He was a nephew of Macdonald of Keppoch, one of the seven men of
Moidart, and was personally requested by Lady Seaforth to take up
arms for the Prince, and he attached himself, with the personal
following who attended him, to his uncle's standard. The Macdonalds,
in Strong resentment for having been placed on the left instead
of the right of Charles Edward, refused to charge when ordered
by their commander. Keppoch, uttering the touching exclamation,
"My God! that I should live to be deserted by my own children then
charged, accompanied by my grandfather and his small following.
He soon fell pierced by balls and then, while my grandfather wept
over him, exhorted him to leave the field as the brief action
was already over, and the dragoons were already scattering over
the field in pursuit.
Some of the Macdonalds placed themselves under their Chief's
favourite nephew, as he is called in Scott's account of the battle.
Tradition says that some of them were disposed to run when they
saw parties of the dragoons approaching them, but that Torridon,
spoke briefly, "Keep together men. If we stand shoulder to
shoulder these men will be far more frightened at us than we can
be of them. But remember, if you scatter, they have four legs
to each of your two, and you will stand singly but small chance
against them." They took his advice, and he led them in fair
order off the field. It is further reported that he was proscribed
after the battle, and that his life was saved by Sir Alexander
Macdonald of Sleat, ancestor of the present Lord Macdonald, who
was one of the Royal Commissioners. Sir Alexander urged that
Torridon was a young and inexperienced man, and not likely to
be dangerous to the Government, on account of the distance and
comparative smallness of his wild Highland estate however, it
is said that he added - "Torridon is a great favourite with the
ladies, and if you "hang Torridon" it is certain that half the
ladies of the country will "hang themselves."" This reasoning is
said to have prevailed and it is certain that the estate descended
to my eldest brother in right of inheritance, without having been
confiscated.
John, who entertained Prince Charles in 1745, married Isobel,
daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie, II. of Dundonnel (sasine in 1741),
with issue -
1. Kenneth, his heir and successor.
2. John, who succeeded as V. of Torridon.
3. Janet, who married, as his second wife, Captain Alexander,
second son of Sir Roderick Mackenzie, second Baronet and V. of
Scatwell, with issue. She died in 1808.
He was succeeded by his eldest son,
IV. KENNETH MACKENZIE, fourth of Torridon. He sold the estate
to his brother John. He married Miss Cockerell, daughter of a
solicitor, in London, with issue -
1. Kenneth Cockerell, who married, with issue - (1) Kenneth
Cockerell, who died without issue; (2) John Scott, of the Manchester
and Liverpool Railway Company, who married and in 1859 died,
leaving issue - an only son, who since died without issue.
2. Isabella, who died without issue.
Kenneth was succeeded by his next brother,
V. JOHN MACKENZIE, fifth of Torridon, who had previously
purchased the estate from him, and whose descendants became the
heirs male of his predecessors, Kenneth's descendants having, as
already shown, become extinct. He married Anne Isabella, daughter
of Isaac Van Dam, West Indies, with issue -
1. John, his heir and successor.
2. Anthony Van Dam, who died unmarried in 1824.
3. Rev. Charles, Prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral.
4. Rev. Henry, consecrated Bishop Suffragan of Nottingham in 1870.
He resigned his Episcopal duties in 1877, but retained the title
of Bishop, and the offices of Arch-dean of Nottingham, and Canon
and Sub-Dean of the Cathedral of Lincoln. He married, first,
Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Ridley, of Demerara, with issue - an
only daughter, Edith, who married the Rev. H. Fellowes. He
married, secondly, Antoinette, daughter of Sir James Henry Turing
of Foveran, Baronet, with issue - a large family of whom 11 survived.
He died in 1878.
John died in 1820, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
VI. JOHN MACKENZIE, sixth of Torridon, who married Katharine
Yallop, and died without issue in 1852. He sold the estate to
James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie of Seaforth, and was succeeded
as representative of the family by his eldest surviving brother,
VII. THE REV. CHARLES MACKENZIE, Prebendary of St. Paul's
Cathedral, who married Henrietta, daughter of Henry Simonds, of
Reading, Berkshire, with issue -
1. Henry Douglas, who married Miss Suttar, Bathurst, N.S.W., with
issue - Dudley B. Douglas, and two daughters.
