MACINTOSH,
the name of one of the two principal branches of the clan Chattan,
the Macphersons, or clan Vurich, being the other. The Macintoshes
are supposed to have derived their name from the Gaelic word
toisich, meaning properly the first or front, and applied to the
oldest cadet of a family, as, from the earliest times, he held the
highest rank in the clan, next to the chief, and was its leader in
battle. The title of captain or leader of the clan was afterwards
substituted for it, when it was confined principally to three clans,
namely, the clan Chattan, the clan Cameron, and the clan Ranald. “It
is evident, says Mr. Skene, “that a title which was not universal
among the Highlanders must have arisen from peculiar circumstances,
connected with those clans in which it is first found; and when we
examine the history of these clans, there can be little doubt that
it was simply a person who had, from various causes, become de
facto head of the clan, while the person possessing the
hereditary right to that dignity remained either in a subordinate
situation, or else for the time disunited from the rest of the
clan.” (Skene’s Highlanders, vol. ii. pp. 177. 178.)
The original possessions of the clan Chattan included the
whole of Badenoch, the greater part of Lochaber, and the districts
of Strathnairn and Strathdairn, which formed a portion of the
ancient maordom of Moray. It is said to have derived its name from
Gillichattan-more, its founder and head. The armorial bearings of
all the clan Chattan exhibit the cat as their crest, with the motto,
“Touch not the Cat, but the Glove,” but here meaning without. The
badge of the Macintoshes is the red whortleberry, while that of the
Macphersons is the box evergreen. At an early period these two
tribes separated, and the chiefship of the clan became a disputed
point between them, one portion acknowledging Macintosh of Macintosh
as their head, and the other Macpherson of Cluny. According to the
Gaelic manuscript of 1450, discovered in the Advocates’ library by
Mr. Skene in 1846, and now frequently quoted in Celtic genealogies,
the Macphersons and the Macintoshes are descended from Neachtan and
Neill, the two sons of Gillichattan-more. The Macintoshes
themselves, however, claim a different descent. They say that their
ancestor was Macduff, earl of Fife, and that about the end of the 13th
century they obtained the chiefship of the clan Chattan by marriage
with Eva, the daughter and heiress of the grandson of the founder,
Gillichattan-more. Nisbet, who deduces the clan Chattan from the
Catti, a people said to have been driven from Germany by Tiberius
Caesar, about the year of our Lord 76, says that Eva “was married to
Macintosh head of his clan, and that he got with her several lands
in Lochaber, and a command of part of the people, for which he was
called captain of the clan Chattan. But Ewan Bane, second son of
Muriach, after the death of his elder brother (Gillichattan) and the
son of the latter, was owned as chief by the whole clan. He had
three sons, Kenneth, John, and Gillies. From Kenneth, the eldest, is
come the family of Macpherson of Cluny, which was then and since
known by the name of MacEwan.” (Nisbet’s Heraldry, vol. i. p.
424.) From the obscurity in which the early history of the clan is
involved it is not certain which of the lairds of Macintosh it was
who married Eva. Some writers assert that it was the fourth,
Buchanan of Auchmar says the fifth, while another authority affirms
the sixth. In charters granted by the lords of the Isles, confirmed
by David II., the son of Eva is designated captain of the clan
Chattan, and in support of the claim of their head to this title the
Macintoshes can produce abundance of documentary evidence, including
various other charters, many of them from the Crown. They can even
show that on two occasions the Macphersons themselves acknowledged
the head of the Macintoshes as such, once, in the 14th
century, when the laird of Macintosh was by them recognised as
“captain of the kin of clan Chattan,” and again, in 1609, when they
conceded to him the title of “Principal captain of the haill kin of
clan Chattan, according to the king’s gift of chieftaincy of the
whole clan Chattan.” But nowhere can it be shown that the head of
the Macintoshes was ever acknowledged or even styled chief of the
clan Chattan either by the king or by the rival branch. It was not,
indeed, within the prerogative of the king or of any power on earth,
to create a chief of a clan. That was a matter of blood and birth
and lineal descent and representation, or of election by the tribe
alone, and it would have been of no consequence or weight whatever,
even though the sovereign for the time had named the laird of
Macintosh the chief, as in numerous instances he was styled the
captain of the clan Chattan. The claim of the head of the
Macphersons is to be held the lineal and feudal representative of
the ancient chiefs of the clan Chattan, will be noticed under the
head MACPHERSON.
That the Macintoshes are descended from Neill, the second son
of Gillichattan-more, above mentioned, and not from Macduff, earl of
Fife, as they themselves represent, to the detriment, it may be
thought, of their own claims to the chiefship, appears to be
established by Mr. Skene, founding on the Celtic genealogy of 1450,
before referred to. It may also be concluded that so far from being
of German origin, as Nisbet states, the clan Chattan were in reality
descended from the ancient Celtic inhabitants of the maordom of
Moray, and were the largest and most powerful of the various tribes
or clans settled within it which became independent, when it had
ceased to exist. According to Sir George Mackenzie, their crest or
emblem of a cat was assumed, not from any connexion with the Catti
of Nisbet, if indeed there ever was any immigration of such a tribe
into the north, as asserted, which is very doubtful, but from the
number of wild cats that once infested what are now the counties of
Sutherland and Caithness, and led to the district comprehending both
being styled Cattu, the latter only retaining the name of Cattu-ness
or Caithness.
In1336, William Macintosh, then the head of the clan, obtained
from John of Isla, afterwards lord of the Isles, a grant of the
lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig in Lochaber, which was the cause of
a lasting feud between the clan Chattan and the clan Cameron. These
clans had a common origin, and for some time followed the same chief
(Major’s History of Scotland, page 302); but about the period
named, a separation took place between them. The clan Cameron
supported the Macphersons in their dispute with the Macintoshes
relative to the chiefship, and according to a tradition contained in
a MS. history of the Camerons, introductory to the life of Sir Ewen
Cameron, quoted by Mr. Gregory (Highlands and Isles of Scotland,
page 75), they and the clan Chattan were the tribes engaged in
the memorable combat on the North Inch of Perth in 1396, so
graphically described in Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Fair Maid of Perth,’
and with less embellishment in his ‘Tales of a Grandfather.’ The
parties who encountered on that occasion are usually said to have
belonged to the clan Quhele and the clan Kay, the latter erroneously
supposed to have been the Mackays. The earls of Dunbar and Crawford
having failed to effect an arrangement of the matter in dispute,
these noblemen, with the king’s brother, the duke of Albany,
recommended that it should be decided by public battle between
thirty on each side, in presence of the king, Robert III., and his
court. If the dispute had related, as on good grounds it is believed
that it did, to the chiefship, the king, by consenting to such a
mode of arbitrement, clearly showed that he had no power to dispose
of it otherwise, as it was entirely a matter which concerned only
the contenting clans, with which he had nothing to do, but to see
fair play between them.
