Famous Scots: I-Mc

Elsie Inglis
(1864-1917)

Doctor · Suffragist

Elsie Inglis (16 August 1864 - 26 November 1917) was an innovative Scottish doctor and suffragist.

She was born in India, to John Forbes David Inglis who worked in the Indian civil service. She had the good fortune to have relatively enlightened parents who considered the education of a daughter as important as that of the son. After a private education her decision to study medicine was delayed by her mother's death in 1885. However, the next year the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women was opened by Dr Sophia Jex-Blake and Inglis started her studies there. After founding her own breakaway medical college as a reaction to Jex-Blake's uncompromising ways, she completed her training under Sir William Macewen at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

She qualified as a licentiate of both the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Edinburgh, and the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1892. She was appalled by the general standard of care and lack of specialisation in the needs of female patients, but was able to obtain a post at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson's pioneering New Hospital for Women in London, and then at the Rotunda in Dublin, a leading maternity hospital.

She returned to Edinburgh in 1894 where she opened a maternity hospital (The Hospice) for poor women, which was a forerunner of the Elsie Inglis Memorial Hospital. A philanthropist, she often waived the fees owed to her and would pay for her patients to recuperate by the sea-side. Her dissatisfaction with the standard of medical care available to women led to her becoming politically active and playing an important role in the early years of the Scottish Federation of Women's Suffrage Societies.

Despite her already notable achievements it was her efforts during the First World War that brought her fame. She was instrumental in setting up the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service Committee. The organisation was active in sending teams to France, Serbia and Russia. She herself went with the teams sent to Serbia. In 1915 she was captured and repatriated but upon reaching home she began organising funds for a Scottish Women's Hospital team in Russia. She headed the team when it left for Odessa, Russia in 1916 but lasted only a year before she was forced to return to the United Kingdom, suffering from cancer.

She died on 26 November 1917. Her funeral service at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh was "the occasion of an impressive public tribute", according to The Scotsman. Winston Churchill said of Inglis and her nurses "they will shine in history".

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Census reference: 1891, rd 685/4, bk 74, pg 6, sch14
Census reference: 1901, rd 685/1, bk 1, pg 11, sch65

Francis Jeffrey
(1773-1850)

Lawyer · Writer · Politician

Francis Jeffrey was born in Edinburgh and educated at the High School there. He attended university in Glasgow and Oxford. As an advocate he found many avenues of promotion closed to him because of his politics. Along with Francis Horner and Sydney Smith he founded the Edinburgh Review, in which the anonymous articles covered various topics from literature to politics. Francis revealed a great distaste for the work of romantic poets such a Wordsworth and Lord Byron. One of his reviews even led to a duel, which was stopped by the police outside London.

Francis' public career improved dramatically when the Whigs came to power. He was elected MP for Perth, was appointed Lord Advocate in 1830 and from 1832-4 was MP for Edinburgh. In his appointment as Judge of the Court of Session he achieved a position in the legal profession unthinkable under the Tories. Mentioned in the will is Francis' second wife, Charlotte Wilkes. She was from an influential New York family. Whilst in America Francis and his new wife were invited to dinner by President Madison. Francis attended even though it was in the middle of the British-American War of 1812.

Francis died in his home city and is buried in the Dean cemetery.

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Deborah Kerr
(1921-2007)

Actress

Born in a private nursing home in Glasgow in 1921, Deborah Kerr became a six times-nominated Academy Award actress.

The only daughter of Kathleen Rose (nee Smale) and Captain Arthur Kerr-Trimmer, a World War One veteran pilot, she spent her initial childhood in nearby Helensburgh. Originally training as a ballet dancer she decided to switch to acting.