The Rev. Charles had also four daughters.
THE MACKENZIES OF DELVINE.
I. JOHN MACKENZIE, first of this family, was third son of Sir
Kenneth Mackenzie, first Baronet of Coul, by his first wife, Jean
Chisholm of Chisholm. He married first, his cousin Isabella,
daughter of Alexander Mackenzie, I. of Lentran, with issue - one
son, George, who married, and died before his father, without
issue in 1772. He married, secondly, a daughter of Sir Robert
Gordon of Gordonston, with issue - William, who married, and died
in England before his father, without issue. He married, thirdly,
Margaret, daughter of Hay of Alderston, with issue -
1. Alexander, who on the death of his half-brother George, became
his father's heir.
2. Kenneth (who died in 1756), Professor of Law in the University
of Edinburgh. He married Grizel Hume, daughter of Browne, I. of
Dolphinton, with issue - two sons and two daughters. The second
son, Andrew, was a W.S., and married a daughter of Campbell of
Achlyne, with issue. The daughters died unmarried. The eldest
son, John, succeeded his father-in-law, and became JOHN MACKENZIE,
II. of DOLPHINTON. He in 1773 married Alice, daughter of Robert
Ord, Lord Chief-Justice of the Exchequer, with issue - five sons,
four of whom - Robert, Kenneth, John, and George, died unmarried.
The second son, Andrew, had a son (with three daughters - Mary,
Grace, and Anne) Kenneth, a Major in the 4th Regiment, who married
a Miss Solomon in America, with issue - four sons and three daughters.
The only surviving son of John succeeded him as RICHARD MACKENZIE,
III. OF DOLPHINTON, who died in 1850. He married Jane, daughter
of Captain Hamilton, 73rd Regiment, with issue - JOHN ORD MACKENZIE,
IV. of Dolphinton, W.S., who married Margaret, daughter of Sir
Thomas Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, with issue. Richard had also
three other sons, Kenneth, Richard James, and George.
3. Thomas, who died young.
4. John, Chief Clerk of Session, who married Miss Renton of
Lamerton, without issue.
5. Donald, a Surgeon in the Army, who died unmarried in 1741.
6. Anne, who married Alexander Robertson of Faskally, with issue,
and died in 1772.
7. Helen, who married Crawford Balfour of Bingry.
8. Rebecca, who married John Mackenzie, IV. of Belmaduthy, with
issue; and five other daughters, Janet, Catharine, Mary, Christina,
and Jane, all of whom died unmarried.
John Mackenzie, I. of Delvine, died in 1731, when he was succeeded
by his second and eldest surviving son,
II. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, second of Delvine, who married, with
issue - an only daughter,
III. MARGARET MACKENZIE, third of Delvine, who married George
Muir of Cassencarie, with issue - an only son. She died in 1767,
and was succeeded by her son,
IV. SIR ALEXANDER MUIR-MACKENZIE, created first Baronet of
Delvine on the 9th of November, 1805. He married in September,
1787, Jane, daughter of Sir Robert Murray of Hillhead and Clermont,
Baronet, with issue - one son, and eight daughters, seven of whom
died unmarried. The eldest, Susan, married in 1817 Robert Smythe
of Methven. He died in 1832, when he was succeeded by his only
son,
V. SIR JOHN WILLIAM PITT MUIR-MACKENZIE, second Baronet and
fifth of Delvine. He married Sophia Matilda, fifth daughter of
James Raymond Johnstone of Alva, County Clackmannan, with issue -
1. Alexander, his heir and successor.
2. Robert-Smythe, late Lieutenant-Colonel, R.A. He was born on
the 27th of November, 1842, and married on the 17th of October,
1872, Anne-Elizabeth-Augusta, daughter of Captain Charles Kinnaird
Johnstone Gordon of Craig, Aberdeenshire, with issue - Robert
Cecil, born in 1876, and Georgina Sophia.
