Donald MacDonald, 4th of Kinlochmoidart

Biographical Summary

"IV. Donald. He was at the Battle of Sheriffmuir with his father, Ranald, and having joined Prince Charles when he landed at Borrodale on the 25th July, 1745, he was despatched the same day to summon Cameron of Lochiel, the Duke of Perth, and John Murray of Broughton. The Prince proceeded to Kinlochmoidart House on the 11th August, and remained there till the 18th, when he set out for Glenfinan. Kinlochmoidart brought 100 men to the Prince's standard, was made aide-de-camp to the Prince, and a Colonel in the army. He was employed more than anyone else in visiting the various chiefs whose adherence the Prince was anxious to secure. On his way to England, returning, it is said, from making a last appeal to Sir Alexander Macdonald and Macleod, and accompanied by only one servant, he was beset at a place called Broken-Cross Muir, near the village of Lesmahagow by a student of divinity named Linning, assisted by a carpenter, named Meikle, with some country people armed with old guns and pitchforks. His servant proposed to fire on the rabble, but Kinlochmoidart generously resolved to surrender at once rather than occasion a useless effusion of blood, and he was accordingly taken prisoner and conducted by his captor to Edinburgh, where he was committed to the Castle on November 12, 1745. In the summer of 1746, he was removed to Carlisle Castle to await his trial. On the 24th of September he was found guilty of high treason and condemned to death, and on the 18th of October he was executed at Carlisle, and his head stuck over the Scottish gate there, where it remained for many years. Such was the end of the gallant Kinlochmoidart, a man, in the words of Bishop Forbes, "fit for either the Cabinet or the field." His estate was forfeited, and Kinlochmoidart House was burnt to the ground by Butcher Cumberland's soldiers.

Donald married Isabel, daughter of Robert Stewart of Appin by his wife, Catherine, daughter of Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochnell, and by her had —

• Alexander, who succeeded him.
• Charles, who was educated at the Scots College in Paris. He afterwards entered the French Army, and served in the American War. He rose to the rank of General, and was made a Count. He was guillotined in the early part of the French Revolution, and died unmarried.
• Allan, who died unmarried.
• Angus, a priest, who died in Jamaica.
• Donald, who died in Jamaica, without issue.

Donald was succeeded in the representation of the family by his son."

SOURCE: The clan Donald; by the Rev. A. Macdonald, minister of Killearnan, and the Rev. A. Macdonald, minister of Kiltarlity; Vol. III; 1896; page 301