John Lord Macleod,
Appointed 19th December 1777.
Lord John Macleod was the eldest son of the Earl of Cromartie, and, with his father, was engaged in the attempt made in 1745 by Prince Charles Edward, the young pretender, to recover the throne of his ancestors. After the battle of Culloden, in 1746, the Earl of Cromartie was brought to trial, and pleaded guilty; but his life was spared on consideration of the remorse expressed by him for having been seduced in an unguarded moment from that loyalty which he had always, previously to the breaking out of the rebellion, evinced to the existing establishment, both in Church and State. Lord Macleod also received the royal mercy on account of his youth, and his regard for his parent, which had been the cause of his being concerned in the rebellion. The young lord also promised, that, should the royal clemency be extended to him, that his future life and fortune should be entirely devoted to His Majesty’s service, which promise was amply fulfilled in after years. Lord Macleod subsequently entered into the Swedish army, where he served for several years with great reputation, and was made a Commandant of the Order of the Sword in the kingdom of Sweden. While the American war of independence was being carried on, his Lordship returned to Great Britain, and in December 1777 received authority to raise a regiment of Highlanders, which was, on its formation, numbered the seventy-third, and subsequently the Seventy-first regiment, under the circumstances detailed in the Historical Record. His Lordship was appointed colonel of the newly raised regiment, to which a second battalion was added in September 1778, and embarked with the first battalion for India in January 1779, arriving at Madras in January 1780. The war with Hyder Ali, the powerful Sultan of the Mysore territory, commenced in that year, and his Lordship served under Major-General Sir Hector Munro in the first instance, and afterwards under Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote. On the 1st of June 1781, Colonel Lord Macleod was promoted to the local rank of major-general in the East Indies, in which year he returned to England, some misunderstanding having arisen between his Lordship and Major-General Stuart concerning priority of rank. His Lordship was promoted to the rank of major-general on the 20th of November 1782. On the forfeited estates being restored, in 1784, Major-General Lord Macleod obtained the family estate of Cromartie. His decease occurred on the 2d of April 1789, at Edinburgh.
The Honorable William Gordon,
Appointed 9th April 1789.
The Honorable William Gordon was appointed captain in the Sixteenth Light Dragoons, when that corps was raised in the year 1759. In October 1762, he was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the 105th regiment, and in 1777, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the eighty-first regiment, which was afterwards disbanded. In 1781 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and in April 1789 was nominated colonel of the Seventy-first Highlanders. He was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general in 1793, to that of general in 1798, and was removed to the Twenty-first Royal North British Fusiliers in 1803. He died in 1816.
Sir John Francis Cradock, G.C.B. and K.C.,
afterwards
Lord Howden,