Kerr's debut film role was in the 1940 British film Contraband, although her scenes were cut. She then appeared in a series of films, including Hatter's Castle, with Robert Newton and James Mason. In 1943 she played three roles in the controversial but commercially successful The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

Her role as a troubled nun in Black Narcissus in 1947 brought her to the attention of Hollywood producers. The film was a hit and Kerr won the New York Film Critics' Award. Her British accent led to a succession of Hollywood parts playing refined English ladies, although she frequently used any opportunity to discard her cool exterior. Amongst her other films during this spell were King Solomon's Mines, Quo Vadis? as well as 1953's From Here to Eternity, where any vestiges of primness were abandoned. The latter film earned her a Best Acress Oscar nomination, and is most memorable for the iconic scene where Kerr and Burt Lancaster embrace amongst crashing waves on a Hawaii beach. Amongst other notable roles were in The King and I (1956) and An Affair to Remember (1958). Kerr also starred in Casino Royale (1967), achieving the distinction of being the oldest 'Bond Girl' of the series.

Her theatre successes included a Tony nomination for Tea and Sympathy and a Sarah Siddons Award for her performance in Chicago. She enjoyed a career resurgence in 1980s television, and was Emmy-nominated for A Woman of Substance. She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1998 but was unable to collect the honour due to ill-health.

Kerr died of Parkinson's Disease in 2007, at the age of 86, in Suffolk.

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Born Glasgow, 30 Sep 1921 (ref 644/12, 491 )

Ellen King
(1909-94)

Swimmer

Ellen King was an outstanding swimmer who won six British swimming championships, two world records and two silver medals in the 1928 Olympics.

Born in Renfrew, she spent most of her life in Edinburgh. A member of Warrender Baths Club, she represented Britain at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, finishing 6th in the 100 yards backstroke. She went on to win two silver medals in the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928, for the 150 yards backstroke and the ladies relay race.

She won all Scottish Championship titles from 50 to 440 yards, and won six British Championships during her career. She broke the world records for the 220 yards breaststroke and the 150 yards backstroke in 1927 and 1928.

After her amateur career, King taught swimming in Edinburgh schools. She continued to swim until after her 80th birthday.

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Born Renfrew, 16 Jan 1909 (ref 575/00, 78)

John Knox
(c.1510-72

Leader of the Scottish Reformation

John Knox is widely thought of as a founding father of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, and of the Church of Scotland. His likely birth date varies from 1505 to 1513 or 1514 and the likely place was around Haddington. He died on 24 November 1572 in Edinburgh. His father, William Knox, had fought at Flodden; his mother's maiden name was Sinclair. Knox was educated by the Scottish Church, which was regarded as liberal compared to the pre-reformation Catholic standards of the day.

It is thought Knox was a tutor before becoming a Catholic priest. The first record of this is in 1540 while the latest known is a document he signed in 1543. Knox first publicly professed his Protestantism in 1545 and it is believed that his actual conversion was the result of his friendship with George Wishart. Wishart, who had returned to Scotland in 1544 after banishment, had preached in favour of the Reformation. Knox became his close associate, even body-guard, defending Wishart against supporters of Cardinal David Beaton, leader of the Scottish anti-Protestant movement. Wishart was tried for heresy and burnt at the stake in March 1546. Knox went on to become a Protestant minister in St Andrews, though there is no evidence of any official ordination. His book, History of the Reformation gives an account of the proceedings connected with his call to the ministry, together with a report of the first sermon he delivered in St Andrews.

After Wishart's death Knox spent time as a refugee, reportedly as a French galley slave, and then in voluntary exile in England. He also travelled to Geneva where he met with the reformer, John Calvin. In Geneva he became the minister of an English congregation and wrote The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women and a long treatise on predestination.

In 1560, the doctrine, worship, and government of the Roman Church were overthrown by the parliament and Protestantism established as the national religion. Knox was appointed minister of St. Giles, Edinburgh and, assisted by five other ministers, formulated the confession of faith adopted at this time and drew up the new Church constitution: The First Book of Discipline. This new 'Kirk' was organised on presbyterian lines. Priests were replaced by ministers (from the Latin for servants), with each parish governed by the Kirk Session, although at this time the proposed replacement of bishops with superintendents was only partly implemented.

