Note 315 — AN ACCOUNT OF THE LATE REBELLION FROM ROSS AND SUTHERLAND WRITTEN BY DANIEL MUNRO MINISTER OF TAIN

The Rosses of Ross-shire are rather mixed up here. At this time there were two distinct races of Ross in the county, which should not be confounded. The Celtic family of Ross, of whom the ancient head was the Earl of Ross, was originally known as the clan Ghille-andrais (servants of St. Andrew). The earldom passed by marriage of heiresses in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, first to the Leslies and afterwards to the Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles. The chiefship of the clan, however, went to the heir male, Ross of Balnagowan. In the year 1711, David Ross, the last of the Celtic family of Balnagowan, died. The natural heir was Ross of Pitcalnie, his next of kin. Pitcalnie was a Roman Catholic or Episcopalian, anyhow he was not a Presbyterian, and Balnagowan was influenced by his wife, Lady Anne (daughter of the 4th Earl of Moray), a bigoted Presbyterian, to disinherit the natural heir and bequeath the property to General the Hon. Charles Ross, a younger son of George, 11th Lord Ross of Halkhead, in Ayrshire. (Fraser-Mackintosh, Antiq. Notes, p. 66.) The family which thus became Ross of Balnagowan had no connection with the Celtic clan of the same name, but was descended from a Norman family named de Ros. In 1745 Balnagowan with its great territorial influence had come to George, 13th Lord Ross, and the Master of Ross his eldest son (afterwards 14th and last Lord Ross) received the command of one of the independent companies raised in 1745. He was garrisoning Inverness Castle (then called Fort George) when it was captured by the Jacobites, 20th Feb. ’46; he remained a prisoner on parole until the end of the campaign. He was one of the very few officers who did not break his parole. (Cf. post, pp. 207, 364.)

The Rosses of Inverchasley and Pitcalnie, who belonged to the ancient Celtic clan Ghille-andrais, sided with the Government, but ‘young Pitcalnie,’ Malcolm Ross, who was a grand-nephew of President Duncan Forbes, went over to the Jacobites. He had served as ensign in Loudoun’s regiment at Prestonpans, where he was taken prisoner by the Jacobites and released on parole. He seems to have been the only Government officer who deserted to the Jacobites. His name was included in the list of attainders.