Note 308 — AN ACCOUNT OF THE LATE REBELLION FROM ROSS AND SUTHERLAND WRITTEN BY DANIEL MUNRO MINISTER OF TAIN

The laird was then Alexander Mackenzie, 6th of Fairburn. According to the Marquis d’Éguilles, French envoy to Prince Charles, Fairburn’s wife was Barbara Gordon, of whom he gives the following account in a despatch to his government: ‘Une fort jolie personne ... celle-cy n’a pas banni son mari; mais malgré luy, elle a vendu ses diamants et sa vaisselle pour lever des hommes. Elle a ramassé cent cinquante des plus braves du païs, qu’elle a joint à ceux de miladi Seaforth, sous la conduite de son beau-frère.’ (Cottin, Un Protégé de Bachaumont, p. 51.) The brother-in-law may be Coll Macdonell of Barisdale, who married her husband’s sister; or it may be Kenneth Mackenzie her husband’s brother who although only a schoolboy was a captain in Barisdale’s regiment. (Lord Rosebery’s List of Persons Concerned in the Rebellion, p. 76.) This lady is not mentioned in the genealogies of Alex. Mackenzie’s Hist. of the Mackenzies, which are, however, manifestly incomplete.