Captain Benjamin Moodie of Melsetter, 8th Laird of Melsetter

CAPTAIN BENJIMAN MOODIE OF MELSETTER

Captain in the 47th Regiment of Foot, formerly Lieutenant in the 46th Regiment of Foots

Captain Benjiman Moodie of Melsetter is the son of Captain James Moodie of Melsetter, RN., and his wife Christian Crawford. He is reported to have been born on 17 February 1723, at Aikerness in the Orkney parish of Evie, Scotland. The Moodie Book, pp. 45-52

Military Career

Captain Benjiman Moodie of Melsetter was appointed Lieutenant in the 46th (Colonel Murray's) Regiment on 5 April 1745. He afterwards transferred to the 47th Regiment with the rank of Captain and served at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746. Thereafter he asked and obtained permission from the Duke of Cumberland to proceed against the Orkney Jacobites (who had looted Melsetter in 1745). He captured Sir James Stewart, and his brother Alexander, and sent them to the Tower of London to await trial for murder.

Death

Captain Benjamin Moodie of Melsetter died shortly before the birth of his youngest child on 19 September 1769. The Moodie Book, p. 52

Marriage

Captain Benjiman Moodie of Melsetter married Henrietta Sinclair. The Moodie Book, p. 49

Children

1. N.N. Moodie
2. Major James Moodie of Melsetter
3. Captain Donald Moodie
4. Christian Moodie
5. Lieutenant John Bladen Moodie
6. Charles Moodie
7. Lieutenant Joseph Moodie, RN
8. Henrietta Moodie
9. Kathrine Moodie
10. Captain Robert Benjamin Moodie
11. Barbara Moodie
12. Lieutenant Samuel Moodie
13. Benjamina Moodie

Evidence from Peterkin's Rentals

Compt made with the Vassalls and Tennents of the Bishoprick of Orkney, Cropt 1739. . . . . . Bemjamin Moodie of Melsetter, and Christian Crawfoord, Lady Melsetter, Factorix upon that estate, compt and showld pay for the lands underwrittem, viz. Imp. For 3d. land of Melsetter, 3 lp. oyle, 18d. scat sr. . . . . . Peterkin's Rentals, Donald Groat's Bishoprick Compt Boook cropt 1739, p. 11

Genealogy

1. The Moodie Book, pp. 45-52

Observation

The story of the Moodies is an astonishing saga of feud, adventure and fighting, the decay of the family's fortunes having started at least two decades before the Rising of 1745, during which Melsetter House was sacked by Jacobites. The eighth Laird, Benjamin, was serving on the mainland as an officer in the Hanoverian Army at the time and, for years after his return to Orkney, he spent most of his energies in wreaking a terrible revenge on surviving Orkney Jacobites, although he did conserve enough to enable him to father 13 children in subsequent years. A concise history of Port Beaufort & White Sands (also known as Witsand) including Family Trees White Sands & Port Beaufort' written by John McGregor