Note 304 — AN ACCOUNT OF THE LATE REBELLION FROM ROSS AND SUTHERLAND WRITTEN BY DANIEL MUNRO MINISTER OF TAIN

Charles Fraser the younger, b. 1725, nephew and heir-presumptive of William Fraser of Inverallochy, Aberdeenshire, the senior cadet of Lovat’s clan.

His father, Charles Fraser of Castle Fraser, younger brother of the laird of Inverallochy, had inherited the property of Muchall or Castle Fraser (Kemnay, Aberdeenshire), on the death of his step-grandfather Charles, 4th and last Lord Fraser, who lost his life near Banff by falling over a precipice while in hiding to avoid capture after the ’15. In 1723 the elder Charles Fraser was created ‘Lord Fraser of Mushall’ by the Chevalier in recognition of his services, and particularly those of his father, ‘who died bravely asserting our cause, and in consideration of the earnest desire of the late Lord Fraser, when we were last in Scotland, to resign his titles of honour in favour of the said Charles’ father.’ I am not aware of what these special services were, nor why the elder brother William was passed over both for the Castle Fraser inheritance and the Jacobite peerage. Charles Fraser eventually succeeded to Inverallochy in 1749 on the death of his brother William. He was probably too old to go out in 1745, and his son went out as Lovat’s lieut.-colonel, ‘in accordance with the ancient highland practice and the policy of Lord Lovat as being nearest in blood to the chiefship.’ Young Inverallochy was killed at Culloden, and the story of his death is very painful. It is first told in a general way in The Lyon (ii. 305; iii. 56), and afterwards with more detail by Sir Henry Seton Steuart of Allanton in the Antijacobin Review of 1802 (p. 125) as follows:—

‘When the celebrated General Wolfe (at this period a lieut.-colonel in the army) was riding over the field of battle with the D—— of C-m-b-l-d, they observed a Highlander, who, though severely wounded, was yet able to sit up, and, leaning on his arm, seemed to smile defiance of them.—“Wolfe,” said the D——, “shoot me that Highland scoundrel, who thus dares to look on us with such contempt and insolence!”—“My commission,” replied the manly officer, “is at your R——l H——s’s disposal, but I never can consent to become an executioner.” The Highlander, it is probable, was soon knocked on the head by some ruffian less scrupulous than the future conqueror of Quebec. But it was remarked by those who heard the story, that Colonel Wolfe, from that day, visibly declined in the favour and confidence of the commander-in-chief. We believe that some officers are still alive who are not unacquainted with this anecdote.’

Mr. Beckles Willson, Wolfe’s latest biographer, accepts the story as regards Wolfe but doubts its applicability to Cumberland. Wolfe, it must be remembered, was on Hawley’s staff, not Cumberland’s. These generals could easily have been mistaken for each other. The action is very like Hawley, who was hated by the soldiers, who nicknamed him the Hangman, and who held his military talents in contempt, a feeling shared by Wolfe. Moreover, it was a Jacobite cult to vilify the Duke, and to impute all cruelties to him personally. Seton Steuart was not an entirely unprejudiced writer; he had been brought up in an atmosphere of uncompromising Jacobitism. He was a cousin of Sir James Steuart of Goodtrees and of Provost Stewart of Edinburgh, both of whom suffered; while his wife was grand-daughter of Charles Smith of Boulogne, the Jacobite agent frequently mentioned in Murray’s Papers. (See ante, p. 11.)