3. Cecil Cholmeley, Lieutenant Royal Engineers. He was born in
1843 and died on the 2nd of November, 1863, unmarried.
4. Kenneth Augustus, M.A., C.B., bencher of Lincoln's Inn, Q.C.,
barrister-at-law. He was born in 1845, Permanent Secretary to the
Lord Chancellor since 1880, and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery
since 1884. He married in 1874 Amy, daughter of William Graham,
M.P., for Glasgow, with issue - William Montague, and three daughters.
5. Montague Johnstone, barrister, late Fellow of Hertford College,
Oxford, Recorder of Sandwich. He was born in 1847, and married
in 1888, the Hon. Sarah Napier Bruce, daughter of Lord Aberdare,
with issue - a daughter, Enid.
6. John William Pitt, Magistrate Indian Civil Service. He was
born in 1855, and married on the 2nd of August, 1876, Fanny Louisa,
second daughter of Lieutenant-General Montague Cholmeley Johnstone,
with issue - two sons and two daughters.
7. Georgina Mary, who on the 24th of November, 1871, married Sir
Charles Sebright, K.C.M.G., and died on the 24th of January, 1874.
8. Lucy Jane Eleanora, who on the 20th of October, 1859, married
Bentley, youngest son of William Murray of Monkland, with issue.
She died in 1874.
9. Susan Anne Eliza, unmarried.
Sir John died on the 1st of February, 1855, when he was succeeded
by his eldest son,
VI. SIR ALEXANDER MUIR-MACKENZIE, third and present Baronet of
Delvine. He was Captain in the 78th Highlanders and subsequently
Major in the Highland Borderers Infantry Militia. He was born on
the 26th of July, 1840, and on the 21st of February, 1871, married
Frances Rose, sixth daughter of Sir Thomas Moncrieffe, Seventh
Baronet of Moncrieffe, without issue.
THE MACKENZIES OF GRUINARD.
I. JOHN MACKENZIE, first of this family, was a natural son
of George, second Earl of Seaforth. He has a charter of Little
Gruinard and other lands in 1669, in which he is described as then
"of Meikle Gruinard." He married before 1655, Christian, daughter
of Donald Mackenzie, III. of Loggie (sasine in that year as his
wife), with issue -
1. George, his heir, whom his mother describes in a sasine, dated
10th August, 1685, as "George Mackenzie, my eldest lawful son."
2. Kenneth, who married Frances Herbert, daughter of William,
Marquis of Powis, and widow of Kenneth, fourth Earl of Seaforth,
without issue.
3. John, a doctor in Inverness five other sons and eight daughters,
all married, several of them with issue.
John was succeeded by his eldest son,
II. GEORGE MACKENZIE, second of Gruinard, who has a sasine in
1696, married, first, Margaret, daughter of Alexander Mackenzie,
II. of Ballone (marriage contract 1696) with issue -
1. George, his heir and successor.
2. Kenneth, who married a daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie, III. of
Suddie, with issue.
3. Colin, a goldsmith in Inverness, who married Anne, daughter of
Alexander Mackenzie, III. of Applecross, with issue - two daughters.
4. Simon, who married Mary, daughter of John Mackenzie, II. of
Ardloch, with issue.
5. Captain Donald of Woodlands, who married Janet daughter of
Sir Alexander Mackenzie, third Baronet and X. of Gairloch, without
issue.
6. Roderick, who married Barbara, daughter of Alexander Mackenzie,
I. of Ardloch, widow of John, third son of Kenneth Mackenzie, II.
of Dundonnel, with issue - four daughters.
7. William.
8. Kenneth.
9. William, Lieutenant R.N., who married Ann, daughter of
Alexander Mackenzie, I. of Ardloch, with issue - an only daughter,
Mary Howard, who married Dr Grant, Inverness, with issue - four
sons and seven daughters.
