Alasdair Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry
Encyclopedia
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
, a haughty and flamboyant man whose character and behaviour gave Scott the model for the wild Highland
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
clan
Scottish clan
Scottish clans , give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations throughout the world, with a formal structure of Clan Chiefs recognised by the court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms which acts as an authority concerning matters of heraldry and Coat of Arms...
chieftain Fergus Mac-Ivor in the pioneering historical novel Waverley
Waverley (novel)
Waverley is an 1814 historical novel by Sir Walter Scott. Initially published anonymously in 1814 as Scott's first venture into prose fiction, Waverley is often regarded as the first historical novel. It became so popular that Scott's later novels were advertised as being "by the author of...
of 1810.
As was customary for a landed proprietor in Scotland, he was often called simply "Glengarry" after his principal estate.
Glengarry was the fifth Lord MacDonell
Lord MacDonell
Lord MacDonell refers to the Lordship of MacDonell in the Jacobite Peerage. On 9 December 1716, Alastair MacDonell of Glengarry, with remainder to his heirs male, was created by James Francis Edward Stuart a Lord and Peer of Parliament as Lord Macdonell...
in the Jacobite peerage
Jacobite peerage
After the deposition by the English parliament in February 1689 of King James II and VII from the thrones of England and Ireland , he and his successors continued to create peers and baronets, which they believed was their right...
.
Life
He was born on 15 September 1773, the eldest of the nine children of Duncan Macdonell (c. 1744–1788), chief of Clan Macdonell of Glengarry, by his marriage to Marjory Grant (1744–1792), of Dalvey.In 1788 he became the 15th chief of Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, inheriting huge estates from Glengarry in the Great Glen
Great Glen
The Great Glen , also known as Glen Albyn or Glen More is a series of glens in Scotland running 100 kilometres from Inverness on the Moray Firth, to Fort William at the head of Loch Linnhe.The Great Glen follows a large geological fault known as the Great Glen Fault...
to Knoydart on the Atlantic. In 1790 he entered University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
.
In February 1793, after war with France had begun, Macdonell was commissioned as a Captain to recruit a company of the Strathspey fencibles, raised by Sir James Grant, a kinsman. In August 1794, he was given a colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
's commission to raise a Fencible regiment of Glengarry Highlanders, most recruits being drawn from the Glengarry estates, under threat of eviction. Glengarry commanded his regiment in Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
until August 1796, when he resigned. His hope of a career as a regular officer in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
had been undermined by his commander-in-chief, the Duke of York
Duke of York
The Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of the British monarch. The title has been created a remarkable eleven times, eight as "Duke of York" and three as the double-barreled "Duke of York and...
, perhaps to do with concerns about his character.
As part of his regiment's uniform, he invented (or adopted) the Glengarry
Glengarry
The glengarry bonnet is a traditional boat-shaped hat without a peak made of thick-milled woollen material with a toorie on top, a rosette cockade on the left, and ribbons hanging down behind...
, a type of cap which he is wearing in his portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
. The boat-shaped cap without a peak is made of thick-milled woollen material with a toorie (or bobble) on the top and ribbons hanging down behind, capable of being folded flat. It has become part of the uniform of a number of Scottish regiments, with variations in the band around above the brim and in the colours.
The Glengarry fencibles were disbanded in 1802, and Glengarry failed to honour a pledge to find land for the men. This resulted in a mass emigration to British North America led by Father Alexander Macdonell, the regimental chaplain.
He bitterly feuded with Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
and the Commissioners of the Caledonian Canal
Caledonian Canal
The Caledonian Canal is a canal in Scotland that connects the Scottish east coast at Inverness with the west coast at Corpach near Fort William. It was constructed in the early nineteenth century by engineer Thomas Telford, and is a sister canal of the Göta Canal in Sweden, also constructed by...
as it was being constructed through his land, though he collected useful dues from them.
Glengarry considered himself the last genuine specimen of a Highland chief, always wore the Highland dress (kilt
Kilt
The kilt is a knee-length garment with pleats at the rear, originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century. Since the 19th century it has become associated with the wider culture of Scotland in general, or with Celtic heritage even more broadly...
or trews) and in the style of his ancestors seldom travelled without being followed by his "tail", armed servants in full Highland dress who had traditional duties such as carrying his sword and shield, standing sentinel, acting as bard and carrying him dry across streams.
On 20 January 1802, Glengarry married Rebecca, the second daughter of Sir William Forbes, 6th Baronet, of Pitsligo. Their children were a son, Aeneas Ranaldson, born on 29 July 1808, and seven daughters, Elizabeth, Marcelly, Jemima Rebecca, Louisa Christian, Caroline Hester, Gulielmina Forbes, and Euphemia Margaret.
He was a member of the Highland Society and the Celtic Society of Edinburgh, and in June 1815 formed his own Society of True Highlanders, subsequently leaving the Celtic Society and complaining that "their general appearance is assumed and fictitious, and they have no right to burlesque the national character or dress of the Highlands". His mortification at the acceptance of Lowlanders became a bitter complaint about the prominent role the Celtic Society had in the visit of King George IV to Scotland
Visit of King George IV to Scotland
The 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland was the first visit of a reigning monarch to Scotland since 1650. Government ministers had pressed the King to bring forward a proposed visit to Scotland, to divert him from diplomatic intrigue at the Congress of Verona.The visit increased his popularity...