On the day appointed the combatants appeared on the North Inch
at Perth. Barriers had been erected on the ground, and the king and
queen, accompanied by a large body of nobles, took their places on a
platform to view the combat. Wyntoun says that those who engaged
were armed
“With bow and axe, knyf and swerd,
To dead amang them their last werd.”
The fight, however, was very nearly prevented by the absence
of one of the clan Quhele, or clan Chattan. Some accounts state that
the one missing had fallen sick. According to Bower, his heart
having failed him, he had slipped through the crowd, plunged into
the Tay, and swam across, and although pursued by thousands,
effected his escape. As the combat could not proceed with the
inequality of numbers thus occasioned, the king was about to break
up the assembly, when a little bandy-legged man named Henry Wynd, a
burgher of Perth, and an armourer or saddler by trade, sprang within
the barriers, and thus spoke: – “Here am I! Will any one fee me to
engage with these hirelings in this stage play? For half a merk will
I try the game, provided, if I escape alive, I have my board of one
of you so long as I live.” This offer of Bow Crom, as he was
called by the Highlanders, that is, crooked smith, was granted by
the king, and he took his place with the clan Chattan. The signal
was then given, and the battle began. Henry Wynd bending his bow,
and sending the first arrow among the opposite party, killed one of
them. After a discharge of arrows the combatants rushed upon one
another, and as they fought with the two-handed sword, dagger, and
battle-axe, the field of battle was soon covered with the killed and
wounded.
“In the midst of the deadly conflict,” narrates Sir Walter
Scott, in his ‘Tales of a Grandfather,’ “the chieftain of the clan
Chattan observed that Henry Wynd, after he had slain one of the clan
Kay, drew aside, and did not seem willing to fight more. ‘How is
this?’ said he; ‘art thou afraid?’ ‘Not I,’ answered Henry, ‘but I
have done enough of work for a half crown.’ ‘Forward and fight,’
said the Highland chief; ‘he that does not grudge his day’s work, I
will not stint him in his wages.’ Thus encouraged, Henry Wynd again
plunged into the conflict, and by his excellence as a swordsman,
contributed a great deal to the victory, which at length fell to the
clan Chattan.” Twenty-nine of the clan Kay had been killed, and
nineteen of the clan Quhele. The ten remaining of the victors were
all grievously wounded. Henry Wynd and the survivor of the Clan Kay
escaped unhurt. The latter, seeing the odds against him, threw
himself into the Tay, and swam to the other side. Henry Wynd, who
had rendered the clan Chattan such signal assistance, was liberally
rewarded by their leader, but, continues Sir Walter, “it was
remarked, when the battle ended, that he could not tell the name of
the clan he had fought for; and when asked on which side he had
been, he replied, that he had been fighting for his own hand. Hence
originated the proverb, ‘Every man for his own hand, as Harry Wynd
fought.’”
With regard to the cause or object of the combat, one of the
most remarkable events of its kind in the annals of the Gael, and
the parties engaged, Dr. Browne, in his ‘History of the Highlands
and Highland Clans,’ (vol. iv. p. 474,) says: “Excepting the general
fact, little is known concerning this conflict. We are ignorant of
the precise nature of the dispute, which was thus submitted to the
arbitrement of the sword, the axe, and the dagger, and almost
equally so respecting the precise clans who had agreed to settle
their differences in this manner. It is said, indeed, that the cause
of contention had arisen a short time before, and that Sir David
Lindsay and the earl of Moray had suggested, if not actually
arranged, this barbarous mode of adjustment, although with what
particular view it is impossible to ascertain at this distance of
time. It appears, also, that the clans called clan Kay and clan
Chattan by Sir Walter Scott and others, were, by the ancient
authorities, denominated clan Yha and clan Quhele; and from this
circumstance, taken in conjunction with some others. Mr. Skene has
concluded that the Macphersons were the clan Yha, and the
Macintoshes the clan Quhele. But, however this may be, it is
admitted, on all hands, that the clan Chattan, or clan Quhele, were
victorious in the combat; and if any inference at all can be drawn
from the names, it seems to be this, that the victors were the
champions of the clan which is commonly known by the former of these
denominations, namely, that of clan Chattan. The point in dispute
was thus settled in their favour; the Macintoshes were acknowledged
as the chiefs of the clan, though, under a different denomination,
(that of captain,) and from the date of the conflict at Perth, in
1396, they continued to be regarded as its heads.”
In 1411, the chief of Macintosh was slain, fighting on the
side of Donald, lord of the Isles, at the battle of Harlaw. In 1429,
when Alexander, lord of the Isles and earl of Ross broke out into
rebellion at the head of 10,000 men, on the advance of the king into
Lochaber, the clan Chattan and the clan Cameron deserted the earl’s
banners, and went over to the royal army, when the rebels were
defeated. In 1431, Malcolm Macintosh, then captain of the clan
Chattan, received a grant of the lands of Alexander of Lochaber,
uncle of the earl of Ross, that chieftain having been forfeited for
engaging in the rebellion of Donald Balloch. Having afterwards
contrived to make his peace with the lord of the Isles, he received
from him, between 1443 and 1447, a confirmation of his lands in
Lochaber, with a grant of the office of bailiary of that district.
His son, Duncan, styled captain of the clan Chattan in 1467, was in
great favour with John, lord of the Isles and earl of Ross, whose
sister, Flora, he married, and who bestowed on him the office of
steward of Lochaber, which had been held by his father. He also
received the lands of Keppoch and others included in that lordship.
On the forfeiture of his brother-in-law in 1475, James III.
granted to the same Duncan Macintosh, a charter, of date July 4,
1476, of the lands of Moymore, and various others, in Lochaber. It
was the policy of James IV. to secure the attachment of the heads of
the clans to his person and government by conciliatory measures.
Tytler says: “To attach to his interest the principal chiefs of
these provinces, to overawe and subdue the petty princes who
affected independence, to carry into their territories, hitherto too
exclusively governed by their own capricious or tyrannical
institutions, the same system of a severe, but regular and rapid
administration of civil and criminal justice, which had been
established in his Lowland dominions, was the laudable object of the
king; and for this purpose he succeeded, with that energy and
activity which remarkably distinguished him, in opening up an
intercourse with many of the leading men in the northern counties.