John Knox's first wife, Marjorie Bowes died early in his Edinburgh ministry. They had two sons, one of whom, Nathanael, died at Cambridge in 1580; the other, Eleazer, became vicar of Clacton Magna in the archdeaconry of Colchester and died in 1591. In 1564 Knox married again, this time to Margaret Stewart, daughter of Andrew, Lord Stewart of Ochiltree. The marriage was greatly talked about because the bride was connected with the royal family (albeit remotely) and even more so because she was 17 while Knox was three times as old. They had three daughters Martha, Margaret and Elizabeth - all of whom are mentioned in Knox's testament.

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Sir Harry MacLennan Lauder
(1870-1950)

Music hall entertainer

He is named Henry in the birth register. He worked as a flax-spinner and coal-miner - the latter being the occupation given on his marriage certificate - before gaining popularity as an amateur performer.

He later became an international celebrity as a singer and entertainer of the Scottish music hall genre. He was knighted in 1919.

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Born Portobello, Edinburgh, 4 Aug 1870 (ref 684/1, 106)

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Marriage to Annie Vallance Hamilton, 19 Jun 1891 (ref 647, 128)

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Died Avondale and Glassford, 26 Feb 1950 (ref 621, 16)

Sir John Lauder
(1646-1722)

Judge · Chronicler

Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, judge and chronicler, was the son of an Edinburgh merchant who bought the East Lothian estate of Woodhead. He kept a journal of his youthful travels on the continent. As an advocate he already hoped one day to be a judge. Judges had the title 'Lord' with the name of their estate; and who would take the decisions of 'Lord Woodhead' seriously? So he persuaded his father to change the name to Fountainhall.

From 1678 onwards, he not only recorded the judicial decisions of the Session and Privy Council, but wrote candid chronicles of political events down to the Revolution of 1688, which have been of great use to historians. In 1689, he was made a judge as Lord Fountainhall. In 1692 he was offered, but refused, the post of Lord Advocate; according to tradition, because it came with a prohibition against prosecuting those guilty of the recent massacre of Glencoe, who included Sir John Dalrymple, Master of Stair, the head of his own political faction. He was an MP in the Scottish Parliament from 1685 to 1707 and voted against the Union.

The testament only covers a small part of his estate - a bequest to one of his grandchildren - but the documents it quotes show his opposition to needless legal formalities,'when a Judge I ever Preferred Matter to forms'.

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David Leslie
(1601-82)

Soldier · Mercenary

David Leslie was among the many Scots who sought military employment abroad. He served in the Army of the Swedish king Gustavus Adolfus in Germany during the Thirty Years War. One in twelve of the Swedish army were in fact Scots.

He returned to Scotland to involve himself in the civil wars, acting as Lieutenant-General to Alexander Leslie, earl of Leven. He fought at the battle of Marston Moor in 1644 and defeated the army of the Marquis of Montrose at Philiphaugh in 1645. He escaped from Cromwell's New Model Army after defeat at Dunbar in 1650, but was captured after the second defeat at Worcester the following year. He was held captive in the Tower of London until the Restoration of 1660. Charles II made him Lord Newark a year later.

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George Leveson-Gower
(1758-1833)

Landowner · Ambassador to France

George Leveson-Gower, Viscount Trentham, son of Granville, Earl Gower, married Elizabeth, countess of Sutherland in 1785. Created a Privy Councillor in 1790 he also served as British Ambassador to Paris from 1790-2.

George and his wife spent a great deal renovating Dunrobin Castle as the family seat and were responsible for many improvements to the estate for the benefit of their tenants, including the construction of 450 miles of roads and 134 bridges in Sutherland between 1812 and 1832. However, it is the manner in which many tenants were evicted from the land by their factor, Patrick Sellar, that has proved of more enduring memory. Created Duke of Sutherland in 1833, George died five months later at Dunrobin.

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Eric Liddell
(1902-45)

Athlete · Rugby Union international

Liddell was the winner of the Men's 400 metres Gold at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. This was portrayed in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire (1981).