, and he made several unauthorised and flamboyant appearances during the visit, to the annoyance of his friend Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
and the other organisers, but causing no more than mild amusement to the King.
In 1824 Glengarry unsuccessfully attempted to wrest the chiefship of Clan Donald
Clan Donald
Clan Donald is one of the largest Scottish clans. There are numerous branches to the clan. Several of these have chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; these are: Clan Macdonald of Sleat, Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, and Clan...
from Ranald George Macdonald
Ranald George Macdonald
Ranald George Macdonald was a Scottish clan chief and Member of Parliament.He was the 19th Chief of Clan Macdonald of Clanranald. He married Caroline Anne, daughter of Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, on 13 February 1812 and had issue.He was elected to Parliament for Plympton Erle on...
by bringing an action in the Court of Session
Court of Session
The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and constitutes part of the College of Justice. It sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh and is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal....
.
Clearances
Although Scott wrote of Glengarry in his misleading hagiography "He is a kind of Quixote in our age, having retained, in their full extent, the whole feelings of clanship and chieftainship, elsewhere so long abandoned", under his authority timber was felled for sale, the cleared land was leased to sheep farmers and many of his clansmen were forced from the land by increasing rents and evictions. He continued the evictions to make way for sheep farmers which his mother began when his father was chieftain, and most of the clan was forced to emigrate to British North AmericaBritish North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
, as part of what was later known as the Highland Clearances
Highland Clearances
The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies...
. Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
wrote a satirical poem about Glengarry in the Address of Beelzebub.
His life was in stark contrast to his contemporary relative Bishop Alexander MacDonell who did missionary duty in Lochaber
Lochaber
District of Lochaber 1975 to 1996Highland council area shown as one of the council areas of ScotlandLochaber is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region...
and tried to help his clansmen displaced by the substitution of sheep-farms for smallholding
Smallholding
A smallholding is a farm of small size.In third world countries, smallholdings are usually farms supporting a single family with a mixture of cash crops and subsistence farming. As a country becomes more affluent and farming practices become more efficient, smallholdings may persist as a legacy of...
s to get employment in the Lowlands. In 1794 he organised the formation of the 1st Glengarry Fencible regiment, commanded by his kinsman Glengarry, with himself as chaplain. When the regiment was disbanded Father MacDonell arranged a tract of land in Canada in 1804 and went with them.
Death and posterity
On 17 January 1828 Glengarry perished at CorranCorran
Corran is a hamlet on the northern shore of Loch Hourn, in Lochalsh in the Highlands of Scotland. It is situated at the foot of Glen Arnisdale, where the River Arnisdale flows past into Loch Hourn....
on Loch Linnhe
Loch Linnhe
Loch Linnhe is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland....
from an attack of brain fever
Brain fever
Brain fever describes a medical condition where a part of the brain becomes inflamed and causes symptoms that present as fever. The terminology is dated, and is encountered most often in Victorian literature...
which followed an accident during his escape from a steamer
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
which had gone aground. According to the Inverness Courier, the funeral procession of five miles from Invergarry to Kilfinnan was followed by 1,500 men and 150 gentry, the coffin being carried breast-high by eighteen Highlanders. Glengarry's personal piper, Archie Munro, composed a lament, as did the blind household bard, Allan MacDougall. As Brian Osborne records, "In Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott was moved to compose Glengarry's Death Song, an undoubted expression of his genuine affection for the dead chief, if not perhaps a work of the greatest literary quality".
Glengarry's estate was much mortgaged and encumbered. In 1840, after his only son and heir, Aeneas Ranaldson MacDonell, had come of age he sold the Glengarry part of the estate to Lord Ward
William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley
William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley , known as The Lord Ward from 1835 to 1860, was a British landowner and benefactor.-Background and education:...
, later Earl of Dudley
Earl of Dudley
Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford, is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, both times for members of the Ward family. This family descends from Sir Humble Ward, the son of a wealthy goldsmith and jeweller to King Charles I...
, for £91,000. Some years later Aeneas sold the Knoydart estate to a Mr Baird. Aeneas died at Invergarry on 19 June 1852, leaving three sons, Alexander Ranaldson (1834-1862), Aeneas Robert (1835-1855) and Charles Ranaldson (1838-1868). Alexander emigrated to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and died unmarried in Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
. New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, in 1862. Aeneas was drowned at the age of twenty. Charles died at sea in 1868 on his way home from New Zealand. Of their three sisters, only one, Helen Rebecca, married and had children, and by 1887 she was her father's sole heir. She married in 1865 Captain John Cuninghame of Balgownie
Balgownie
Balgownie may refer to:*Balgownie, New South Wales*Brig o' Balgownie, Aberdeen...
, Fifeshire, leaving descendants.
Glengarry's sixth daughter, Gulielmina, married Hugh Horatio Brown, a Midlothian
Midlothian
Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....
advocate
Advocate
An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
, and was the mother of the Venice historian
History of Venice
Venice is a city in Italy. It was also an independent republic from the late 8th century to 1792.*For the history of the city, see History of the city of Venice.*For the Republic, see History of the Republic of Venice....
Horatio Brown
Horatio Brown
Horatio Robert Forbes Brown was a Scottish historian who specialized in the history of Venice and Italy.Born in Nice, he grew up in Midlothian, Scotland, was educated in England at Clifton and Oxford, and spent most of his life in Venice, publishing several books about the city...
.