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John MacLeod, 11th of Raasay

Name
John MacLeod
First name
John
Last name
MacLeod
Born 1714
Died 1786
Gender
0
Alias
11th of Raasay
Biography

11th Laird of Raasay. Son of Malcolm Macleod (1695-1761), 10th of Raasay, and Mary Mackenzie, a daughter of Alexander Mackenzie of Applecross. Married to Jane Macqueen of Rigg, with whom he had at least 12 children. He was succeeded as Laird by his eldest son, James.

Life with Boswell

Boswell and Dr Johnson were greeted by Macleod and his large family as they arrived on Raasay on September 8, 1773. The travelling companions were both exceedingly happy with their reception and the general hospitality extended to them during their stay at Raasay, and Macleod - or Raasay, as he was known and referred to - received much praise by them both in their respective accounts of their journey.

Raasay and a few of his kinsmen joined Boswell and Johnson on the boat as they departed Raasay again on September 12, sailing to Portree on Skye. There, Boswell, Raasay and some of the others visited an emigrant ship, Nestor, that was lying in the harbour. They later dined at the local inn, before parting ways "with cordial embraces [...] hoping to see them again."

Malcolm MacLeod of Brae

Name
Malcolm MacLeod
First name
Malcolm
Last name
MacLeod
Born 1711
Gender
0
Biography

Sometime tacksman of Brae on Raasay. Son of John Macleod of Rigg (ca. 1672-?). Married to Catherine MacQueen.

According to Boswell, Malcolm MacLeod was "one of the Raasay family, celebrated in the year 1745 for his conducting the Prince [James Edward Stuart, ed.] with fidelity from Raasay to the Laird of Mackinnon’s."

According to a different source, "A few days after parting company with His Royal Highness, Malcolm was apprehended in Raasay, taken to Portree and conveyed to Applecross, where he was placed on board the " Furnace " sloop of war. He was ultimately, on the 1st of November, 1746, conveyed to London, where he was detained, along with Donald Macleod of Gualtrigill, in the custody of William Dick, a messenger, until July, 1747. He was in the end able to show that he had surrendered, with his men, in terms of the Duke of Cumberland's proclamation after the battle of Culloden, and he was then permitted to return home, in the same post-chaise as Flora Macdonald and Neil MacEachainn."1

  • 1Cf. Alexander Mackenzie's History of the Macleods (1889), p. 377
Life with Boswell

MacLeod was pilot on the boat taking Boswell and Dr Johnson from Broadford on Skye to the isle of Raasay on September 8, 1773. With them was also the rev. Donald Macqueen.

Boswell described Macleod as "quite the Highland gentleman; of a stout well-made person, well-proportioned; a manly countenance browned with the weather, but a ruddiness in his cheeks, a good way up which his rough beard extended; a quick lively eye, not fierce in his look, but firm and good-humoured. He had a pair of brogues, tartan hose which came up only near his knees and left them bare, a purple camblet kilt, a black waistcoat, a short cloth green coat bound with gold cord, a yellowish bushy wig, a large blue bonnet with a gold-thread button.314 I never saw a figure that was more perfectly a representative of a Highland gentleman. I wished much to have a picture of him just as he was. I found him frank and polite, in the true sense of the word."1

As they sailed on in the boat to Raasay, Malcolm "raised an Erse song, Hatyin foam foam eri, to which he gave Jacobite words of his own", before "taking an oar and [rowing] like a hero." He also told Boswell and Johnson about his experience with the Old Pretender during the Jacobite rising in 1745, and also told them that he still had an empty bottle from which the Prince had drunk brandy, and a silver stock-buckle which had been given to him by the Prince. Boswell related how he and Malcolm "became great friends", and that Malcolm "offered to make me a present of the bottle", which Boswell refused, saying that "nobody should have it but himself".

On September 10, Malcolm joined Boswell for a walk around Raasay together with Donald Macleod of Canna, John Macqueen, and Boswell's servant Joseph.

Donald Macqueen - Minister of Kilmuir

Name
Donald Macqueen
First name
Donald
Last name
Macqueen
Born 1712
Died February 01, 1785
Gender
0
Biography

Macqueen was a Church of Scotland minister in the Isle of Skye and a notable scholar. He was born in Trotternish, the son of the Rev. Archibald Macqueen (1671-1754), Minister of Snizort and Uig, and Isabella Mackenzie (d. 1718). He was married twice, firstly (1744) to Betsy Martin, and secondly (1749) to Anne Macdonald (d. 1756). Father of John Macqueen, Minister of Applecross. Among his descendants were Thomas Potter Macqueen, who sat as Member of Parliament from 1816 to 1830.