Nicknamed 'The Flying Scotsman', Liddell was born in Tianjin, northern China, where his father James was a Protestant missionary. Educated in China until the age of 5, Liddell and his brother Robert were enrolled in Eltham College, London, a boarding school for missionary children.

He became an outstanding athlete, captaining both the cricket and rugby teams. In 1921 he went to Edinburgh University, studying Pure Science. On the sporting side, he continued to excel, playing for the Scottish national rugby side in Five Nations matches.

After being chosen to represent Britain at the 1924 Olympics, he refused to run in the 100 metres race because it was being held on Sunday, and he was a commited Christian. Instead he devoted his energies to the 400 metres, where he wasn't expected to win. But win he did, establishing a new world record.

In later years he returned to China to continue missionary work. Following Japanese invasion in 1941 he was interned in a camp for foreign nationals. During a prisoner exchange he refused to leave, giving his place to a pregnant woman. He died there on 21 February 1945, 5 months before liberation.

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Died Weihsien Internment Camp, China, 21 Feb 1945

View the entry relating to Liddell's death in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

(We provide links to hundreds of websites related to family history research; for a full list refer to our A-Z of useful websites page).

James Lindsay
(1799-1862)

Electrical inventor

James Bowman Lindsay was born in Carmyllie in North East Scotland. After starting work as an apprentice weaver he was sent to be educated at St Andrews University. In 1829 he became a lecturer at the Watt Institution in Dundee. His electrical discoveries included the telegraph, electric welding and continuous electric light. In 1843 he suggested laying a telegraph under the sea floor across the Atlantic.

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David Livingstone or Livingston
(1813-73)

Explorer · Missionary

Born in Blantyre, Lanarkshire in 1813, Livingstone worked in the local cotton mills until the age of 24. He took a degree in medicine before being ordained as a minister and sent to Africa by the London Missionary Society.

He determined to cross that continent from east to west and was the first European to discover the Victoria Falls of the River Zambesi and several major central African lakes. Livingstone received a hero's welcome on his return, becoming one of Victorian Britain's most popular and celebrated figures.

After his death on a later expedition his body was brought to London for burial at Westminster Abbey.

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Born Blantyre, 19 Mar 1813 (ref 624/1, Fr 365)

George Lockhart
(1727-1807)

Jacobite · Composer

George Lockhart of Carnwarth was eldest son of Sir George Lockhart of Carnwarth, President of the Court of Session, who was shot dead in Edinburgh's High Street in 1689 by John Chiesley of Dalry, a dissatisfied husband he had ordered to pay alimony.

George was one of the richest Midlothian landowners and Tory MP for that constituency in the sessions of 1703-7. Appointed a commissioner for the negotiations for Union with England he was a violent opponent of it, exposing the 20,000 pounds sterling sent for secret payments to supportive MPs at Westminster. He led Scottish protesters and his 'out of doors' campaign, appealing to ordinary Scots, was regarded as rebellion. His Memoirs of the Jacobite Activity and the Union 1702-1707 are full of vigorous and pungent pen-portraits of the Union's main supporters. It was secretly copied and printed by the Whigs in 1714 as a propaganda coup to drive him from British politics.

After 1714 George was finished in the political system and would now focus on Jacobite conspiracies. Twice arrested and sent to Edinburgh Castle in 1715 he plotted to have it seized but was foiled. He planned an uprising in Midlothian and Lanarkshire to coincide with the Earl of Mar's in the north. However this too was foiled. The 1715 Jacobite rebellion ended with Mar's defeat at Sheriffmuir, near Stirling. George's younger brother Philip, a half-pay officer in the army, was court-martialed and shot after the Jacobite surrender at Preston. Lockhart was one of the leading Scottish Jacobites plotting with the exiled Old Pretender, James Edward Stuart (VIII and III) from 1716-26, when he cooled off sharply, having fled to Holland when his letters were intercepted and it was revealed that he was the Old Pretender's principal Lowland agent. In order to return from exile George had to sacrifice his political career and live quietly in retirement. He returned in May 1728.