10. George.
11. Captain John of Castle Leod, who married Geddes, daughter
of his uncle, Simon Mackenzie. He bought the estate of Avoch with
money left him by Admiral George Geddes Mackenzie, his wife's brother.
By this marriage he had issue - George of Avoch, a merchant in London
(with several other sons and daughters), who married Margaret,
daughter of the Rev. William Mackenzie, minister of Glenmuick, with
issue - (1) Geddes, who in 1812, married Sir Alexander Mackenzie,
the celebrated North American explorer, and discoverer of the
Mackenzie River, with issue - Alexander George of Avoch; George
Alexander; and Geddes Margaret; (2) Margaret, who married Thomas
Mackenzie, X. of Applecross, with issue.
George had three other sons and nine daughters by this marriage,
making twenty-three in all. He married, secondly, Elizabeth,
natural daughter of President Forbes of Culloden, who has a sasine
of Meikle Gruinard in 1729 "to Elizabeth Forbes, his spouse,"
with issue - four sons and six daughters, making the extraordinary
total of thirty-three children, nineteen of whom are known to have
married, many of them into the best families in the north.
He was succeeded by his eldest son,
III. JOHN MACKENZIE, third of Gruinard, who married first in
1713 Catherine, daughter of George Mackenzie, I. of Culbo, third
son of Alexander Mackenzie, II of Belmaduthy, with issue -
1. William, his heir and successor.
2. John, of whom nothing is known.
3. Annabella, who married the Rev. Murdo Morrison, Stornoway,
with issue.
4. Lilias, who married Rev. James Macaulay, Gairloch.
5. Isabella, who married Alexander Mackenzie, Little Gruinard,
with issue.
John married secondly, a daughter of Mackenzie of Sand.
He was succeeded by his eldest son,
IV. WILLIAM MACKENZIE, fourth or Gruinard, who married Lilias,
daughter or John Mackenzie, I. of Lochend, with issue -
1. Simon, Captain 78th Regiment, who died before his father,
returning from India, unmarried.
2. George, who was killed by a fall before his father's death, in
Jamaica, unmarried.
3. John, who became his father's heir and successor.
4. Alexander, Colonel in the army, "a most distinguished soldier."
He served with the 36th Regiment throughout the Peninsular War,
and in the course of his service was dangerously wounded in the
neck, lost an eye, and had two horses killed under him. He was
a gallant and distinguished officer, in every sense a thorough
Highlander. He married first, Eliza, daughter of Colonel George
Mackenzie, son of John Mackenzie, I. of Lochend, with issue - (1)
George, a Captain in the 36th (his father's) Regiment, killed while
leading an escalading party at the assault of Burgos, unmarried;
(2) Alexanderina, who married Alexander Grove, M.D., R.N., at
Greenwich Hospital, with issue - three daughters. Colonel Alexander
married, secondly, Eliza, daughter of Captain James Graeme, R.N.,
with issue - (3) George, who died unmarried in 1842; (4) Major-General
Alexander Mackay Mackenzie, who became the representative of the
family; (5) William, who died young; (6) Eliza; (7) Lilias, who
married Sir John W. Fisher, M.D., without issue; and (8) Janet,
who married W. F. B. Staples, barrister, with issue.
5. Catherine, who married the Rev. Donald Mackintosh, Gairloch,
with issue - five daughters, one of whom, Annabella, married Murdo
Macrae, with issue.
6. Margaret, who died unmarried.
William, IV. of Gruinard, raised a Company of Highlanders in
1778 for Lord Seaforth's Regiment. Simon, his eldest son, went
to India in command of it, and, as already stated, died on his
return voyage, from the accidental bite of a favourite Arab horse
which he brought along with him when lock-jaw supervened and
caused his death.
William was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
V. JOHN MACKENZIE, fifth of Gruinard, Captain 73rd Regiment, who
married Margaret, daughter of Gun Munro of Braemore, Caithness,
with issue -
1. William, his heir and successor.
2. Christina, who married John Campbell, Poolewe, with issue - several
sons and daughters.