Macqueen was appointed minister of Kilmuir and Kilmaluag on the Trotternish peninsula of Skye in 1740. He was highly regarded by his contemporaries, and according to the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae was probably the best known and most distinguished minister in the Highlands in his own time. He was the author of several works, including Reflections on Clanship (1763) and Dissertation of the Government of the People of the Western Isles (1774). Late in life, in 1781 he was admitted as a corresponding member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Donald Macqueen died in 1785 on the isle of Raasay, and he is buried in Kilmuir churchyard.

Life with Boswell

Boswell and Dr Johnson met Macqueen on the coast of Skye near Broadford on September 8, 1773, when he arrived to accompany them on their crossing to the isle of Raasay. Boswell instantly took a liking to the old churchman, describing him as "a decent minister, an elderly man with his own black hair, courteous and rather slow of speech, but candid, sensible, and well-informed, nay, learned."

Macqueen also joined them on the trip back to Skye, arriving with them at Portree on September 12. According to Boswell, "Mr. Donald Macqueen went to church and officiated in Erse, and then came to dinner."

Martin MacPherson - Minister of Sleat

Name
Martin MacPherson
First name
Martin
Last name
MacPherson
Born 1743
Died 1812
Gender
0
Biography

Sometime minister of Sleat on Skye. Son of Rev. John Macpherson (1710-1765) and Janet, daugther of Donald Macleod of Bernera. Married to Mary MacKinnon (d. 1808), daugther of Lachlan MacKinnon. His younger brother was John Macpherson, Bt., (1745-1821) who became an MP and acting Governor-General of Bengal.

Martin Macpherson succeeded his father as minister of Sleat following the latters death in 1765.

Life with Boswell

Boswell and Dr Johnson met Rev. MacKinnon and his wife on September 6, 1773, at the reverend's father-in-law near Broadford on Skye.

Lachlan MacKinnon - Coirechatachan

Name
Lachlan MacKinnon
First name
Lachlan
Last name
MacKinnon
Born 1710
Date of birth (prefix)
abt.

Died 1789
Gender
0
Alias
Coirechatachan
Biography

Sometime tacksman of Coirechatachan (Corriechatachan) near Broadford on Skye. 

Life with Boswell

Boswell and Dr Johnson arrived at Coirechatachan on September 6, 1773, while on their tour of Scotland. They were greeted by the tacksman, Lachlan MacKinnon, who Boswell described as "a jolly big man". They were joined by several of MacKinnon's family and neighbours, and Boswell wrote of the occassion that "It was really an agreeable meeting; and we for the first time had a specimen of the joyous social manners of the inhabitants of the Highlands", and "How superior was our reception here to that at Sir Alexander’s!

They stayed at Coirechatachan for two days, until the weather allowed them to go on boat to their next destination, the Isle of Raasay.

James Macdonald - Factor of Sleat

Name
James Macdonald
First name
James
Last name
Macdonald
Gender
0
Biography

Factor of Sleat for Sir Alexander Macdonald in the 1770s. Son of Roderick "Rorie" Macdonald.

Life with Boswell

Boswell and Dr Johnson first met Macdonald when they were guests of Sir Alexander Macdonald at Armadale on September 4, 1773. On the next day, Sir Alexander and Boswell went to Macdonald's, who was Sir Alexander's facto in the district of Sleat, after dinner, where they were served punch and port. Boswell, in his journal, admitted that he "drank freely of punch by way of being social, and after supper I drank freely of port by way of keeping off a taedium vitae. Altogether, I had too much."

Donald Macleod of Canna

Name
Donald Macleod
First name
Donald
Last name
Macleod
Gender
0
Biography

Sometime tacksman of Canna, the westernmost of the Small Isles archiepelago south of Skye. Son of Alexander Macleod (d. ca. 1758), a Skyeman educated at King’s College, Aberdeen.

The last descendant of William Macleod of the Macleods of Meidle and Glendale, who was killed at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.1  According to a footnote in the To the Hebrides edition of Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, Ronald Macdonald of Clanranald gave a lease of Keill and other lands of Canna to a certain Donald MacLeod for three nineteen-year terms, dating from Whitsuntide 1760, on June 22, 1761.