He was killed in a duel in December 1731 or January 1732. The incident was so successfully hushed up that nobody has yet unmasked his opponent or discovered its cause. Two volumes of his memoirs and letters were published in 1817. His Papers on the Affairs of Scotland and Letters 1698-1732 remain one of the most important primary sources of Jacobite history.

In 1697 Lockhart had married Euphemia Montgomery, daughter of the 9th Earl of Eglington. They had 13 children, the youngest named Philip in memory of George's executed brother. His will is mainly concerned with the furnishings of his house at Dryden and provides excellent detail as to the contents of the house of a wealthy noble. There is also mention of some books and paintings: 'Item four pictures Sixty pound Item Two hundred Little prints and some Common Mappis Sixty pound' and 'Item the Said Defunct his books Conform to Catalogue thereof Valued at ij C Lib [200 pounds] Sterling'. Unfortunately, the house was demolished by Edinburgh University in the 1950s. The debts due to him were mainly transactions with the Cockburns (father and son) of Langton in Berwickshire who were, like him, Jacobites but who were unlike him, broke. The marginal Eik of 19/6/1740 deals mainly with money borrowed from his father by the Maitland family of Lauderdale in the mid 1680s, after the Duke of Lauderdale's dramatic fall from power.

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John Lockhart
(1794-1854)

Writer · Biographer of Sir Walter Scott

John Gibson Lockhart was born in Cambusnethan in Lanarkshire. He was the son of a Church of Scotland minister. Educated at Glasgow and Oxford, he then studied law at Edinburgh. He travelled widely on the continent and met Goethe at Weimar in 1817. On his return to Scotland he settled in Edinburgh and focussed on his writing as one of the principal contributors to Blackwood's Magazine. His Peter's Letters to His Kinsfolk (1819) satirises the polite society in which he found himself.

In 1820 John married Sir Walter Scott's daughter, Sophia. Five years later they moved to London, where he edited the Quarterly Review and worked on biographies of Burns and Napoleon, published in 1828 and 1829 respectively. His literary tour de force was the seven volume Memoirs of the Life of Scott (1837-8).

He was deeply affected by the death of his elder son, John Hugh, in 1831, followed by that of Sophia in 1837. He was also much troubled when his daughter, Charlotte, and son-in-law, James Hope Scott, joined the Roman Catholic Church. His last remaining son, Walter, predeceased him by one year. John died at Abbotsford and is buried in Dryburgh Abbey beside his father-in-law, the subject of his greatest biography.

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Benny Lynch
(1913-46)

Flyweight boxer

Born in Glasgow's Gorbals in 1913, Benny Lynch was a professional flyweight boxer described by Ring Magazine as 'the greatest fighter Scotland has ever produced'.

Lynch developed his skills in the carnival booths that were popular throughout west central Scotland during the depression of the 1930s. Winning the Scottish flyweight title on 16 May 1935, he went on to win the British and European titles, then the world title from Jackie Brown in a legendary bout held in Manchester in 1935. A huge travelling support of Glaswegians travelled south to support 'our Benny'.

Although there was some dispute between the opposite sides of the Atlantic as to who was the world's best flyweight, Lynch settled the matter in 1936 by out-pointing Filipino Small Montana, in London. Established as the world's number one, he lost just five fights between 1932 and 1936, and in 1937 he knocked-out English legend Peter Kane.

Tragically, Lynch's spell at the peak of his game was to be short-lived. An increasing reliance on alcohol led to him failing to make the weight for the flyweight division. By the time he was 25 his greatest fight was against the bottle. Scotland's legendary flyweight saw out his final years in the pubs of his home city where adoring fans would press drinks on him where a square meal was what he needed. He died in 1946, aged 33.

Benny Lynch's prowess was recognised for all-time with his 1998 induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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Born Glasgow, 2 Apr 1913 (ref 644/15, 490)

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Died Glasgow, 6 Aug 1946 (ref 644/17, 824)

Horatio MacCulloch
(1805-67)

Landscape artist

Horatio MacCulloch was born in Glasgow. He was principally a landscape artist and was a Royal Scottish Academician. His paintings of Cadzow forest, near Hamilton were highly acclaimed, but his most popular works were those of Highland scenes.