In 1795 he sold the property - which in his time comprised Meikle
Gruinard, Udrigle, and Sand, "with the pendicle thereof called
Little Gruinard" - to Duncan Davidson of Tulloch, whose son re-sold
it to the late Meyrick Bankes of Letterewe. He was succeeded as
representative of the family by his only son,
VI. WILLIAM MACKENZIE, Captain 72nd Regiment, said to have
been the handsomest man in his day in the Highlands. In 1829 he
unsuccessfully claimed the Chiefship of the clan. (See pp. 351-355).
He married Margaret, daughter of Wilson of Wilsonton, with issue -
1. John, who died young; and three daughters, two of whom, both
named Mary, died young. The third, Margaret Innes, married Lachlan
Maclachlan, Killinochannich, Argyleshire, without issue.
Captain William having died without male issue, was succeeded as
representative of the family by his cousin,
VII. MAJOR-GENERAL ALEXANDER MACKAY MACKENZIE, eldest surviving
son of the distinguished Colonel Alexander Mackenzie, fourth son
of William Mackenzie, IV., and brother of Captain John, V. of
Gruinard.
He married Marion, daughter of the Rev. William Colville of Newton,
Cambridgeshire, with issue -
1. John.
2. Stuart.
3. Lilias.
4. Sybil.
He died in London on the 21st of May, 1879, when a sketch of his
career by the present writer, appeared in "Celtic Magazine," vol.
IV., pp. 321-327.
THE MACKENZIES OF FAWLEY COURT AND FARR.
I. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, the first of this remarkable family prominently
known in the engineering world, was born at Wester Fairburn, in
the county of Ross, on the 5th of June, 1769, and educated at the
Grammar School, Inverness. He joined an old school-fellow, David
Mackintosh, a native of Cawdor, Nairnshire, as a firm of contractors
and engineers. They constructed several canals in England, and
were very successful. He married Mary, daughter of William Austin,
from her great beauty known as one of the "Lancashire Witches,"
with issue -
1. William, of whom presently.
2. Alexander, C.E., who was born at Hollinwood, Lancashire, in
1796. He married, with issue - (1) William Seager, who married,
first, a daughter of Thomas Woodhouse, C.E., with issue; and secondly,
a daughter of George Woodhouse, C.E. William was for many years
a civil engineer in the employment of the Russian Government,
and lived for some time at Nyksa in that country. He afterwards
went to Canada, and died in London on the 26th of February, 1887;
(2) Kenneth, C.E., killed in a railway accident near Bordeaux,
in France, unmarried; (3) Richard, C.E., who married his cousin,
Eliza, daughter of John Griffith, and died at Montreal on the
16th of February, 1887; (4) Alexander, CE., who was killed in a
railway accident in Canada, without issue; (5) Mary, who married
Mr Scott, in Canada.
3. Daniel, who was born in 1799, and died in 1802.
4. John, who was born on the 1st of November, 1804 went to Virginia
as a planter, and died there, unmarried.
5. David, born in 1807, and died in 1811.
6. Thomas, who was born in 1808, and died in 1811, the same day
as his brother, both being buried in the same grave.
7. Edward, from whom the Mackenzies of Fawley Court, Farr, etc.
8. Sarah, born in 1797, and died unmarried.
9. Margaret, who married John Griffith, with issue - (1) Edward
Mackenzie, who settled in the United States, and married a
daughter of Colonel Campbell; (2) William Alexander, who settled
in Canada and married a daughter of Mr Baldwin, Baldwin House,
Boston, United States, without issue. He lives in Quebec. (3)
Mary, who married Slack Davis, MA., of Oxford, barrister-at-law,
a well-known writer and poet in America, where he died on the
31st of March, 1889; (4) Alice, who married Thomas Musgrave, with
issue; (5) Emily Mackenzie, who married Joseph William Painter,
barrister, deceased, with issue - several sons, ranching near Denver,
Colorado; (6) Harriet, who married William Johnson Shaw, of Buenos
Ayres, with issue; and (7) Eliza Ann, who married her cousin,
Richard Mackenzie, C.E., Montreal, above mentioned.
