Notes |
- BIOGRAPHY
George Mackenzie, Earl of Cromarty, Viscount Tarbat, Lord MacLeod and Castlehaven, married Isabel Gordon, who was known as 'Bonnie Bell Gordon'. In 1737 and 1738 he was Grand Master of the Freemasons. He joined the rising of 1745 and collected about four hundred of his clan. They were with him at the battle of Falkirk and, after their retreat to the north, with his son Lord MacLeod was surprised and, on 15 April 1746, taken by a party of Lord Sutherland's militia at Dunrobin Castle.
Together they were sent as prisoners first to Inverness and then to London. He was confined in the Tower, tried by his peers, found guilty of high treason, and sentenced to death. His estates and honours were forfeited but, on 4 October 1749, he received a conditional pardon.
In later life he was in very poor circumstances and, in 1759, writes of his 'miserable situation' and 'load of debts.' Horace Walpole described him as 'an indifferent figure, much dejected, and rather sullen,' and of his wife as very handsome, and actively interceding for her husband. He died in Westminster, aged 63, on 28 September 1766, his widow returned to Scotland and, on 23 April 1769, died in Edinburgh.
|