Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth
Encyclopedia
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
(9 June 1754 – 11 January 1815) was a British politician and general and (by right of his ancestry) Chief of the 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 Mackenzie
Clan MacKenzie
Clan Mackenzie is a Highland Scottish clan, traditionally associated with Kintail and lands in Ross-shire.-Origins:The Mackenzies, a powerful clan of Celtic stock, were not among the clans that originated from Norman ancestry. Descendants of the long defunct royal Cenél Loairn of Dál Riata, they...
.
When he was about twelve he suffered from scarlet fever
Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...
which resulted in his losing his hearing and almost all speech, from this he was known as MacCoinnich Bodhar (Deaf Mackenzie) in Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
. He nearly recovered the use of his tongue but during the last two years of his life, mourning the deaths of his four sons, he never made the attempt to articulate.
Origins
Mackenzie was the second son of Major William Mackenzie (died 12 March 1770), by Mary, daughter and heiress of Matthew Humberston of Humberston, in LincolnshireLincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
. His father was the son of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie and grandson of Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth
Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth
Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth, KT, PC was a Scottish peer and Jacobite supporter, known as Lord Mackenzie of Kintail from birth until 1678....
.
On the death of his elder brother Colonel Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston
Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston
Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston was a British soldier and Chief of the Highland Clan Mackenzie.-Origins:Mackenzie was the eldest son of Major William Mackenzie , by Mary, daughter and heiress of Matthew Humberston of Humberston, in Lincolnshire. His father was the son of the Hon...
in 1783, Mackenzie became the last male heir of the attainted Earls of Seaforth
Earl of Seaforth
Earl of Seaforth was a title in the Peerage of Scotland and Peerage of Great Britain. It was held by the family of Mackenzie from 1623 to 1716, and again from 1771 to 1781....
.
Military career
In 1784 and again in 1790 he was elected Member of Parliament for the County of RossRoss-shire (UK Parliament constituency)
Ross-shire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832...
. In 1787 he offered to raise a regiment on his own estates to be commanded by himself. The government declined his patriotic offer but accepted his services in procuring recruits for the 74th and 75th. On 19 May 1790 he renewed his offer but the government again declined his services. When war broke out in 1793 he offered for a third time and a letter of service was granted in his favour dated 7 March 1793 empowering him as Lieutenant-Colonel-Commandant to raise a Highland Battalion to be called 78th Highland Regiment, known as "Seaforth's Highlanders
Seaforth Highlanders
The Seaforth Highlanders was a historic regiment of the British Army associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The Seaforth Highlanders have varied in size from two battalions to seventeen battalions during the Great War...
". The original Mackenzie regiment had had its number previously reduced to 72nd Regiment of Foot
72nd Regiment of Foot
The 72nd Highlanders was a British Army Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line raised in the late 18th Century in Scotland for service against the French...
. On 10 February 1794 the government agreed to his proposal to raise a second battalion, the Ross-shire Buffs. The two battalions were amalgamated in 1796. Another battalion was raised in 1804 (letter of service dated 17 April) and these were again amalgamated July 1817.
In 1798 he was appointed Colonel of the Ross-shire Regiment of Militia. In 1808 he was made a Lieutenant-General.
Non-military appointments
In 1794 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal SocietyRoyal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ross and was raised to the peerage of the United Kingdom as Lord Seaforth
Earl of Seaforth
Earl of Seaforth was a title in the Peerage of Scotland and Peerage of Great Britain. It was held by the family of Mackenzie from 1623 to 1716, and again from 1771 to 1781....
and Baron Mackenzie of Kintail
Earl of Seaforth
Earl of Seaforth was a title in the Peerage of Scotland and Peerage of Great Britain. It was held by the family of Mackenzie from 1623 to 1716, and again from 1771 to 1781....
on 26 October 1797. He was Governor of Barbados from 1800–06, during which period he reformed slavery on the island, prohibiting the killing of slaves and easing discrimination against free blacks. Subsequently, he held high office in Demerara
Demerara
Demerara was a region in South America in what is now Guyana that was colonised by the Dutch in 1611. The British invaded and captured the area in 1796...
and Berbice
Berbice
Berbice is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1815 a colony of the Netherlands. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom in the latter year, it was merged with Essequibo and Demerara to form the colony of British Guiana in 1831...
. In 1801, Lord Seaforth was appointed Grand Master of the Freemasons in Barbados. Mackenzie was known as Seaforth when he held office in the West Indies. Research shows that he probably sought to avoid the curse of Brahan Seer by choosing to use the surname Seaforth. As a result, his descendants from Guyana are known by the name of Seaforth. Records in Demerara identify Francis Mackenzie as Francis Seaforth.
Art supporter
In 1796, he gave £1,000 to Sir Thomas LawrenceThomas Lawrence (painter)
Sir Thomas Lawrence RA FRS was a leading English portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy.Lawrence was a child prodigy. He was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper. At the age of ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his...
to relieve him from his financial difficulties. Lawrence later painted a full-length portrait of Seaforth's daughter, Mary. Lord Seaforth commissioned Benjamin West
Benjamin West
Benjamin West, RA was an Anglo-American painter of historical scenes around and after the time of the American War of Independence...
's painting "King Alexander III of Scotland being rescued from the fury of a stag by the intrepidity of Colin Fitzgerald http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/online_search/4:324/result/0/5702."
Quote
‘The last Baron of Kintail, Francis, Lord Seaforth was a nobleman of extraordinary talents, who must have made for himself a lasting reputation had not his political exertions been checked by painful natural infirmities.’ Walter ScottWalter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
Family
Mackenzie married, 1782, Mary Proby, daughter of The Very Rev Baptist Proby, 7th Dean of Lichfield and Mary Russell. Mary was sister of John Proby, 1st Baron CarysfortJohn Proby, 1st Baron Carysfort
John Proby, 1st Baron Carysfort KB PC was a British Whig politician.Carysfort was the son of John Proby, of Elton Hall, Huntingdonshire, and his wife Jane, daughter of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Baron Gower, and was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge...
. Francis's four legitimate sons all predeceased him as predicted by the Brahan Seer
Brahan Seer
The Brahan Seer, known in his native Scottish Gaelic as Coinneach Odhar. Some have questioned whether he really existed at all. He is thought to have come from Uig on lands owned by the Seaforths, and to have been a Mackenzie, although both these details are in themselves questioned...
. However, he had an illegitimate child with a local woman in Demerara (now known as Guyana). Mackenzie has several surviving descendants from that union.
His legitimate children were:
- William Frederick Mackenzie (died young)
- George Leveson Boucherat Mackenzie (died young)
- Hon. William Frederick Mackenzie (died 1814), MP for Ross-shireRoss-shire (UK Parliament constituency)Ross-shire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832...
- Hon. Francis John Mackenzie, midshipman, RN (died unmarried 1813)
- Hon. Mary Elizabeth Frederica MackenzieMary Elizabeth Frederica MackenzieMary Elizabeth Frederica Mackenzie , eldest daughter and heiress of Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth. Married twice, first to Vice Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, second to James Alexander Stewart on 21 May 1817....
, heiress to her father, (married first Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, married second Rt Hon James Alexander Stewart of Glasserton). - Frances Catherine Mackenzie, dsp
- Caroline Mackenzie (accidentally killed unmarried)
- Charlotte Elizabeth Mackenzie (died unmarried)
- Augusta Anne Mackenzie (died unmarried)
- Helen Ann Mackenzie (married Joshua Henry Mackenzie)
External links
- Seaforth's Lewis by Finlay MacLeod