10. Mary, born in 1814, and married James Barnard, shipowner,
Greenock, without issue. She died in 1875.
11. Eliza, who married Alexander Duckworth, with issue.
Alexander died on the 23rd of February, 1836, aged 66 years,
his wife having predeceased him on the 8th of June, 1828. They
were both buried at Blackburn, Lancashire. He was succeeded as
representative of the family by his eldest son,
II. WILLIAM MACKENZIE, afterwards of Newbie, Dumfries-shire,
and of Auchenskeoch, County of Kirkcud-bright, who was born at
Marsden Chapel on the 20th of March, 1794. He was a celebrated
engineer, first beginning his career under David Mackintosh, his
father's partner. He subsequently practised his profession under
Telford. He made his way very rapidly, taking part in most of the
great engineering works - railways, canals, and bridges - of his
time; and in the Shannon improvements, in connection with which the
Secretary for Ireland complimented him in the highest terms in the
House of Commons. After the introduction of railways he constructed
the great Lime Street tunnel under Liverpool. He afterwards
contracted for and engineered many railways - in some of which
be was partner with John Stephenson and others - in Scotland and
England, including the Glasgow and Greenock line, the London and
Birmingham, the Trent Valley, the Lancaster and Carlisle, the
North Union, the Ormskirk, and the Caledonian railway. He and
Brassey finding they were tendering against one another, in 1841
joined forces for French railways, and constructed under the
firm name of Mackenzie & Brassey (which consisted of himself, his
brother Edward, and Brassey) the Paris and Rouen and Paris and
Boulogne and Amiens, and several other railways in France, Belgium,
and Spain, notably the Barcelona and Seville, and the Paris and
Bourdeaux lines. Both King Louis Philippe and his successor
Prince Louis Napoleon, then President of the French Republic
and afterwards Emperor, showed him many marks of friendship and
esteem, the latter having decided to make him a Chevalier of the
Legion of Honour just before he died. In 1851, at Tours, at the
opening of the Paris and Orleans Railway, Napoleon, grasping him
by the band, thus addressed him - "I am happy to see you again
so well. I am still happier to have the opportunity of thanking
you, as President, for the great and useful works you have executed
in France. I shall be glad to confer on you the decoration of the
Legion of Honour, and I trust your Government will permit you to
wear a distinction so well-merited." On the same occasion Napoleon
exchanged portraits with him. Mackenzie, however, died very
soon after, before the honour offered him by the President of the
French Republic could be formally conferred upon him. In 1844 he
was a claimant to the Muirton of Fairburn estate, but he does not
seem to have followed it up.
He married, first, on the 9th of November, 1819, Mary, daughter
of James Dalziel, Glasgow, a native of Rothesay, county of Bute,
without issue. She died on the 19th of December, 1838, aged
49 years. He married secondly, on the 31st of December, 1839,
Sarah, daughter of William Dewhurst of Chorley, Lancashire (she
died in 1866), also without issue. He died on the 20th of October,
1851, when he was succeeded in his estates, and as representative
of the family in this country, by his youngest brother,
III. EDWARD MACKENZIE, who was born at Witton, Lancashire, on
the 1st of May, 1811, and who, as has been already seen, was one
of the partners of Mackenzie & Brassey. Shortly after the death
of his brother William, from whom he inherited Newbie and other
estates in the county of Dumfries, and Auchenskeoch in the Stewartry
of Kirkcudbright, Edward retired, and in 1853 purchased the Manor
and estate of Fawley, in the counties of Buckingham and Oxford, the
noble mansion-house of which was rebuilt by Christopher Wren in
1684. He was a J.P., D.L., and in 1862, High Sheriff of Oxfordshire
and J.P. for the counties of Buckingham, Dumfries, and Kirkcudbright.
He married first, on the 29th of January, 1839, Mary, daughter
of William Dalziel of the Craigs, Dumfries-shire, a descendant of
the first Earl of Carnwarth, with issue -
1. William Dalziel, his heir and successor.