With the captain of the clan Chattan, Duncan Macintosh; with Ewan,
the son of Alan, captain of the clan Cameron; with Campbell of
Glenurquhay; the MacGilleouns (MacLeans) of Dowart and Lochbuy;
Mackane (MacIan) of Ardnamurchan, the lairds of Mackenzie and Grant,
and the earl of Huntly, a baron of the most extensive power in those
northern districts; he appears to have been in habits of constant
and regular communication; rewarding them by presents, in the shape
either of money or grants of land, and securing their services in
reducing to obedience such of their fellow chieftains as proved
contumacious, or actually rose in rebellion.” (Tytler’s History
of Scotland, vol. iv. pp. 367, 368.) But all was of no avail;
the feuds among the chiefs continued, and it was often found
difficult to vindicate the supremacy of the law in the remote and
then almost inaccessible portions of the Highlands where their
possessions lay.
In 1491, a large body of western Highlanders, principally
Macdonalds and Camerons, under Alexander Macdonald of Lochalsh,
nephew of the lord of the Isles, advanced from Lochaber into
Badenoch, where they were joined by the clan Chattan, led by
Farquhar Macintosh, the son and heir of Duncan, the captain of the
clan Chattan. They proceeded to Inverness, where Farquhar Macintosh
stormed and took the royal castle, in which he established a
garrison. The battle of Blairne-park followed, and the result was
the final forfeiture of the lordship of the Isles, and its
annexation to the crown in May 1493. When the king that year
proceeded in person to the West Highlands, Duncan Macintosh, captain
of the clan Chattan, was one of the chiefs, formerly among the
vassals of the lord of the Isles, who went to meet him and make
their submission to him. These chiefs received in return royal
charters of the lands they had previously held under the lord of the
Isles, and Macintosh obtained a charter of the lands of Keppoch,
Innerorgan, and others, with the office of bailiary of the same. In
1495, Farquhar Macintosh, his son, and Kenneth Oig Mackenzie of
Kintail, were imprisoned, by the king, in Edinburgh castle. “This,”
says Mr. Gregory, (Highlands and Isles of Scotland, page 91,)
“may have been partly owing to their lawless conduct in 1491; but
was, more probably, caused by a dread of their influence among the
Islanders, for the mothers of these powerful chiefs were each the
daughters of an earl of Ross, lord of the Isles.” Two years
thereafter, Farquhar, who seems about this time to have succeeded
his father, as captain of the clan Chattan, and Mackenzie made their
escape from Edinburgh castle, but, on their way to the Highlands,
they were treacherously seized at the Torwood by the laird of
Buchanan. Mackenzie, having offered resistance, was slain, but
Macintosh was taken alive, and returned to his dungeon, where he
remained till after the battle of Flodden.
To save the life of their captive chief, the Macintoshes broke
off all connexion with the other vassals of the Isles, and joined
the force of the earl of Huntly in his attempts to reduce Lochaber
to obedience. In consequence, their lands in Badenoch, which were
held under that nobleman, were, on the breaking out of the
insurrection of the islanders under Donald Dubh in 1503, plundered
and wasted by the rebels with fire and sword.
Farquhar was succeeded by his cousin, William Mackintosh, who
had married Isabel M’Niven, heiress of Dunnachtan; but John Roy
Macintosh, the head of another branch of the family, attempted by
force to get himself recognised as captain of the clan Chattan, and
failing in his design, he assassinated his rival at Inverness in
1515. Being closely pursued, however, he was overtaken and slain at
Glenesk. Lauchlan Macintosh, the brother of the murdered chief, was
then placed at the head of the clan. He is described by Bishop
Lesley (History of Scotland, page 137) as “a verrie honest
and wyse gentleman, an barroun of gude rent, quha keipit hes hole
ken, friendes and tennentis in honest and guid rewll.” According to
Sir Robert Gordon (page 99) he was “a man of great possessions, and
of such excellencies of witt and judgement, that with great
commendation he did conteyn all his followers within the limits of
ther dueties.” The strictness with which he ruled his clan raised
him up many enemies among them, and, like his brother, he was cut
off by the hand of an assassin. “Some wicked persons,” says Lesley,
“being impatient of virtuous living, stirred up one of his own
principal kinsmen, called James Malcolmson, who cruelly and
treacherously slew his chief.” This was in the year 1526. To avoid
the vengeance of that portion of the clan by whom the chief was
beloved, Malcolmson and his followers took refuge in the island in
the loch of Rothiemurchus, but they were pursued to their hiding
place, and slain there.
Lauchlan had married the sister of the earl of Moray, and by
her he had a son, named Lauchlan, who, on his father’s death, was
but a child. The clan, therefore, made choice of Hector Macintosh, a
bastard brother of the young chief’s father, to act as captain till
he should come of age. Apprehensive that his ambition might lead
Hector to do some injury to the heir, the earl of Moray caused the
boy to be carried off, and placed in the hands of his mother’s
relations. Hector was highly incensed at the removal of his nephew,
and used every effort to get possession of him, but baffled in every
attempt, he collected his followers, and with his brother William
invaded the lands of Moray. Having overthrown the fort of Dyke, he
next besieged the castle of Darnaway, belonging to the earl of
Moray, and plundered the surrounding country, burning the houses of
the inhabitants, and slaying a number of men, women, and children.
Raising the siege of Darnaway castle, the Macintoshes proceeded into
the country of the Ogilvie, and laid siege to the castle of Petty,
which, after some resistance, surrendered. The garrison, among whom
were no fewer than twenty-four gentlemen of the name of Ogilvy, were
massacred. The whole of the country adjoining was devastated and
plundered.
To repress these disorders, King James V., by the advice of
his council, granted a commission to the earl of Moray to proceed
against the perpetrators. The earl, accordingly, at the head of a
considerable force, went in pursuit of Hector Macintosh and his
followers, and having surprised them, he took upwards of 300 of them
prisoners, all of whom he hanged. William Macintosh, the brother of
Hector, was one of those who were thus summarily executed. His head
was fixed upon a pole at Dyke, and his body being quartered, the
quarters were publicly exposed at Elgin, Forres, Aberdeen, and
Inverness. A striking instance of the fidelity of the Highlanders to
their chiefs was shown in this case, for out of such a vast number
put to death on this occasion, not one would reveal the secret of
Hector Macintosh’s retreat, although promised his life for the
discovery. “Their faith,” says Sir Robert Gordon, (page 100), “wes
so true to ther captane, that they culd not be persuaded, either by
fair meanes, or by any terror of death, to break the same or to
betray their master.”
By the advice of Alexander Dunbar, dean of Moray, Hector
Macintosh fled to the King and tendered his submission to his
majesty, which was accepted, and he received a remission for all his
past offences. But not long after, he was assassinated at St.