  • 1According to the History of the Macleods (1889) by Alexander Mackenzie.
Life with Boswell

Boswell and Dr Johnson met Macleod at Armadale, where they were hosted by Sir Alexander Macdonald, on September 2, 1773. Boswell, in his journal, initially described him as "a very genteel man", but deleted the compliment shortly after writing it. On September 6, MacLeod set out with them acting as their guide on their continuing journey north towards the Isle of Raasay

On September 10, Boswell went out to explore the island of Raasay in the company of Macleod (Canna), John Macqueen, Malcolm MacLeod, and Boswell's servant Joseph

Roderick Macdonald of Sandaig

Name
Roderick Macdonald
First name
Roderick
Last name
Macdonald
Born 1705
Died 1788
Gender
0
Alias
Rorie Macdonald
Biography

Tacksman of Sandaig during the second part of the 18th century. Son of John Macdonald of Totamurich & Knock and his wife Margaret. He was married to a sister of the Laird of Raasay, and had at least two sons, James and Donald, and a daughter, Katie.

Life with Boswell

Boswell and Dr Johnson met Rorie, as he was known, his wife and his son Donald at dinner on September 2, 1773, during their visit to Sir Alexander Macdonald in Armadale. Boswell described him as "an old brisk Highlander of 68, a near relation of Alexander's". Two days later, Rorie and his wife dined with them again, and Boswell wrote in his journal that "Rorie was to be dispossessed of his farm in Glenelg at Whitsunday, and was trying to get one from Sir Alexander." They were later joined by his sons James, who was Sir Alexanders factor for Sleat, and Donald, a Lieutenant in the Grenadiers.

On September 5th, Boswell walked with Sir Alexander and Rorie to the parish church of Sleat, where they saw the monument to Sir Alexander's older brother James (d. 1766). After dinner they went to the house of Rorie's son James, where they were joined by his other son Douglas and daugher Katie. In his journal, Boswell acknowledged that he "drank freely of punch by way of being social, and after supper I drank freely of port by way of keeping off a taedium vitae. Altogether, I had too much."

 

 

John Jeans - Mineralogist

Name
John Jeans
First name
John
Last name
Jeans
Born 1724
Date of birth (prefix)
abt.

Died 1804
Gender
0
Biography

Mineralogist and dealer in mineral specimens and fossils.1 .

Life with Boswell

When Boswell and Dr Johnson were guests at Sir Alexander Macdonald at Armadale on Skye on September 2, 1773, they were joined at dinner by "a little Aberdeenshire man, a naturalist, with his son, a dwarf with crooked legs. Jeans said that he had been at Mr Johnson's in London with Ferguson the astronomer. Mr Johnson thought it strange how he found somebody in such distant places who knew him; that he should have thought he might hide himself in Skye."1

Alexander Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Slate

Name
Alexander Macdonald
First name
Alexander
Last name
Macdonald
Born 1745
Date of birth (prefix)
abt.

Died September 12, 1795
Gender
0
Alias
1st Baron Macdonald
Biography

Son of Alexander Macdonald, 7th Baronet of Slate, and Margaret Montgomerie. Married (1768) to Elizabeth Diana Bosville, with whom he had seven sons and three daughters. Lady Macdonald died in 1789. Lord Macdonald survived her by six years and died in September 1795. He was succeeded in his titles by his son Alexander Macdonald, 2nd Baron Macdonald.

Macdonald was educated at Eton and served with the Grenadier Guards. Macdonald was also a deputy lieutenant of Inverness-shire and a brigadier-general in the Royal Company of Archers. He succeeded his elder brother, James, in the baronetcy in 1766 and in 1776 he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Macdonald, of Slate in the County of Antrim.

 

Life with Boswell

Boswell and Dr Johnson were met by Sir Alexander and his wife at Armadale on September 2, 1773, as they arrived by boat from Glenelg on their tour of Scotland. The Lord and his Lady had come there on their way from their seat at Mugstot (Monkstadt) on the north part of Skye, to Edinburgh, and therefore had to host Boswell and Johnson at a tenant's house for the ensuing days. Their visit and Boswell's relationship with Sir Alexander were not without friction, and some of Boswell's remarks in his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, published twelve years later, resulted in further conflict between the two. For further about the visit to Armadale, see the To the Hebrides edition of Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, September 2-6, 1773.

Boswell and Macdonald were 13th cousins, sharing a common ancestor in Robert Stewart, 1st Lord Lorne (1382-1449).

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