Sir Reginald Macdonald of Allanton and Touch, Bart.

Biographical Summary

"Ranald. He passed Advocate in 1798, and afterwards became Sheriff of Stirlingshire. He succeeded his father in Ulva, and other lauds, in Mull, in 1800. In 1812 the rental of his estate from kelp) and other sources amounted to £3600. He was a model land-lord, and highly popular among Highlanders. He was a member of several Highland societies. He took great interest in the poetry and lore of the Highlands, and collected Ossianic poems and tales in 1801-3, which are preserved in the Advocate's Library. He represented the Presbytery of Mull for many years in the General Assembly, and was Colonel of the Long Island Regiment of Militia, which assembled at Benbecula. His intimacy with Sir Walter Scott, who visited him at Ulva in 1810, is well known. Referring to that visit, Scott says : — " The proprietor of the isle, Macdonald of Statfa, a fine, high-spirited young chieftain, was our pilot and guide through the Hebrides. He is much loved by his people, whose prosperity he studies much. ... In the Isle of Ulva, where he has his house, we were treated with something like feudal splendour. His people received us under arms, and with a discharge of musketry and artillery. His piper was a constant attendant on our parties, and wakened us in the morning with his music." Scott pays a warm tribute to Staffa's character as a landlord in his article on Sir John Carr's Caledonian Sketches, and in the spirited verses written at his house in Ulva during his visit to the "king of all kind fellows." Ranald married, in 1812, Isabella, only child and heiress of Henry Stewart of Allanton, afterwards created a baronet. He had by her —

• Henry James, who succeeded him.
• Archibald, who married Katherine, daughter of Robert Stein, and had Allan Henry, and Douglas Archibald.
• Colin Archibald, who was drowned.
• Isabella, who married, in 1852, Rev. J. Lockhart Ross, rector of St Dunstan-in-the-East, London, and died in 1864.
• Lillias Urquhart, who died in 1866.

In 1835, Ranald's wife succeeded in right of her mother to the Estate of Touch Seton, Stirlingshire, and added the name of Seton to her own. On the death of Sir Henry Steuart of Allanton in 1836, Ranald succeeded him as 2nd Baronet, and assumed the name of Steuart Seton in addition to his own. Sir Ranald died 15th April, 1838, in the 61st year of his age, and Avas succeeded by his son. Sir Henry James, as 3rd Baronet. Sir Henry married, in 1852, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Montgomery, son of Sir James Montgomery, Bart, of Stanhope, without surviving issue. He died in 1884, and was succeeded by his nephew, the son of his brother, Archibald, Alan Henry, as 4th Baronet. Sir Alan, who is hereditary Armour- Bearer and Squire of the Royal Body in Scotland, married, in 1883, Susan Edith, daughter of Sir James Clerk, Baronet, without issue."

SOURCE: The clan Donald; by the Rev. A. Macdonald, minister of Killearnan, and the Rev. A. Macdonald, minister of Kiltarlity; Vol. III; 1896; page 295