Gairloch in North-West Ross-Shire / Its Records, Traditions, Inhabitants, and Natural History, with a Guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree, and a Map and Illustrations

by John H. Dixon

Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie, the sixth baronet and thirteenth laird of Gairloch, succeeded to the estates when a minor. Following the example of his immediate ancestors, he takes the lead in all local and county matters. Like his grandfather he is lord-lieutenant of his native county. He deals personally with his tenantry. His principal residence is Conan House, but he spends a portion of every year at Flowerdale in Gairloch. He was a member of the Royal Commission appointed 22d March 1883 to inquire into the condition of the crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. This is not the place to offer any encomium on the present baronet of Gairloch, but it may be mentioned that the historian of the Mackenzies, himself a native of the parish, states that Sir Kenneth is "universally admitted to be one of the best landlords in the Highlands." Sir Kenneth married, in 1860, Eila Frederica, daughter of the late Walter Frederick Campbell of Islay.

There have been several collateral families of Mackenzies in Gairloch, to whom some reference must be made.

The Mackenzies of Letterewe were descended from Charles, the eldest son of Kenneth Mackenzie, sixth laird of Gairloch, by his third wife. By his father's marriage-contract Charles Mackenzie got Logie Wester, which in 1696 he exchanged with his half-brother Alexander, the seventh laird of Gairloch, for the lands of Letterewe. Letterewe continued in this family until Hector Mackenzie, in 1835, sold the estate to the late Mr Meyrick Bankes of Winstanley Hall, Lancashire. The present representative of the Letterewe family is Mr Charles Mackenzie, a lawyer in the United States of America; their representative in this country is Mr John Munro Mackenzie, of Morinish and Calgary. The present Letterewe House is an enlargement of the older residence of this family.

The Mackenzies of Lochend, or Kinloch (now Inverewe), sprang from John Mackenzie of Lochend, third son of Alexander, the seventh laird of Gairloch, by his second wife. They were tacksmen of Lochend, which belonged to the Coul Mackenzies, by whom it was ultimately sold to Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie in 1863. The old Lochend House stood where the walled garden of the present Inverewe House is.

The Mackenzies of Gruinard sprang from John Mackenzie, a natural son of George, second earl of Seaforth and fourteenth laird of Kintail, who, with Captain Hector Mackenzie, conveyed the news of the defeat of the Royalists by Oliver Cromwell at the battle of Worcester, in 1651, to his father in Holland, where the latter was at that time living in exile. This family produced several distinguished soldiers, especially Alexander, a colonel in the army, who served with the 36th Regiment throughout the Peninsular War. John Mackenzie, the fifth laird of Gruinard, who was a captain in the 73d Regiment, sold the property, which included Little Gruinard, Udrigil, and Sand, all in the parish of Gairloch, to the late Henry Davidson of Tulloch, who resold it to Mr Meyrick Bankes. William Mackenzie, the sixth head of this family, was a captain in the 72d Regiment, and is said to have been the handsomest man in his day in the Highlands. The Gruinard family increased rapidly. The first laird had eight sons and eight daughters, who all married. George, the second laird of Gruinard, was twice married; by his first wife he had fourteen sons and nine daughters, and by his second wife four sons and six daughters,—making the extraordinary total of thirty-three children, nineteen of whom at least are known to have married, and most of them into the best families of the north. The Gruinard family resided at Udrigil House, and subsequently at Aird House, both of which they built.

There was a family of Mackenzies settled at Kernsary who were descended from Murdo Mackenzie, fifth son of Colin Cam, the eleventh lord of Kintail. Murdo had a son and daughter. The son was killed in 1645 at the battle of Auldearn, where he commanded the Lews Mackenzie regiment.

In the seventeenth century the Rev. Kenneth Mackenzie, from Bute, purchased the Kernsary estate from the Mackenzies of Coul, to whom it then belonged. He was an Episcopalian clergyman, and held services in the little Inverewe church at the place now called Londubh, on the Kernsary estate, close to which he lived in the house now occupied by James Mackenzie. He married a daughter of Mackenzie of Letterewe. They had a son Roderick, who succeeded to the Kernsary property; so did his son Roderick. This second Roderick married Mary, sister of Mackenzie of Ballone; she was a beauty, and was known as Mali Chruinn Donn. Their son Alexander sold Kernsary to the Seaforth family some fifty years ago; his son, the Rev. Hector Mackenzie, was minister of Moy, and died a few years back.

In bringing to a close this account of the Mackenzies of Gairloch, their history and present position may be summarised thus:—A strong offshoot of the family of the earls of Ross separated from the parent stock, and having taken root in Kintail, developed into the illustrious family of the Kintail or Seaforth Mackenzies. Again, a vigorous branch of the Kintail Mackenzies took root in Gairloch, and culminated in the present series of the baronets of Gairloch. The earls of Ross disappeared centuries ago, and the family of Seaforth has become extinct in the direct male line, whilst their estates have melted away. The Gairloch family remain, and their fine property has increased in value. Although the present baronet does not claim the chieftainship of the whole clan, which is believed to belong to a more remote offshoot of the Kintail family, that dignity is now but a name, and Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch is to-day the most influential and distinguished of the great Mackenzie race.

The crest of the Gairloch Mackenzies is the figure of Donald Odhar, though some lairds of Gairloch have used the general crest of the Mackenzies, viz., the Cabar Feidh, or stag's head and horns. The badge of the Mackenzies is the deer grass, or stag's horn moss. Their war-cry or slogan is "Tulloch-ard," the name of a mountain in Kintail. This mountain has sometimes been used as a crest with the "warning flame" on its summit, representing the beacon whence the clan was apprised of danger.