His will and inventory give an insight into the artistic props that were to be found in the studios of artists at this time: 'busts, casts, models, antique furniture, antique silver plate, armour, jewels'.

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Sir John Alexander MacDonald
(1815-91)

Statesman

MacDonald was instrumental in bringing about the confederation of the North American provinces and became the first Prime Minister of the new Dominion in 1867. He held office again from 1878 until his death in 1891. He died in Ottawa, the city which through his efforts had been made the Canadian capital.

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Born Glasgow, 10 Jan 1815 (644.1/21*, Fr 2265)

James Ramsay MacDonald
(1866-1937)

Statesman · Prime Minister

MacDonald was a British Labour politician from 1900 he became an MP from 1906. In 1911 he succeeded Keir Hardie as Labour's parliamentary leader, though his pacifist stance at the outbreak of World War One lost him this position. MacDonald finally became the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1924 and again between 1929-1935. During the Depression years, he split with the party and was leader of the National Government in the crisis of 1931, as part of a Conservative-backed coalition, an arrangement for which he was vilified by contemporary socialists.

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Registered as James McDonald Ramsay

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Born Drainie, 12 Oct 1866 (ref 130,131)

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Died (of heart failure, aboard the Reina del Pacifico) Marine Returns, 9 Nov 1937 (ref 031/MR 56)

Alexander MacDonnell
(c.1725-61)

Jacobite · Spy

Alexander MacDonell or Alexander Ruardh (Red Alexander) succeeded his father John to become the 13th chief of Glengarry. He became an officer in the Royal Scots, a regiment in the French army. His plans to lead his clan in Charles Edward Stuart's Jacobite rising were foiled when his ship was taken by the British navy. He was safely incarcerated in the tower of London until the hostilities had ended. After being released he became aware of how little income was generated by his Highland estates and returned to France.

Despite petitioning the exiled Stuart court he failed to gain a commission in the French army. His constant to-ing and fro-ing between France and Britain gave rise to suspicions that he was a Hanoverian spy who used the code-name 'Pickle'. This seems unlikely as he died in relative poverty. Alexander did not marry and his successor was his nephew, Duncan.

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William MacGillivray
(1796-1852)

Naturalist

William MacGillivray was born in Aberdeen and completed his medical training at King's College there. In 1823 he became assistant to the Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University and keeper of its Museum. In 1831 he was appointed conservator of the museum of the Royal College of surgeons. His talents were recognised when he secured the Regius Chair of Natural History at Aberdeen University in 1841. His A History of British Birds published from 1837 set the standard for British ornithology for many years to come.

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Robert 'Rob Roy' MacGregor
(1671-1734)

Cattle-drover · Outlaw

Highland cattle-drover and outlaw, immortalised by Sir Walter Scott in his novel 'Rob Roy', and in a 1995 film with Liam Neeson in the titular role.

He had prolonged disputes with the Dukes of Montrose and Athol, and was present at the Battle of Sheriffmuir although he took no part in it. He took his mother's name, Campbell, when the MacGregor surname was proscribed. Despite his lawless existence and the difficult times that he lived through he died peacefully of old age at home in Balquhidder.

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Baptised Buchanan, 7 Mar 1671 (ref 474/1, Fr 54)

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Marriage Buchanan, 1 Jan 1693 (ref 474/2, Fr 313)

Sir Alexander Mackenzie
(1764-1820)

Explorer

Alexander Mackenzie was born in Stornoway, on the isle of Lewis. Hoping to find a better life in the New World he joined the Northwest Fur Company 1779 and in 1788 established Fort Chipewayan on Lake Athabasca. He discovered what would later be named the Mackenzie River in 1789. At the time he named it the 'Disappointment' as it led to the Arctic sea rather than the Pacific. His adventurous spirit was not crushed and he went on to become the first European to cross the North American continent. He received a knighthood in 1802 and died in the land of his birth.

