Bonnie Prince Charlie in Moidart, 1745-46
by Tim Roberton

An extract from the Moidart Timewarp, 1726-50, highlighting the important points of Charles's progress through and around Moidart, and the consequences of it.


1745  The "Young Pretender" had been born in Rome in 1720, the son of the "Old Pretender" and Princess Clementina Sobieski. He was described at the time as "above middle height and very thin". His design was to get a French fleet and Army and to make a descent upon the shores of Britain. The French Government knew of the impossibility of such an enterprise in face of the British Fleet. Nonetheless, with a few friends he set sail on a boat which he hired called variously Doutelle, but also known as Du Teillay. He landed after a voyage and raised his standard at Glenfinnan. The Highland chiefs were by no means enthusiastic for the enterprise. Marshal Wade had made some good military roads which laid the country open to the red-coats, if necessary. Nevertheless they rallied to the call of the House of Stuart. Together with Macdonnell of Glengarry, Cameron of Locheil and others he entered Perth. Later he issued a Proclamation in Edinburgh which included the words…"I with my own money hired a vessel, ill-provided with money, arms or friends; I arrived in Scotland attended by seven persons"…It is true to say that the English people did not wish personally to fight against Charles; but they certainly did not wish to fight for him. Having got to Derby unopposed, he stopped. The great march down there had shown that, heroic as his qualities were, his cause excited no enthusiasm. He had little ammunition, no money, no supplies and could not long avoid destruction from the Armies of Marshal Wade and the Duke of Cumberland which were converging upon him. They retreated Northwards. It is difficult to see why, once in the Highlands, the host was kept together. Quarrels were common amongst the chiefs, and each blamed the other for the hopeless result. In 1746 at Culloden Charles met the Duke of Cumberland and his red-coats. The heroism of the Highlanders could not prevent the destruction of their force. Inverness-shire and the Western Highlands were given over to be ravaged by the soldiery. Luckily, the wildness and inaccessibility of the country saved many of the people" A New History of Great Britain, RB Mowat, page 473.

1745 On 16 July, the two ships (Du Teillay and Elizabeth) set out from Belle-Ile for Britain. With Charles on the Du Teillay were the seven companions who were later to become known in Jacobite folklore as the "Seven Men of Moidart". They were the elderly and rather unwell William Murray, Marquis of Tullibardine, recognised by the Jacobites as the Second Duke of Atholl though he had been attainted for his part in the 1715 rising and as a result it was his brother James whom the British government recognised as succeeding the first Duke in 1724; Colonel Francis Strickland, the only Englishman in the group, a member of an old Westmorland Jacobite family; Aeneas Macdonald, the expedition's banker, who had been intending to go to Scotland on his own business affairs and was with some difficulty persuaded to accompany Charles in order to win over his brother Donald of Kinlochmoidart and his many relatives; and four Irishmen - Sir Thomas Sheridan, a veteran of the Battle of the Boyne and now over seventy; George Kelly; Sir John Macdonald, an elderly man, fond of the bottle, who had served in the French cavalry in Spain; and Colonel John William O'Sullivan, who had fought in the French army and was the only one present who would play an important part in the campaign they were setting out to conduct. Charles Edward Stuart. The life and times of Bonnie Prince Charlie by David Daiches, Page 104

1745 When Bonnie Prince Charlie came to Kinlochmoidart he was supported by all the Kinlochmoidart MacDonalds. Kinlochmoidart House, Stephen Jefferson 1995.

1745 A pibroch was composed by John MacIntyre of Ulgary, Glenmoidart, Thaing mo Righ air Tir am Muideart - My King has Landed in Moidart. Inverailort, A Short History Iain Thornber.

1745 While Charles stayed at Borrodale, most of his company stayed at Kinlochmoidart, six miles to the south……When Clanranald had gathered about a hundred of his men, Charles joined the others at Kinlochmoidart. Meanwhile Lochiel was also gathering his men, and so was Alexander Macdonald of Keppoch…… Charles Edward Stuart. The life and times of Bonnie Prince Charlie by David Daiches, Page 111

1745 On 18 August Charles with his followers left Kinlochmoidart ….. and went to Glenaladale….on the morning of the 19th they moved north-east up to the head of Loch Shiel to Glenfinnan….Sir John Macdonald wrote, "Lochiel brought about 900 men and Keppoch 500"… Charles Edward Stuart. The life and times of Bonnie Prince Charlie by David Daiches, Page 112

