of the Rev. Roderick Mackenzie, minister and Laird of Avoch, without
issue. He married, thirdly, Abigail, daughter of John Urquhart of
Newhall, with issue -
9. Kenneth, H.E.I.C.S., who died unmarried.
10. Jean, who married Kenneth Mackenzie, III. of Dundonnel,
with issue, and died in 1786.
11. Ann, who in 1750 married Thomas Mackenzie, V. of Ord, with
issue.
12. Lilias, born at Findon on the 22nd of February, 1711.
In 1728, two years before his death, he mortified a sum of 906
merks for the education and benefit of the poor in the parish of
Avoch.
He died in 1730, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
V. SIR RODERICK MACKENZIE, fifth of Scatwell, and second Baronet,
who in 1710 married Janet, (who died 10th February, 1761) daughter
of Ludovic Grant, XVII. of Grant, with issue -
1. Lewis, his heir and successor.
2. Captain Alexander, who married, first, his cousin Lilias,
daughter of Simon Mackenzie, I. of Scotsburn, with issue; and
secondly, Janet, daughter of John Mackenzie, III. of Torridon,
with issue. Male representation by both marriages extinct.
3. Janet, who in 1730 married Sir Alexander Mackenzie, second
Baronet and IX. of Gairloch, with issue.
4. Elizabeth, who married Colin Mackenzie, III. of Mountgerald
with issue.
5. Margaret, who married James Cuthbert of Milncraig.
Sir Roderick died on the 24th of April, 1750, and was succeeded
by his eldest son,
VI. SIR LEWIS MACKENZIE, third Baronet and sixth of Scatwell.
He was born in 1715, and in 1739 married Isabella, eldest daughter
of Colin Mackenzie, I. of Mountgerald, with issue -
1. Roderick, his heir and successor.
2. Colin, who was born on the 16th of April, 1746, the day on
which the battle of Culloden was fought. He was a merchant in
London, in partnership with Mark Sprot, the then eminent financier,
and married Janet, daughter of J. Sprot, Edinburgh. He died
in 1814 and is buried in Bath Abbey. He has a sasine of Little
Findon in life-rent, dated the 2nd of September, 1771. By his
wife, he had issue - (1) Colin, who died unmarried, in 1841; (2)
Mark, who died unmarried, in 1856; (3) Lewis, Major in the Royal
Scots Greys, who married, in 1820, Nancy, only child and heiress
of Samuel Forrester Bancroft. He died in 1853, with issue - (a)
Lewis Mark Mackenzie, I. of Findon and Mountgerald. He succeeded
to the estate of Findon by deed of arrangement with his cousin, Sir
James John Randoll Mackenzie, sixth Baronet and IX. of Scatwell,
in 1849, and he purchased Mountgerald from Colonel Simon Mackenzie
in 1855. He died unmarried in 1856, and was succeeded, as II.
of Findon, etc., by his next brother (b) Augustus Colin, who also
died unmarried, in 1865; when the only surviving brother (c) Sir
James D. Mackenzie, Baronet, Major half-pay, who, born in 1830,
served in the 79th and 14th Regiments. He is author of the
"Mackenzie Genealogies," published in 1879. Having succeeded to
the property, as III. of Findon and Mountgerald, he married, in
1858, Julia Stanley, daughter of Samuel Clutsam, D.C.L., with
issue - James Kenneth Douglas, born in 1859; Alice Nancy; Julia
Marion; Louisa Augusta; Lilian Geraldine and Evelyn; (d) Earnest
Bancroft, who died unmarried in 1861; (e) Colin, who died young;
(f) Nancy Copley, who married Thomas Antony Lister of Gargrave,
barrister-at-law, with issue - Nancy M. Augusta; (g) and Julia
Louisa, who, in 1824, married Baron Iver Holger Rosenkrantz,
Chamberlain to the King of Denmark and minister at the Court of
Italy (who died in 1873), with issue - four sons.
3. Lewis, who died in the West Indies, unmarried.
4. George, Colonel 72nd Regiment, who married Joan, daughter
of John Campbell of Wellwood, Ayrshire, with issue - (1) Lewis,
Captain 72nd Regiment, who married Jane, daughter of William Logan,
with issue - a daughter, Margaret; (2) John Campbell, Lieutenant
5th Regiment, subsequently Sheriff-Substitute of Lanark. He
married, in 1810, Marie Barbier Deshayeux, at St. Jean de Luz,
with issue - George Salvador, Lieutenant H.E.I.C.S., drowned in
the Ganges in 1844; Admiral John Fraser Campbell, who in 1850,
married Annabella, daughter of the Rev. Dr Stirling, minister of
Craigie, with issue; Francois, Major H.E.I.C.S., who married, in
1854, Julia, daughter of John Mercer, of Maidstone, with issue;
Lilias, who died unmarried; and Louisa Georgina, who, in 1843,
married as his second wife, Dr Stair M'Quhae, with issue; (3)
George, who died young; (4) another George, who died unmarried;
(5) Isabel, who died young; (6) Catherine, who died unmarried;
and (7) Jane, who married William Forrester Bow, M.D., with
issue - three sons.
5. Lilias, who died unmarried, in 1777.
Sir Lewis was served heir to his father in 1752. His wife died in
1786 at Findon, and he died in 1756, when he was succeeded by his
eldest son,