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Further reading
Alexander Mackenzie's voyage to the Pacific Ocean in 1793 historical introduction and footnotes by Milo Milton Quaife, (New York, 1967)
Gough, Barry M.: First across the continent: Sir Alexander Mackenzie (Oklahoma, 1997)
Lamb, W. Kaye, (ed.): The letters and journals of Sir Alexander Mackenzie (London, 1970)

George Mackenzie
(d.1651)

Royalist · Covenanter

George Mackenzie, 2nd Earl of Seaforth, succeeded his half brother in 1633. He was involved in the civil wars of the 1630s and 40s, chiefly on the covenanting side despite his royalist sympathies. He joined the exiled Charles II in Holland in 1649 and was made Secretary of State for Scotland by him. He died at Schiedam in 1651.

In 1628 he married Barbara, daughter of Arthur, Lord Forbes. Their eldest son, Kenneth, another staunch Royalist, succeeded as 3rd earl of Seaforth.

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Henry Mackenzie
(1745-1831)

Writer · Literary editor

Henry Mackenzie was born and educated in Edinburgh. His novel The Man of Feeling, 1771 charts the emotional responses of the protagonist, Hartley. Robert Burns described it as 'a book I prize next to the Bible.' As editor of the Mirror and Lounger journals Henry was established as an influential figure among Edinburgh's literati. He was one of the founders of the Royal Society in 1783 and was appointed Comptroller of the Taxes in Scotland in 1804.

Mackenzie's wife, whom he married in 1776, was Penuel, daughter of Sir Ludovick Grant of Grant, and with her he had eleven children. He is buried in Greyfriars Churchyard.

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Charles Rennie MacIntosh or Mackintosh
(1868-1928)

Designer · Artist · Architect

His most famous works are: the Glasgow School of Art, Mrs Cranston's Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow, and the Hillhouse in Helensburgh which he designed for the Blackie family. He married fellow artist, Margaret MacDonald, and they eventually moved to England and later to France.

He had a great influence on the European modernist school and his designs are still highly sought after.

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Born Central District, Glasgow, 7 Jun 1868 (ref 644/1, 1360)

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Married (to Margaret MacDonald) Dumbarton, 22 Aug 1900 (ref 496, 88)

 

Image courtesy of Charles Rennie MacIntosh Society

Agnes MacLehose
(1759-1841)

Robert Burns' 'Clarinda'

Agnes McLehose was the daughter of an Edinburgh surgeon. Familiarly known as Nancy, she married a Glasgow lawyer when she was just 17. However they separated in 1780, due to his ill treatment of her. It was after she had moved to Edinburgh that she met Robert Burns at a tea party in 1787. The letters they wrote to each other as 'Clarinda' and 'Sylvander' are mentioned in the inventory. Many of Burns' songs and poems were dedicated to her. 'Ae Fond Kiss' was sent by the poet as a parting gift in the winter of 1791.

Nancy left for Jamaica in an abortive attempt at rapprochement with her husband, but returned to Edinburgh, where she later died and is buried in the Canongate Kirkyard.

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Further reading
Daiches, David: Robert Burns (1950) Lamont Brown, Raymond: Clarinda: The Intimate Story of Robert Burns and Agnes MacLehose (1968)

Lachlan Macquarrie
(1761-1824)

Soldier · Governor-General of New South Wales

Lachlan Macquarie was born on the Hebridean island of Ulva, near Mull. He joined the army as a boy and served in the British colonies. Initially he served in America and then, from 1787 to 1801, in India. At the start of the new century he fought against Napoleon's forces in Egypt. Appointed Governor-General of New South Wales in 1810 his sound administration of the former penal colony for the next eleven years ensured public works and a greater parity of the rights of ex-convict and free settlers. However, his administration had its detractors, and he resigned his office in 1821 after the publication of a critical report commissioned by the British Government. He returned first to Scotland, but died in London in 1824. He is buried on the island of Mull.