Andrews by one James Spence, who was, in consequence, beheaded. The
clan Chattan continued quiet during the remaining years of the
minority of the young chief, who, says Bishop Leslie (History,
page 138) “wes sua well brocht up by the meenes of the erle of
Murray and the laird of Phindlater in vertue, honestie, and civil
policye, that after he had received the government of his cuntrey,
he was a mirrour of vertue to all the hieland captanis in Scotland.”
On attaining the age of manhood. Lauchlan Macintosh was duly
acknowledged head of the clan Chattan. Soon after, however, a feud
broke out between the Macintoshes and the earl of Huntly, then
lieutenant in the north. It is supposed to have been instigated by
Lauchlan, the son of the murderer of the last chief. Macintosh
commenced hostilities by surprising and burning the castle of
Auchindoun, on which Huntly marched against him, at the head of his
retainers, and a fierce struggle ensued. The Macintoshes were
defeated, and the young chief, despairing of mercy at the hands of
Huntly, presented himself as a supplicant before his countess, in
the absence of her husband. But he sued in vain, as she caused his
head to be struck off. Huntly, however, was obliged to put the son
of the ill-fated chief of the Macintoshes in possession of his
paternal inheritance. The government likewise interposed in his
favour, with the view, no doubt, of counterbalancing the power of
Huntly in the North. He had a commission from the latter, as his
deputy, dated at Inverness the penult day of October 1544. In the
year 1550, as Huntly, with the earl of Sutherland, was about to
escort the queen-regent to France, a conspiracy was formed against
him, at the head of which was William Macintosh, captain of the clan
Chattan. On its discovery the earl ordered Macintosh to be
apprehended. In a court held by the earl at Aberdeen, on 2d August
of that year, Macintosh was tried and convicted by a jury, and
sentenced to lose his life and lands. Being immediately carried to
Strathbogie, he was, notwithstanding a pledge to the contrary,
beheaded, soon after, by the countess, at the instigation, it was
generally believed, of the earl. By an act of parliament, 14th
December, 1557, the sentence was reversed as illegal, and the son of
Macintosh was restored to all his father’s lands. As Lauchlan
Macintosh, a near kinsman of the deceased chief, was suspected of
having betrayed him to Huntly, the clan entered his castle of Petty
by stealth, and slew him. They likewise banished all his dependants
from their territories. In consequence of the execution of their
chief, the clan owed a deep grudge to Huntly, and thwarted him in
many of his designs. In 1562, when he had resolved to seize the
young queen Mary at Inverness, with the avowed design of compelling
her to marry his second son, John Gordon of Findlater, the timely
assistance afforded by the Macintoshes to the queen mainly
contributed to defeat a scheme which might otherwise have proved
successful.
In 1590, the earl of Huntly began to build a castle at Ruthven
in Badenoch, in the neighbourhood of his hunting forests. This gave
great offence to Macintosh and his people, as they considered that
the object of its erection was to overawe them. Being the earl’s
vassals and tenants, they were bound to perform certain services,
among which the furnishing of materials for the building formed a
principal part; but, instead of doing what was required of them,
they endeavoured to prevent Huntly’s workmen from going on with
their operations, and positively refused to give any assistance
whatever. They next joined the Grants against Huntly, and put
themselves under the command of the earls of Athol and Moray, who
had entered into the combination formed against that powerful
nobleman. On his side, Huntly assembled his followers, and
proceeding into Badenoch, summoned his vassals to appear before him,
but none of them came. He then proclaimed and denounced them rebels,
and obtained a royal commission to apprehend them. A meeting of the
hostile chiefs was held at Forres, to concert measures for attacking
him, but on the approach of Huntly with a large force, it broke up
without anything being resolved upon.
The murder of the “bonny earl of Moray” in 1591, by a party of
Gordons, under the earl of Huntly, was the cause of serious
commotions in various parts of the kingdom, and particularly in the
North Highlands. The king instantly cancelled the commission granted
to that nobleman, and he was committed a prisoner to Blackness
castle, but released eight days after, on giving security to appear
and stand his trial when called upon. To revenge Moray’s death, the
Macintoshes and Grants made hostile incursions into various parts of
Huntly’s estates. In retaliation, the latter caused the clan Cameron
to invade and plunder the lands of the Macintoshes in Badenoch, and
sent the Clanranald of Lochaber under Keppoch, their chief, to spoil
the lands of the Grants in Strathspey. The Camerons, though warmly
opposed, succeeded in defeating the clan Chattan, who lost fifty of
their men, after a sharp skirmish. On recovering from their defeat
they invaded Strathdee and Glenmuick, and killed four gentlemen of
the Gordons, amongst whom was the old baron of Breghly. The baron
was very hospitable, and unsuspicious of any danger, he entertained
the Macintoshes in his best manner, but they afterwards basely
murdered him. This occurred on 1st November 1592. To
punish this aggression, Huntly collected his followers, and entering
Petty, then in possession of the clan Chattan, as a fief from the
earls of Moray, laid waste all their lands there, killing many of
them, and carrying off a large quantity of cattle. On returning from
this foray he received intelligence that William Macintosh, son of
Lauchlan Macintosh, the chief, with 800 of the clan Chattan, had
invaded the lands of Auchindoun and Cabrach. Accompanied by Sir
Patrick Gordon of Auchindoun and 36 horsemen, he instantly set off
in quest of Macintosh and his men. Overtaking them on the top of a
hill called Stapliegate, he attacked them with his small party, and,
after a hot contest, defeated them, killing about sixty, and
wounding William Macintosh and others. He next undertook another
expedition into Petty, and did great damage to the lands of the
Macintoshes, several of whom were killed by his followers, and then
returned home with a large booty.
Alexander Ranaldson Macdonnell of Keppoch had seized the
castle of Inverness for Huntly, but was forced by Macintosh to
evacuate it, from want of provisions. This took place before
September 1593, when Macintosh concluded an agreement with the
magistrates of Inverness, for holding the town against Huntly.
To weaken and divide the force of the clan Chattan, Huntly, by
his intrigues with the Macphersons, encouraged them to declare
themselves independent, and they refused any longer to follow
Macintosh as captain of the clan Chattan.
In 1594, when the youthful earl of Argyle was sent with an
army against the three Popish earls, Huntly, Angus, and Errol, the
Macintoshes ranged themselves on the side of Argyle, and the
Macphersons joined the banners of Huntly. The castle of Ruthven,
belonging to the latter, was so well defended by a body of the clan
Pherson, that Argyle was obliged to abandon the siege. At the battle
of Glenlivet, which was fought soon after, the Macintoshes formed a
part of Argyle’s right wing. In 1599 on Huntly being restored to the
King’s favour, and created a marquis, the Macintoshes and other
hostile clans again submitted to him.