1745 "Though such places as Gaskan, Annat and Druminlaoigh on the Moidart side had suffered considerable depopulation there were still about a hundred MacDonald males above twenty five years of age in the district besides MacEacherns, MacIsaacs and MacVarishes, while the Jacobite clans Cameron and Macpherson were well represented on the Argyll side, the sheep run craze having not yet become so effective as to create many clearances in the Ardnamurchan and Morvern areas."… St Finan's Isle, Its Story by Alastair Cameron (North Argyll), page 18 - Jean Cameron and Bonnalie/Impey Papers, Ref 38

1746 Part of the roll of men on Clanranald's estates, with their arms at the time of Culloden. They would have fought on the left flank:

Kinlochmoidart
Ranald MacDonald-
Donald MacDonald-gun
Allan MacCallane-sword
Donald macMylan-sword
Donald MacPherson-sword
Donald Bains-wants
Angus Cameron-wants
Donald MacDonald-gun, sword, terge
John his brother-gun, sword, terge
Allan his brother-gun, sword
Sandy MacDonald- gun, sword
John MacDonald-gun
John MacFinla vic Ean Roy-gun, sword
John MacInnes vic Ean vic Creul-wants
Ian MacYonill-gun, sword
John MacIsaac the Violer-gun

Glenforslan
Hugh MacVoddich-sword
John MacLean-wants

Ulgary
John MacDonald-gun, sword, terge
Ewan Ban-sword
John MacDonald-gun

Caolas
John Mac Neill Mor-gun, sword Riuari Mac Innish Moir-gun

Lochan
Duncan MacIsaak-gun, sword Angus Maclean-gun

Eignaig
Angus Maclean-gun, sword
Donald Maclean-wanting
John Maclean-gun

Eilean Shona
Ian Og vic Ruari-sword, gun, terge
Donald MacDonald-gun, sword
Dugald MacDonald-gun, sword
Rory Macpherson-gun, sword
Angus Mac Vorrich-sword
John Macleod-gun, sword
Donald MacDonald-gun, sword
Calum Mac Gawry-wanting

Officers
Colonel Clanranald
Major MacDonald, Glenaladale
Captain John MacDonald, his brother
Captain Donald MacDonald
Captain Ranald Macdonald
Captain Angus Macdonald
Captain Alexander his brother
Captain Alexander his oldest son
Captain John MacDonald, Guidale
Captain Ranald and Captain Allan, brothers Kinlochmoidart
Captain John Macdonald, Eigg
Moidart Among the Clanranalds, p146 Charles MacDonald, Ed John Watts

The Highlanders were drawn up in two lines, the right commanded by Lord George Murray consisting of Athole men, Camerons, Stewarts, Frasers, MacKintoshes, Farquharsons and others. On the left, commanded by Lord John Drummond, were the MacDonalds of Clanranald, Keppoch and Glengarry. The latter caused much dissention in the Highland army, as the MacDonalds always claimed the privilege of being on the right of the line, and this oversight in position gave them grave offence. Highland Ways and Byways, Kenneth A Macrae, "Coinneach Mor", page 114.

At Culloden the Macdonalds behaved very badly. It was extremely short-sighted policy ofcourse on the part of Lord George Murray to dispute their traditional claim to fight on the right wing….nothing could have touched their pride more keenly than to see a rival clan stationed at the post which they looked on as their own…They refused to fight….The Duke of Perth tried over and over again to lead them in person…but they seem to have treated his words with sullen contempt….When the day was lost, the Macdonalds withdrew to the hills. The losses amongst the Clanranald men were trivial, and of the officers, not one save Kinlochmoidart was missing. Moidart Among the Clanranalds, p155 Charles MacDonald, Ed John Watts

1746 Angus Beg, son of Alexander Macdonald, Minister of Dalelea, succeeded his father as Minister although subsequently he joined the Catholic Church some time before the '45. He ined Clanranald as a Captain at Culloden and escaped afterwards making his way back to Moidart where he skulked in the hills for two years. When the Act of Indemnity was passed, he returned to Dalelea where he lived quietly for some years before dying. He was succeeded at Dalelea by his son Allan who had several children, one of which was Alexander Macdonald the "banker" (see later), who built the present Dalelea House. Moidart Among the Clanranalds, p127 Charles MacDonald, Ed John Watts

1746
After the Battle of Culloden on 16th April, Prince Charles withdrew westwards. "On the 20th he arrived at the house of Alexander Macdonald, brother of the Macdonald with whom he had stayed when he first landed, in Arisaig. He stayed here until he embarked for Uist on the 26th." Charles Edward Stuart. The life and times of Bonnie Prince Charlie by David Daiches, Page 226

