Flora MacDonald (1722 - 1790)

Born 1722 in Milton, South Uist, Scotland

Ancestors

Wife of Allan (MacDonald) MacDonald of Kingsburgh — married 6 Nov 1750 in Armidale Castle

Descendants

Died 4 Mar 1790 at about age 68 in Kingsburgh, Sleat, Skye, Scotland

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Flora MacDonald was a prominent member of a Scottish Clan. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland

Flora MacDonald is Notable.

Flora MacDonald is a member of Clan MacDonald.

Flora MacDonald was a Jacobite heroine.^[1] She was born in 1722, daughter of Ranald Macdonald^[1] of Milton on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, and Marion MacDonald, the daughter of Angus MacDonald.^[2]

Her father was a member of the Clan MacDonald of Clanranald, who died soon after her birth. Her widowed mother was abducted by Hugh MacDonald of Armqadale, Skye whom she married in 1728. Flora was brought up under the care of the chief of her clan, the MacDonalds of Clanranald, her father's cousin, Sir Alexander MacDonald,^[2] and was partly educated in Edinburgh.

Jacobite Risings

Flora MacDonald was living on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides during the Jacobite Risings, in June 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie^[3] was on the run after the defeat at the Battle of Culloden.^[1][4] The prince's companion, a Captain O'Neill, sought her assistance to help the prince escape capture.^[2][5] The prince was disguised in a frock as an Irish maidservant, Betty Burke. They sailed from Benbecula on 27 June 1746 to Skye where they hid overnight in a cottage and then travelled, over the next few days, overland to Portree, when he left to travel to the island of Raasay^[5] and a ship to take him back to France. The Prince gave Flora a locket with his portrait, saying "I hope, madam, that we may meet in St James's yet"^[6] but she never saw him again.

Flora MacDonald was arrested for aiding the prince's escape and brought to London for trial. She was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and was for a time under sentence of death, but was released in 1747.^[2][5][1]

On 6 November 1750, at the age of 28, she married Allan (MacDonald) MacDonald of Kingsburgh, a captain in the army and the eldest son of Alexander MacDonald VI.^[7][1] The couple lived at Flodigarry on the Isle of Skye^[8][9] where they had five sons and two daughters. After the death of Allan MacDonald's father in 1772, they moved into the MacDonald family estate at Kingsburgh.^[2][9]

Her bravery and loyalty, along with her good manners and gentle character, had gained her support of the writer and Jacobite sympathiser Samuel Johnson, often called Dr Johnson, who met her in 1773 in Kingsburgh,^[10] the year before she moved to America. He described her as "a woman of soft features, gentle manners, kind soul and elegant presence". He also paid the tribute that is engraved on her memorial at Kilmuir

"...a name that will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour."^[11]

American Revolution

In 1773, she and her husband emigrated to North Carolina during the American War of Independence.^[2] Captain MacDonald served the British government in the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants). Legend has it that Flora tried to recruit Scots living there to support the British government during the War of Independence that included her husband Allan. He was captured^[1] after the battle and was held prisoner for two years until a prisoner exchange in 1777. He was then sent to Fort Edward in Windsor, Nova Scotia where he took command of the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants), Second Battalion. After her husband was taken prisoner, Flora remained in hiding while the American Patriots raided her family plantation and took all her possessions. When her husband was released from prison in 1778, she reunited with him at Fort Edward.^[2]

Isle of Skye

In 1779 Flora returned home to Scotland.^[1] During the passage, the ship was attacked by a privateer. She refused to leave the deck during the attack and was wounded in the arm.^[12][13] Flora stayed with various family members at various places, including Dunvegan, home of her daughter Anne, who had married Major General Alexander MacLeod, the largest landowner in Skye after the MacDonalds.^[14] After the war, in 1784, Allan also returned. The estate in Kingsburgh was now occupied by Flora's half -sister and her husband, so Allan instead took up farming in nearby Penduin.^[2][12]

Legacy

Flora MacDonald had several sons who entered the army or navy, Seven children survived Flora and Allan, two daughters and five sons, two of whom were lost at sea in 1782 (Alexander and Ranald);^[9] a third son (John) made his fortune in India, enabling his parents to spend their last years comfortably. ^[2][15]

In 1884, Sir Harold Boulton wrote an adaptation of an existing melody which he named "The Skye Boat Song". This was soon followed by the first performance of the Scottish highland dance "Flora MacDonald's Fancy", while the statue was erected, with her dog Flossie by her side, in her memory on the grounds of Inverness Castle in 1896.^[2][16]

The Flora MacDonald Academy, formerly Flora MacDonald College, in Red Springs, North Carolina is named after her and two of her children are interred on the campus; until 2009, it was also the site of the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games.^[2]