In the protracted feuds in which the Macintoshes were involved
with the Camerons, the Macdonalds of Keppoch, and other Lochaber
clans, their chief was obliged to accept of the assistance of the
Macphersons, as independent allies rather than as vassals and
dependents. Cameron of Lochiel had been forfeited in 1598, for not
producing his title deeds, when Macintosh claimed the lands of
Glenluy and Locharkaig, of which he had kept forcible possession. To
save himself, Lochiel entered into a contract with Macintosh, to
continue for nineteen years, by which he agreed to take from that
chief one half of the disputed lands in mortgage, for the sum of
6,000 merks, and to hold the other half under Macintosh, for the
personal service of himself and the tenants of the lands. In 1613,
Lochiel was outlawed for having slain several of his clansmen who
had shown themselves hostile to him. Subsequently he had interrupted
Sir Lauchlan Macintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, (who had been
knighted by James VI., and made gentleman of the bed-chamber to the
prince) when on his way to hold courts at Inverlochy, as heritable
steward of Lochaber. In 1618 Sir Lauchlan prepared to carry into
effect the acts of outlawry against Lochiel, who, on his part, put
himself under the protection of the marquis of Huntly, Macintosh’s
mortal foe. In July of the same year Sir Lauchlan obtained a
commission of fire and sword against the Macdonalds of Keppoch, for
laying waste his lands in Lochaber. As he conceived that he had a
right to the services of all his clan, some of whom were tenants and
dependants of the marquis of Huntly, he ordered the latter to follow
him, and compelled such of them as were refractory to accompany him
into Lochaber. This proceeding gave great offence to Lord Gordon,
earl of Enzie, the marquis’ son, who summoned Macintosh before the
privy council, for having, as he asserted, exceeded his commission.
He was successful in obtaining the recall of Sir Lauchlan’s
commission, and obtaining a new one in his own favour.
The same year, the earl brought an action of eviction of
certain lands against Sir Lauchlan Macintosh, for not performing the
service under which he held them from the marquis of Huntly, the
earl’s father; and as the earl had right to the tithes of Culloden,
which belonged to Macintosh, he served him, at the same time, with
an inhibition, prohibiting him from disposing of these tithes.
Macintosh circulated a report that he would oppose the claim, by
force if necessary, and try the issue of an action of spulzie, if
brought against him. On this the earl abstained from enforcing his
right; bit, having formerly obtained a decree against Macintosh, for
the value of the tithes of the preceding years, he sent two
messengers at arms to distrain the corn on the ground under that
warrant. The messengers were, however, resisted in the execution of
their duty by Macintosh’s servants. The earl, in consequence,
pursued Sir Lauchlan and his servants before the privy council, and
got them proclaimed rebels to the king. After this, collecting a
number of his friends, he prepared to distrain the crop at Culloden,
and carry it to Inverness. To prevent him, Macintosh fortified the
castle of Culloden, and laid in all the corn within its reach. Then,
committing the care of it to his two uncles, Duncan and Lauchlan
Macintosh, and rejecting all proposals made to him for an
accommodation, he proceeded to Edinburgh, and thence went privately
to England.
On the approach of the earl, with a large force, to Culloden,
Duncan Macintosh deemed it advisable to surrender the castle; on
which the earl returned him the keys, and gave the corn to
Macintosh’s grandmother, who enjoyed the liferent of the lands of
Culloden as her jointure. As, however, he had other claims against
Sir Lauchlan Macintosh, he cited him before the lords of council and
session, but, failing to appear, he was again denounced rebel, and
outlawed for his disobedience. Sir Lauchlan, who was then at court
in London, complained of the earl’s proceedings to the king, as
harsh and illegal. On being informed of this, the earl hastened to
London, and laid before his majesty a true statement of matters. Sir
Lauchlan was, in consequence, sent to Scotland, and committed to the
castle of Edinburgh, until he should give the earl full
satisfaction. Through the mediation of friends, a reconciliation
was, soon after, effected between them, when the earl remitted him
part of a large sum of money which he became bound to pay. Sir
Lauchlan had, in June 1622, by his representations at court,
procured a commission against Lochiel, directed to himself and
twenty-two other chiefs and gentlemen of note throughout the
Highlands and Isles, but his sudden death the same year gave an
opportunity to Lochiel’s friends to interest themselves on his
behalf. His disputes with the family of Macintosh were submitted to
the decision of friends, by whom the lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig
were adjudged to belong to Macintosh, who was to pay to Lochiel
certain sums of money in compensation. Lochiel, however, delayed
completing the transaction, and the dispute was not finally settled
till the time of his grandson, the celebrated Sir Ewen Cameron of
Lochiel. On Sir Lauchlan’s death, the ward of part of his lands fell
to the earl, as superior, during the minority of his son.
The year 1624 was marked by a serious insurrection of the clan
Chattan against the earl of Moray. That nobleman having deprived
them of the lands in Petty and Strathearn which his father had
conferred upon them, they resolved either to recover these, or to
lay them waste. Accordingly, a gathering of the clan, to the number
of about 200 gentlemen and 300 followers, took place about
Whitsunday of that year. As their chief was a mere child, this party
was commanded by three uncles of the late Sir Lauchlan Macintosh.
Spalding says: “They keeped the feilds in their Highland weid upon
foot with swords, bowes, arrows, targets, hagbuttis, pistollis, and
other Highland armour; and first began to rob and spoulzie the
earle’s tennents who laboured their possessions, of their haill
goods, geir, insight, plenishing, horse, nolt, sheep, corns, and
cattell, and left them nothing that they could gett within their
bounds; syne fell in sorning throw out Murray, Strathawick, Urquhart,
Ross, Sutherland, Brae of Marr, and diverse other parts, takeing
their meat and food per force, wher they could not gett it
willingly, frae friends alse weill as frae their faes; yet still
keeped themselves from shedeing of innocent blood. Thus they lived
as outlawes oppressing the countrie (besydes the casting of the
earle’s lands waist) and openly avowed they had tane this course to
get their own possessions again, or then hold the country walking.”
(Spalding’s History of the Troubles and Memorable Transactions in
England and Scotland.)
As no force that the earl of Moray could himself bring into
the field was sufficient to overawe the marauding clan, he went to
London and laid a statement of the case before King James, who, at
his earnest solicitation, granted him a commission, appointing him
his lieutenant in the Highlands, and giving him authority to proceed
capitally against the offenders. On his return to Scotland, he
proclaimed the commission he had obtained from his majesty, and
issued letters of intercommuning against the clan Chattan. He also
opened a communication with some of the principal persons of the
clan, who readily made their peace with him, by basely informing
against such persons as had given them protection or assistance. He
next, by virtue of his commission, held justice courts at Elgin,
where “some slight louns, followers of the clan Chattan,” were tried
and executed, but all the principals concerned were pardoned.