1746
Donald MacLeod procured a stout eight-oared boat, the property of John Macdonald, son of Aeneas or Angus Macdonald of Borrodale and on 26th April they went aboard at twilight on the very spot of ground where the Prince had landed at first….There were in the boat the Prince, Captain O'Sullivan, Captain O'Neil, Allan Macdonald, commonly called Captain Macdonald (of the family of Clanranald), and a clergyman of the Church of Rome; and Donald MacLeod for pilot managing the helm……There were also eight boatmen…...They landed on Benbecula on the morning of April 27th and at Rossinish they found an unihabited hut, where they made a fire to dry their clothes…..They sent a man to Clanranald's house, several miles away, and he found Clanranald's second son, who had left the Jacobite Army before Culloden; he came to pay his respects to the Prince bringing some biscuits, meal and butter. Charles Edward Stuart. The life and times of Bonnie Prince Charlie by David Daiches, Page 229

1746 27 June, Flora Macdonald stayed at Clanranald's house on Benbecula on her way back to Skye, while Bonnie Prince Charlie hid nearby. Lady Clanranald visited Charles and, whilst there she heard that Captain John Ferguson (an Aberdeenshire Naval Officer with a deep hatred of Highlanders and a justified reputation for cruelty) with an advance party of General Campbell's men were at her house and that 'Ferguson had lain in her bed the night before' (See also later - It was a Captain 'Fergusson' who set fire to Kinlochmoidart House - TR) Charles Edward Stuart. The life and times of Bonnie Prince Charlie by David Daiches, Page 238

1746 After delivering the Prince, disguised as 'Betty Burke, an Irish lady's maid, safely to Portree, Flora Macdonald was arrested on her way back to her home in Armadale and taken on board Captain Ferguson's sloop, the Furnace - and later sent to the Tower of London, but released under the Act of Indemnity 1747. In 1750 she married Allan Macdonald. Charles Edward Stuart. The life and times of Bonnie Prince Charlie by David Daiches, Page 244

1746 4 July, Back on the mainland, having come to Loch Nevis from Skye, the Prince spent three nights in the open before staying with MacDonald of Morar, eight miles from Malaig. The house had been burned by Captain Ferguson and Morar was living with his family in a little hut…..Prince Charlie then moved on south to the house of Angus Macdonald of Borrodale where he had stayed on his very first landing.…he found that this house too had been burned by Captain Ferguson and Angus Macdonald was living with two men in a nearby hut. Charles Edward Stuart. The life and times of Bonnie Prince Charlie by David Daiches, Page 248

1746 4 September L'Heureux and Le Prince Conti, French privateers, entered Loch Boisdale in South Uist in search of the Prince. Here they ran across the same Captain Macdonald of Clanranald's regiment who had been in the eight-oared boat in which the Prince had been rowed to Benbecula on 26th April. Macdonald came aboard and served as pilot and took the French across the Minch to Loch nan Uamh. Here they lay in the loch disguised as British men-of war between 6th and 19th September. Charles Edward Stuart. The life and times of Bonnie Prince Charlie by David Daiches, Page 257

1746 Donald Macdonald (Kinlochmoidart), having joined the Prince immediately he came to Moidart, travelled south with him but was recognised when alone in Edinburgh (Note: Jefferson says it was Lesmahagow) and imprisoned. He was tried in Carlisle and condemned to death and executed in the summer of 1746. Moidart Among the Clanranalds, p153 Charles MacDonald, Ed John Watts

1746 Kinlochmoidart House burned….The pre 1746 house had an alignment with the present walled garden. Kinlochmoidart House, Stephen Jefferson 1995.

The record of burning Kinlochmoidart house was set out in the log of Captain Fergussone on board HMS Furnace, which had also laid waste to Eigg and to Borrodale House, when he wrote "sent the boats ashore maned at Loch Moidart at 4. Took 20 barrels of gunpowder at 5, set the laird's house in fire at 8"…. Maldwin Drummond's account of a cruise in the Journal of the Royal Cruising Club 1976, Page 221, Bonnalie/Impey Papers Ref 21 "The troops were let loose on the district…The houses, after first being plundered were burnt to the ground, the cattle were driven away or wantonly destroyed. Shooting parties ranged over the hills, chasing the unfortunate people…When Kinloch House was burnt down (by Capt Fergussone), the chief's mother, a lady far advanced in years, had to be carried out in a dying state into the garden (Note: Jefferson says it is a myth that she died at this time, she survived until 1760)…The rest of the family fled to Glenforslan…Some of the worst visitors were landing parties detached from the men-of-war cruising along the coast…The only approach to treachery in Moidart was that of a native who, under pressure, was induced to give information regarding the spot where the Kinloch title deeds and some family plate were hidden, viz, at Craig-an-Dun, close to Loch Moidart". Moidart Among the Clanranalds, p162 Charles MacDonald, Ed John Watts