His reputation was restored by later generations, and his name is preserved in a number of topographical features in Australia. In his will Macquarie leaves a generous gift to his Indian servant, who was given the name George Jarvis. His master commends his service to him 'in every quarter of the globe'. He also expresses his wish that his son should be educated at the best schools in England. This would be to ensure that his son would not have to strive as hard as he had done for his position in governmental administration. His hope that his family would live 'long-long' after his death was not realised. His second wife, Elizabeth Henrietta, died in 1835, and his namesake, his 'beloved darling son', a decade later, aged only 32.

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Robert MacQueen
(1722-99)

Judge

Robert McQueen was from the small estate of Braxfield, near Lanark. He was called to the Bar in 1744 and in 1776 became a judge and was created Lord Braxfield. He was often referred to as the 'hanging judge'. Braxfield's statement "Let them bring me prisoners, and I will find them law", was his legal theory. Henry Cockburn claimed that this 'used to be openly stated as his suggestion, when an intended political prosecution was marred by anticipated difficulties'. He adjudicated at the trial of the revolutionary advocate, Thomas Muir, in 1793. Muir was one of the founders of the Society of the Friends of the People. His sentence was transportation to Australia, which, at the time, was tantamount to capital punishment because of the hazardous conditions.

In 1788 McQueen was promoted to the office of Lord Justice Clerk. He has been viewed as the inspiration for the character of Lord Weir in Robert Louis Stevenson's unfinished novel Weir of Hermiston (1896). He also sentenced the notorious thief Deacon Brodie to be hanged on the gallows Brodie himself had designed. Brodie was the inspiration for Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, because of his double life.

Henry Cockburn vividly described Braxfield, his contemporary, as 'strong built and dark, with rough eyebrows, powerful eyes, threatening lips, and a low growling voice, he was like a formidable blacksmith. His accent and his dialect were exaggerated Scotch; his language, like his thoughts, short, strong, and conclusive.' McQueen also enjoyed a drink and the Jolly Judge pub off Edinburgh's High Street is ironically named in his memory.

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John Loudon or Lowdon McAdam
(1756-1836)

Inventor of tarmac

MacAdam invented, and gave his name to 'Tarmacadam' or tarmac surface for roads. His interest in roads developed when he was a volunteer during the Napoleonic wars but he did not become a professional road-engineer until 1816 when he was 60 years of age.

He is celebrated for the great improvements he made to roadmaking in Great Britain. He died in Moffat aged 80 but there are no deaths recorded in that parish for this period.

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Baptised Ayr, 28.9.1756 (ref 578/4, Fr 376)

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Marriage to Lillias Stewart, proclaimed Ayr (her parish), 18 Nov 1825 (ref 578/12, Fr 217)
Marriage to Lillias Stewart, proclaimed Maybole (his parish), 27 Nov 1825 (ref 605/5, Fr 1006)

Charles MacIntosh or McIntosh
(1766-1843)

Chemist · Inventor of waterproof fabrics

McIntosh produced waterproof fabrics by combining naphtha, a by-product of tar, with rubber. He obtained a patent for his water-proofing process in 1823. The 'mac' or 'macintosh' remains a popular name for a raincoat to this day.

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Baptised Glasgow, 10 Dec 1766 (ref 644.1/14, Fr 656)

Kirkpatrick McMillan
(1812-78)

Inventor of the bicycle

A Dumfries-shire blacksmith who applied pedals to a tricycle in 1834 and designed the first self-propelled bicycle in 1839. The latter didn't break any speed records as the wheels were rimmed with iron but a later version of the 'hobbyhorse' did successfully challenge a post-carriage in 1842!

McMillan's mechanism were superseded, however,with the introduction of new designs by his French counterparts.

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Baptised Keir, 18 Sep 1812 (ref 833/1, Fr 120)

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Marriage to Elsie Gordon Goldie, Keir, 16 Apr 1854 (ref 833/2, Fr 305)

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Died Keir, 26 Jan 1878 (ref 833, 3)

The image is of McMillan's prototype bicycle