Spalding’s account may be here quoted: “Then presently was brought
in befor the barr; and in the honest men’s faces, the clan Chattan
who had gotten supply, verified what they had gotten, and the honest
men confounded and dasht, knew not what to answer, was forced to
come in the earle’s will, whilk was not for their weill; others
compeared and willingly confessed, trusting to gett more favour at
the earle’s hands, but they came little speid; and, lastly, some
stood out and denyed all, who was reserved to the tryall of an
assyse. The principall malefactors stood up in judgment, and
declared what they had gotten, whether meat, money, cloathing, gun,
ball, powder, lead, sword, dirk, and the like commodities, and also
instructed the assyse in ilk particular; what they had gotten frae
the persons pannalled; an uncouth form of probation, wher the
principall malefactor proves against the receiptor for his own
pardon, and honest men, perhaps neither of the clan Chattan’s kyne
nor blood, punished for their good will, ignorant of the laws, and
rather receipting them more for their evil nor their good.
Nevertheless thir innocent men, under collour of justice, part and
part as they came in, were soundly fyned in great soumes as their
estates might bear, and some above their estate was fyned, and every
one warded within the tolbuith of Elgine, while the least myte was
payed of such as was persued in anno 1624.” (Spalding’s Hist.
pp. 3, 4.) The earl of Moray had an interest in imposing these
enormous fines, as they went into his own pockets! He subsequently
obtained an enlargement of his commission from Charles I., but it
was afterwards annulled, because, as Sir Robert Gordon observes, “it
grieved divers of his majesty’s best affected subjects, and chieflie
the marquis of Huntlie, unto whose predicessors onlie the office of
livetennendrie in the north of Scotland had bein granted by former
kings, for these many ages.”
In 1639, on the breaking out of the civil war, when the
marquis of Huntly raised the royal standard in the north, Lauchlan
Macintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, joined the force of the
Covenanters on the north of the river Spey, and in 1650, when the
Scots army was collected to oppose Cromwell, his clan, under his
command, formed part of it. In the reign of Charles II., Macintosh,
to enforce his claim to the disputed lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig
against Cameron of Lochiel, raised his clan, and assisted by the
Macphersons, marched to Lochaber with 1,500 men. He was met by
Lochiel with 1,200 men, of whom 300 were Macgregors. About 300 were
armed with bows. General Stewart says: “When preparing to engage,
the earl of Breadalbane, who was nearly related to both chiefs, came
in sight with 500 men, and sent them notice that if either of them
refused to agree to the terms which he had to propose, he would
throw his interest into the opposite scale. After some hesitation
his offer of mediation was accepted, and the feud amicably and
finally settled.” This was in 1664, when the celebrated Sir Ewen
Cameron was chief, and a satisfactory arrangement having been made,
the Camerons were at length left in undisputed possession of the
lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig, which their various branches still
enjoy.
In 1672, Duncan Macpherson of Cluny, having resolved to throw
off all connexion with Macintosh, made application to the Lyon
office, to have his arms matriculated as laird of Cluny Macpherson,
and “the only and true representative of the ancient and honourable
family of the clan Chattan.” This request was granted; and, soon
afterwards, when the privy council required the Highland chiefs to
give security for the peaceable behaviour of their respective clans,
Macpherson became bound for his clan under the designation of the
lord of Cluny and chief of the Macphersons; as he could only hold
himself responsible for that portion of the clan Chattan which bore
his own name and were more particularly under his own control. As
soon as Macintosh was informed of this circumstance, he applied to
the privy council and the Lyon office, to have his own title
declared, and that which had been granted to Macpherson recalled and
cancelled. An inquiry was accordingly instituted, and both parties
were ordered to produce evidence of their respective assertions,
when the council ordered Macintosh to give bond for those of his
clan, his vassals, those descended of his family, his men, tenants,
and servants, and all dwelling upon his ground; and enjoined Cluny
to give bond for those of his name of Macpherson, descended of his
family, and his men, tenants, and servants, “without prejudice
always to the laird of Macintosh.” In consequence of this decision,
the armorial bearings granted to Macpherson were recalled, and they
were again matriculated as those of Macpherson of Cluny.
Between the Macintoshes and the Macdonalds of Keppoch a feud
had long existed, originating in the claim of the former to the
lands occupied by the latter on the Braes of Lochaber. The
Macdonalds had no other right to their lands than what was founded
on prescriptive possession, whilst the Macintoshes had a feudal
title to the property, originally granted by the lords of the Isles,
and, on their forfeiture, confirmed by the crown. After various acts
of hostility of both sides, the feud was at length terminated by
“the last considerable clan battle which was fought in the
Highlands.” To dispossess the Macdonalds by force, Macintosh raised
his clan, and, assisted by an independent company fo soldiers
furnished by the government, marched towards Keppoch, but, on his
arrival there, he found the place deserted. He was engaged in
constructing a fort in Glenroy, to protect his rear, when he
received intelligence that the Macdonalds, reinforced by their
kinsmen of Glengarry and Glenco, were posted in great force at
Mulroy. He immediately marched against them, but was defeated and
taken prisoner. At that critical moment, a large body of Macphersons
appeared on the ground, hastening to the relief of the Macintoshes,
and Keppoch, to avoid another battle, was obliged to release his
prisoner. It is highly to the honour of the Macphersons that they
came forward on the occasion so readily to the assistance of the
rival branch of the clan Chattan, and that so far from taking
advantage of Macintosh’s misfortune, they escorted him safely to his
own territories, and left him without exacting any conditions or
making any stipulations whatever as to the chiefship. From this time
forth the Macintoshes and the Macphersons continued separate and
independent clans, although both were included under the general
denomination of the clan Chattan.
