History of the Mackenzies Part 23

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 Gla.s.sich 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 Clanra.n.a.ld, 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 ma.n.u.script histories of the clan, or in any known official doc.u.ment. 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 t.i.tle 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 ent.i.tled 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 a.s.sociation, a factious party of the n.o.bility, 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, Gla.s.sletter (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."

[Ma.n.u.script 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 Va.s.s, Sheriff of Inverness, whose jurisdiction at that time extended to Ross and the other Northern counties, is conclusive as to their having existed. This doc.u.ment, 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 1494, before these witnesses - Sir Dougall Ruryson, Vicar of Urquhart, Murchy Beg Mac Murchy, John Thoma.s.son, Kenneth Mac-anleyson, Donald Mac-anleyson, Dugald Ruryson, and Duncan Lachlanson servant, with others divers.

The next authentic doc.u.ment 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 doc.u.ments 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.