1746 After Culloden Clanranald made his way south, through London (unrecognised) and on to Paris, where he remained for several years as he had been excluded from the Act of Indemnity. Unlike Moidart Macdonald, he did not forfeit his estate, perhaps because it was entailed and his father, the true owner, had always been against supporting the Jacobite cause. Moidart Among the Clanranalds, p164 Charles MacDonald, Ed John Watts. "Prince Charles, as fugitive, eventually departed from Borrodale. More than a hundred gentlemen, many of whom were lurking in the two districts of Moidart and Arisaig, availed themselves of this opportunity of getting away to France…With the exception of Ranald, all the other members of the Kinlochmoidart family sailed with the Prince to France, and none of them ever returned…Ranald married a daughter of Angus Beg, Dalelea, and settled down at Roshven, which he received from Clanranald for his lifetime". Moidart Among the Clanranalds, p171 Charles MacDonald, Ed John Watts.

1746 The Moidart Macdonalds had their property confiscated after Donald's execution and the Government retained it in its possession for the next forty one years, the commissioner being appointed to superintend being Butter of Faskally, a gentleman of Perthshire. During this period, the Kinlochmoidart Macdonald (Alexander) had received an education in the Scots College in France, but returned every now and then to the district for nostalgic reasons. One cause of his anxiety was his mother who for many years lived at Briaig before returning to Kinlochmoidart and then dying, to be buried on Eilean-Fhionnan. She was the daughter of Robert Stewart of Appin. Alexander died in Edinburgh in 1781. His son John was eventually to get the estate back in 1786 . Moidart Among the Clanranalds, p188 Charles MacDonald, Ed John Watts. "The estate, after forfeiture at first was administered by the Barons of Exchequer of Scotland and after 1755 by the Commissioners for managing forfeited and annexed estates in Scotland. Factors were appointed by them. Patrick Campbell was factor from 1749 to 27th December 1752 when he resigned having roused much ill-will by his harsh treatment of the tenants and especially relatives of Donald Macdonald. Mungo Campbell was then appointed and in 1758 Henry Butter of Faskally in Perthshire was appointed and continued until the restoration of the estates." Commentary by S R-M upon the description of the property comprising the Kinlochmoidart Estate as set out in the deed of entail dated 7th October 1795 and referred to subsequently. Bonnalie/Impey Papers. Ref 50.

1746 When the Commissioners of the Forfeited Estates wished to introduce Highlanders to Lowland values after the '45 they could think of nothing more likely to promote industriousness and civilization than the plantation of villages with linen works, English Schools, post-offices, markets and prisons:….one of their surveyors spoke of Beauly in Inverness-shire, as "a clachan inhabited by a great collection of poor people who live in hutts and retail ale and spirituous liquors" Scotland and the Age of Improvement, edited by NT Phillipson and Rosalind Mitchison, p81

1746 After Culloden, Highland Regiments were raised in order to "earn points" with the British Crown. BBC Documentary on Clearances

1746 For a while after 1746, William Harrison was probably the only priest active in the Rough Bounds, the rest being either in prison, fugitive or dead. (He died in Keppoch in 1773). Moidart Among the Clanranalds, p115 Charles MacDonald, Ed John Watts

1746 What preoccupied the authorities about Catholics was less their religion than their politics and it is usually argued that penal legislation was maintained more as a deterrent against Jacobitism than as a means of extirpating the Catholic religion. Except in times of crisis, such as 1689-1692 and 1745-1746, local lairds evinced little desire to meddle in the religious affairs of their neighbours…..However...When the state decided to crack down on Catholic recusancy, it cracked down hard….In the aftermath of the 'Forty-Five, five Jesuit priests were captured (four of them from Highland Mission stations) and two died in prison. Only four of the twenty nine secular priests were arrested, though to these must be added one who fell at Culloden and two who fled the country. None suffered the death penalty as prescribed by the penal statutes, but all were banished from Scotland and threatened with execution if they returned…which some of them did and the threat was not enforced. Eighteenth Century Scotland, New Perspectives, TM Devine and JR Young, page 101, Essay by James F McMillan. While Jacobitism could call upon its own vision of the Scottish past and its own ideas of Scottish nationhood, it could not break the alternative visions of national identity in the lowlands which were supplied by the Covenanting legacy of the seventeenth century and the triumph of Presbyterianism in 1690. Eighteenth Century Scotland, New Perspectives, TM Devine and JR Young, page 124, Essay by Richard J Finlay.

1747 From 1st August it became illegal for men or boys "to wear highland dress in Scotland, other than soldiers in the King's forces. The plaid, philebeg or little kilt, trowse, shoulder belts, or any part whatsoever of what peculiarly belongs to the highland garb" were banned. Culloden, John Prebble p 311