At the Revolution the Macintoshes adhered to the new
government, and as the chief refused to attend the viscount Dundee,
on that nobleman soliciting a friendly interview with him, the
latter employed his old opponent, Macdonald of Keppoch, to carry off
his cattle. In the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, the Macintoshes took
a prominent part, although their chiefs were not concerned in
either. On the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the earl of Mar, who, in
the following year, raised the standard of the Pretender, caused a
letter to be addressed to him, for the purpose, it is thought, of
throwing the government off its guard, by eleven of the heads and
branches of the Highland clans, expressive of their loyalty to King
George. Of those who subscribed it, Macintosh of Macintosh was the
sixth. At this time the latter was a minor. Influenced by his uncle,
Brigadier Macintosh of Borlum, an old and experienced soldier and a
zealous Jacobite, the clan Macintosh were among the first to espouse
the cause of the Chevalier, and had seized upon Inverness before
some of the other clans had taken the field. Among the Culloden
papers (page 38, No. xlix.) Is the following letter, written at the
commencement of the rebellion by the young chief to Lady Forbes of
Culloden, that estate having formerly belonged to his family: “To
the Honourable my Ladie Cullodin, you. at Cullodin. Madam, you
can’nt be a stranger to the circumstances I have put myself in at
the tyme, and the great need I have of my own men and followers
wherever they may be found. Wherefor I thought fitt, seeing Cullodin
is not at home, by this line to entreat you to put no stopp in the
way of these men that are and have been my followers upon your
ground. Madam, your compliance in this will very muich oblige your
most humble servant. L. Mackintoshe. 14 September 1715. P.S. Madam,
if what I demand will not be granted, I hope I’ll be excused to be
in my duty.”
On the 5th of October about 500 Macintoshes, under
the command of “Old Borlum,” as he was familiarly called, joined the
earl of Mar at Perth, and they were, almost immediately, engaged in
the hazardous service of attempting the passage of the Forth, in the
face of several English men-of-war, then lying in the Firth. To join
the English insurgents in Northumberland, Brigadier Macintosh was
despatched from Perth, at the head of 2,000 men, among whom were the
whole of the Macintoshes, and to avoid the English frigates which
were stationed between Leith and Burntisland, it was arranged that
the expedition should embark at Crail, Pittenweem, and Ely, three
small towns near the mouth of the Firth, at the east end of Fife.
The first division crossed in boars on the night of the 12th
October, and the second followed next morning. Two of the boars,
with forty men, were captured, and eight boats, with 200 men, took
refuge in the Isle of May. The brigadier landed with about 1,600 men
on the coast of East Lothian, and immediately marched to Haddington,
where he took up his quarters for the night. Next day, instead of
proceeding into England, according to his instructions, he marched
towards Edinburgh, but finding, on his arrival within a mile of the
city, that preparations had been made for defending the capital, he
turned aside to Leith, of which he took possession without
opposition. His men he quartered for the night in the citadel in
North Leith. Next day, the duke of Argyle appeared before it and
summoned the rebels to surrender. The answer was a refusal,
accompanied by a discharge of cannon from the ramparts, on which the
duke returned to Edinburgh.
The same night Macintosh evacuated the citadel, and marched
away eastward. He had previously sent a boat across the Firth with
dispatches to the earl of Mar, giving an account of his proceedings,
and to deceive the frigates in the Roads, he caused several shots to
be fired at it, after its departure from the harbour. The officers
in command of the ships, in the belief that it had some friends of
the government on board, allowed the boat to pursue its course
without molestation. On the 16th the brigadier arrived at
Seton House, the seat of the earl of Wintoun, which he fortified,
expecting an attack. After remaining there for three days, he
proceeded to the borders. At Dunse he proclaimed the Chevalier, and
at Kelso he met the English insurgents under Mr. Forster, and those
of the south of Scotland under Lord Kenmure. Whilst in the latter
town he seized the public revenue, as was his uniform custom in
every town through which he passed.
On the advance of General Carpenter to Wooler, with about a
thousand men, Macintosh strongly urged that the insurgents should
give him battle, and sticking his pike in the ground, he declared
that he would wait and fight him there. The English Jacobites,
however, were for marching at once into Lancashire, and carried
their point, in spite of the arguments of Borlum, that, if they
succeeded in defeating Carpenter, they would soon be able to fight
any other troops, but if Carpenter should beat them, they would be
better able to shift for themselves in Scotland than they could be
in England. It was with great reluctance that he gave his consent to
proceed to the south. As for his Highlanders, they refused to cross
the borders, and when the English cavalry threatened to surround
them and compel them to march, Macintosh informed them that he would
not allow his men to be treated in such a way. The Highlanders
themselves, despising the threat, gave them to understand that they
would resist the attempt, and, soon after, separating themselves
from the rest of the army, they took up a position on Hawick moor,
where, grounding their arms, they declared that they would not march
into England, but would fight the enemy on Scottish ground. The
English officers again threatened to surround them with their horse
and force them to march, on which, cocking their pistols, they
intimated that, if they were to be made a sacrifice, they would
prefer being killed in their own country. In the belief that they
were going to Dumfries, the Highlanders were prevailed upon to
resume the march, but, finding the expedition to England resolved
upon, about 500 of them went off in a body to the north.
On the arrival of the insurgent army at Preston, they learnt
that General Wills, at the head of a large force, was approaching
for the purpose of attacking them. As Forster had under his command
nearly 4,000 men, he affected to believe that the royalist general
would never venture to face him, but Old Burlum advised him not to
be too confident, adding, “I tell you, man, he will attack, and beat
us all, if we do not look about us.” Then, observing from a window
where they stood, a party of the new Lancashire recruits, who had
just joined them, passing by, he contemptuously said, “Look ye
there, Forster, are you fellows the men ye intend to fight Wills
with? Good faith, Sir, an ye had ten thousand of them, I’d fight
them all with a thousand of his dragoons.” Next day, the insurgents
erected barricades in the principal streets, of one of which
Brigadier Macintosh had the command, and his brother, Colonel
Macintosh, at the head of the Macintoshes, held another. Against
these were directed the principal attack of Wills’ troops, who were
repulsed from both with loss.
The following day, General Carpenter joined the force under
Wills, when Forster proposed to surrender. To this the Scots
officers would not consent, and Wills gave them till next morning to
decide, stipulating that they should not erect any more barriers in
the streets, nor permit any of their men to escape from the town
during the night. For the performance of these conditions, the earl
of Derwentwater and Old Borlum were sent to his headquarters as
hostages. Next morning, Forster notified to General Wills that the
insurgents were willing to surrender at discretion. Old Borlum,
being present when this message was delivered, observed that he
would not be answerable for the Scots surrendering without terms, as
they were capable of desperate fortunes, and that he, who had been a
soldier himself, knew what it was to be a prisoner at discretion. He
then returned to his friends, but came back immediately, and
informed Wills that Lord Kenmure and the rest of the Scots noblemen,
as well as his brother, agreed, as the English had done, to an
unconditional surrender. The brigadier gave up his sword to an
officer of the name of Graham. It had been a present to him from
Viscount Dundee in 1689, for Borlum had supported the Jacobite
interest after the Revolution, although his chief and the clan
generally did not, and he exacted a promise from Graham, on
surrendering it, that it should be restored to him if he escaped
with his life.