Flora was painted several times by Scottish portrait artist Allan Ramsay. Another portrait was found in Florida in 2015. ^[17]

She died at Kingsburgh on the Isle of Skye in 1790,^[2][1]at the age of 68. She is buried in the Kilmuir Cemetery.^[18]

Flora MacDonald's Grave, Isle of Skye and Flora MacDonald Statue, Inverness Castle

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} Britannica.com - Flora McDonald
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11} Flora MacDonald Wikipedia
3. ↑ Bonnie Prince Charlie on wikipedia
4. ↑ MacLeod, Ruairidh H. Flora MacDonald : the Jacobite heroine in Scotland and North America (London, Shepheard-Walwyn, 1995 Page 32 Chapter 5, The Prince's Departure from Benbcula
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Riding, Jacqueline. Jacobites; A New History of the 45 Rebellion. (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016). Page 465-469
6. ↑ Flora MacDonald : the Jacobite heroine in Scotland and North America, Page 55 Chapter 7 The Prince and lora Part at Portree
7. ↑ MacInnes, John (1899). The Brave Sons of Skye; Containing the Military Records (compiled From Authentic Sources) of the Leading Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and private soldiers whom "Eilean a' Cheo" has produced. Eyre and Spottiswood. Pages 15–24
8. ↑ The Celtic Monthly, edited by John Mackay, (Glasgow, 1900) Vol VIII Page 226 Flora Macdonald .... wedding festivities at Flodigarry on th 6th of November, 1750, also resided at Monkstad, after liberation from Tower of London
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} Macdonald, Rev. A. and Macdonald Rev. A. (1904). The Clan Donald: Volume 3. Inverness, Scotland. Northern Counties Publishing Company Ltd. Vol III, Page 507-511 #VII Allan He lived for a number of years at Flodigarry, marriage, children
10. ↑ The Clan Donald, Page 507 #VII Allan, While at Kingsburgh, Allan and his distinguished wife entertained Dr Samuel johnson and his biographer, in 1773.
11. ↑ Bate, W Jackson (1955). The Achievement of Samuel Johnson Page 463
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} Quynn, Dorothy Mackay (July 1941). "Flora MacDonald in History". The North Carolina Historical Review. 18 (3): page 236–258
13. ↑ Flora MacDonald : the Jacobite heroine in Scotland and North America, Page 217 Chapter 19 Flora Retrns to Skye
14. ↑ MacGregor, Alexander (Nabu Press, December 2009). Life of Flora MacDonald and her adventures with Prince Charles Page 134
15. ↑ Douglas, Hugh (2004). "Flora MacDonald". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press
16. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland "Inverness, Castle Wynd, Statue Of Flora Macdonald (13434)" Canmore
17. ↑ " 'Flora MacDonald portrait' found in Florida" BBC News. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2018
18. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13692365/flora-macdonald: accessed 9 August 2022), memorial page for Flora MacDonald (1722–4 Mar 1790), Find A Grave: Memorial #13692365, citing Kilmuir Cemetery, Kilmuir (Isle of Skye), Highland, Scotland; Maintained by Find a Grave.

See Also:

• Maclean, J.P., Ph.D Flora MacDonald in America with a Brief Sketch of Her Life and Adventures (Lumberton, North Carolina, USA: A.W. McLean, 1909)
• MacLeod, Ruairidh H. Flora MacDonald : the Jacobite heroine in Scotland and North America (London, Shepheard-Walwyn, 1995 Persons associated with Flora and Allan MacDonald
  • Chapter 1 - South Ulst
  • Chapter 2 - The 1745 Rising
  • Chapter 3 - The Prince in South Ulst
  • Chapter 4 - Flora Meets the Prince
  • Chapter 5, The Prince's Departure from Benbcula
  • Chapter 6 - Flora and the Prince Ashore on Skye
  • Chapter 7 - The Prince and lora Part at Portree
  • Chapter 8 - Flora Arrested
  • Chapter 9 - Flora a Prisoner
  • Chapter 10 - Flora in Edinburgh
  • Chapter 11 - Flora Married Allan MacDonald
  • Chapter 12 - Following Their Friends to America
  • Chapter 13 - Flora and Allan in North Carolina
  • Chapter 14 - The Highland Gentlemen Remain Loyal
  • Chapter 15 - The Loyalist Attempt in North Carolina
  • Chapter 16 - Moore's Creek
  • Chapter 17 - Flora Abadoned in North Carolina
  • Chapter 18 - Flora and Allan Reunited
  • Chapter 19 - Flora Retrns to Skye
  • Chapter 20 - Allan Returns to Skye