With the other prisoners he was conveyed to London, and the
night previous to the day fixed for his trial for high treason, he
and fifteen others broke out of Newgate, after knocking down the
keepers and disarming the sentinels. Eight were retaken, but
Macintosh and seven others escaped, and he was subsequently
attainted. Some years after, when he was dead, Graham’s regiment
being stationed at Fort Augustus, Borlum’s successor demanded from
him the sword of the brave old brigadier, or, in case of his
refusal, that he should fight him for it, on which it was restored
to his family.
Lauchlan, the chief of the Macintoshes, died in 1731, without
issue, when the male line of William, the 15th chief,
became extinct. Lauchlan’s successor, William Macintosh, died in
1741. Angus, the brother of the latter, the next chief, married
Anne, daughter of Farquharson of Invercauld, a lady who
distinguished herself greatly in the rebellion of 1745. When her
husband was appointed to one of the three new companies in Lord
Loudon’s Highlanders, raised in the beginning of that year, Lady
Macintosh traversed the country in male attire, and, in a very short
time, enlisted 97 of the 100 men required for a captaincy. On the
breaking out of the rebellion, she was equally energetic in favour
of the Pretender, and, in the absence of Macintosh, she raised two
battalions of the clan for the prince, and placed them under the
command of colonel Macgillivray of Dum-na-glas, as already stated.
In 1715, the Macintoshes mustered 1,500 men under Old Borlum, but in
1745 scarcely one half of that number joined the forces of the
Pretender. She conducted her followers in person to the rebel army
at Inverness, and soon after her husband was taken prisoner by the
insurgents, when the prince delivered him over to his lady, saying
that “he could not be in better security, or more honourably
treated.”
The rout of Moy, one of the most striking incidents of the
rebellion, was caused by an attempt on the part of Lord Loudon to
surprise Prince Charles, at Moy castle, the seat of the laird of
Macintosh, about ten miles from Inverness. He had arrived there with
an advanced guard of about fifty men, when Lord Loudon formed the
design of seizing him during the night while off his guard.
Accordingly, with 1,500 men he left Inverness, where he had been
stationed with 2,000 men of the royal army, and proceeded in the
dark towards Moy. Meantime, Lady Macintosh had received timely
notice of the approach of the military, by a boy who had been
despatched by her mother from Inverness, where she lived, and
immediately gave the alarm. The prince, who was in bed, was
instantly awakened, and jumping up, he put on his clothes in haste,
left the castle with a guard of about 30 men, and disappeared in a
neighbouring wood. Lady Macintosh then sent five or six of her
people, headed by a country blacksmith, named Fraser, to watch the
advance of Lord Loudon’s troops. With the view of surprising them he
posted his men on both sides of the road to Inverness, about three
miles from Moy, and enjoined them not to fire till he gave
directions, and then to fire one after another. When the head of the
first detachment of Lord Loudon’s troops, consisting of 70 men under
the laird of Macleod, was within hearing, the blacksmith called out
with a loud voice, “Here come the villains who intend carrying off
our price; fire, my lads; do not spare them, give them no quarter!”
He, thereupon, discharged his piece in the direction of the
detachment, and his party, after following his example, ran in
different directions, calling upon the Macdonalds to advance on the
right, and the Camerons to form on the left, and repeating aloud the
names of Keppoch and Lochiel. In the belief that the whole Highland
army was at hand, the detachment turned back in haste, and a panic
seized the whole of the advancing soldiers, who took to flight, and
never stopped till they reached Inverness, which was immediately
evacuated by Lord Loudon.
At the battle of Culloden the Macintoshes were on the right of
the Highland army, and in their eagerness to engage, they were the
first to attack the enemy’s lines, losing their brave colonel and
other officers in the impetuous charge. On the passing of the act
for the abolition of the heritable jurisdictions in 1747, the laird
of Macintosh claimed £5,000 as compensation for his hereditary
office of steward of the lordship of Lochaber.
In 1812, Æneas Macintosh, the 23d laird of Macintosh, was
created a baronet of the United Kingdom. He died 21st
January 1820, without heirs male of his body. At his funeral six
pipers preceded his corpse, playing the Macintoshes’ Lament, one of
the most touching of that species of music. The funerals of the
chiefs of Macintosh were always conducted with great ceremony and
solemnity. When Lauchlan Macintosh, the 19th chief, died,
in the end of 1703, his body lay in state from 9th
December that year till 18th January 1704, and 2,000 of
the clan Chattan attended his remains to the family vault at Petty.
Keppoch was present with 220 of the Macdonalds, Across the coffins
of the deceased chiefs are laid the sword of Brigadier Macintosh of
Borlum already spoken of, and a highly finished claymore, presented
by Charles I., before he came to the throne, to Sir Lauchlan
Macintosh, gentleman of the bed-chamber.
On the death of Sir Æneas Macintosh in 1820, the baronetcy
expired, and he was succeeded in the estate by Angus Macintosh, the
male heir, his son, became Macintosh of Macintosh. The plaid and
several other articles which had belonged to Prince Charles, are in
the possession of the laird of Macintosh, whose principal seat is
Moyhall, near Inverness. The original castle, now in ruins, stood on
an island in Lochmoy.
The eldest branch of the clan Macintosh was the family of
Kellochy, a small estate in Inverness-shire, acquired by them in the
15th century. Of this branch was the celebrated Sir James
Mackintosh. His father, Captain John Macintosh, was the tenth in
descent from Allan, third son of Malcolm, tenth chief of the clan,
who was slain, on the side of Donald of the Isles, at the battle of
Harlaw, in 1411. Macintosh of Kellochy, as the eldest cadet of the
family, invariably held the appointment of captain of the watch to
the chief of the clan in all his wars.
Sir James Mackintosh
_____
Charles Macintosh, F.R.S., a native of Glasgow, distinguished
for his chemical researches and discoveries, born 29th
December 1766, was the inventor of several waterproof manufactures,
in which a solution of caoutchouc, or India rubber is employed.
Another Scotsman, Macadam, by his improvements in road-making, added
a new verb to the English language, namely, to Macadamize, and the
name of Macintosh will, in like manner, be perpetuated as that of a
gentleman’s outer covering or cloak, rendered waterproof by his
peculiar invention, for which he obtained a patent. He was the son
of Mr. George Macintosh, who introduced the manufacture of cudbear
and Turkey red dyeing into Glasgow, by his wife, a daughter of the
Rev. Charles Moore of Stirling, the brother of Dr. John Moore,
author of ‘Zelucco,’ and consequently cousin of Lieutenant-general
Sir John Moore, who fell at Corunna. Mr. Macintosh, who studied
chemistry under the celebrated Dr. Black at Edinburgh, died 25th
July 1843, in his 77th year. His manufactory of
water-proof articles, first carried on in Glasgow, was ultimately
transferred to Manchester.
