Statue of Alan Breck and David Balfour - geograph

Allan Breck Stewart (

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

: ''Ailean Breac Stùibhart''; c. 1722 – c. 1791) was a Scottish soldier and Jacobite. He was also a prime suspect in the

Appin Murder The Appin Murder () was the assassination by a concealed marksman of Colin Roy Campbell, the Clan Campbell tacksman of Glenure and factor for the Forfeited Estates Commission, on 14 May 1752. The murder, which took place on the confiscated e ...

case, that inspired novels by

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

and

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

Life and the Appin murder

In accordance with the

fosterage Fosterage, the practice of a family bringing up a child not their own, differs from adoption in that the child's parents, not the foster-parents, remain the acknowledged parents. In many modern western societies foster care can be organised by ...

customs of the Highland clans, Allan Stewart and his brothers grew up under the care of their relative James of the Glen in

Appin Appin () is a coastal district of the Scottish West Highlands bounded to the west by Loch Linnhe, to the south by Loch Creran, to the east by the districts of Benderloch and Lorne, and to the north by Loch Leven. It lies northeast to southw ...

. His nickname, Breck, came from the Gaelic for "spotted", as his face bore scars from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

. Stewart enlisted in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

of George II in 1745, just before the Jacobite rising of that year. He fought at the

Battle of Prestonpans The Battle of Prestonpans, also known as the Battle of Gladsmuir, was fought on 21 September 1745, near Prestonpans, in East Lothian, the first significant engagement of the Jacobite rising of 1745. Jacobitism, Jacobite forces, led by the Stua ...

, but deserted to the Jacobite Army. He subsequently fought alongside his clansmen, but after they were defeated at the

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...

, he fled to France, accompanying his commander and clan captain, Colonel Charles Stewart of Ardshiel (Ardshiel was not the chief of the Appin Stewarts, but took command in the absence of the chief). After joining one of the Scottish regiments serving in the

French Royal Army The French Royal Army () was the principal land force of the Kingdom of France. It served the Bourbon dynasty from the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century to that of Charles X in the 19th, with an interlude from 1792 to 1814 and another du ...

, Stewart was sent back to Scotland to collect rents for the exiled

Scottish clan chief The Scottish Gaelic word means children. In early times, and possibly even today, Scottish clan members believed themselves to descend from a common ancestor, the founder of the clan, after whom the clan is named. The clan chief (''ceannard ci ...

s and to recruit soldiers for the French crown. On 14 May 1752, Colin Campbell of Glenure, the royal estate

Factor Factor (Latin, ) may refer to: Commerce * Factor (agent), a person who acts for, notably a mercantile and colonial agent * Factor (Scotland), a person or firm managing a Scottish estate * Factors of production, such a factor is a resource used ...

collecting rents from the Stewarts of Appin and ordering evictions in an early version of the

Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulted from Scottish Agricultural R ...

, was murdered by a

sniper A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

in the wood of

Duror Duror (, meaning hard water), occasionally Duror of Appin, is a small, remote coastal village that sits at the base of Glen Duror, in district of Appin, in the Scottish West Highlands, within the council area of Argyll and Bute in Scotland. ...

. As Allan Stewart had publicly threatened the life of Glenure and had enquired about his schedule for the day in question, a warrant was issued for his arrest. However, he evaded capture. He was tried ''in absentia'' and sentenced to death. His foster father, James, was convicted as an accessory to the murder and hanged. Later assessments of the evidence have reached mixed conclusions as to whether Allan Stewart was in fact the murderer, and to whether James Stewart had any involvement. In the murder of Glenure, the British government saw the potential danger of the assassination of their estate factors and officials in the Highlands, on the one hand, and also a potential renewal of a Campbell/Stewart feud, on the other. The execution of James of the Glen increased the Stewarts' discontent. Locally, especially after he was immortalised in fiction, Allan Breck Stewart was portrayed as a romantic figure. Some time after the murder Stewart escaped to France, where he continued his military career, being awarded the prestigious Military Merit Cross before retiring from the army in 1777. The last records of him were two sightings in Paris in the late 1780s, at which time he still maintained that he was not the murderer of Glenure.

In popular culture

Stewart appears as a leading character in

's 1886 novel '' Kidnapped'', which dramatises the Appin murder. In Stevenson's version of events the fictionalised Alan Breck Stewart witnesses Glenure's murder along with the protagonist David Balfour, but he is not the murderer. Iain Ruadh Stùibhart, a covert agent for the

House of Stuart The House of Stuart, originally spelled Stewart, also known as the Stuart dynasty, was a dynasty, royal house of Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and later Kingdom of Great Britain, Great ...

government in exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovereign state or semi-sovereign state, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usu ...

and important

war poet War poetry is poetry on the topic of war. While the term is applied especially to works of the First World War, the term can be applied to poetry about any war, including Homer's ''Iliad'', from around the 8th century BC as well as poetry of th ...

Scottish Gaelic literature Scottish Gaelic literature refers to literary works composed in the Scottish Gaelic language, which is, like Irish and Manx, a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. Gaelic literature was also composed in Gàidhealtachd communities ...

, is widely believed in some circles to have been the main model for Stevenson's fictionalized depiction of Allan Breck in the novel ''Kidnapped''. ''Kidnapped'' has been widely adapted for radio, screen and the stage; actors to have portrayed Alan Breck Stewart include Peter Finch ( ''Kidnapped'' (1960 film)), Michael Caine ( ''Kidnapped'' (1971 film)), David McCallum ( ''Kidnapped'' (1978 miniseries)), Armand Assante ( ''Kidnapped'' (1995 film)), Iain Glen ( ''Kidnapped'' (2005 TV series)), Michael Nardone (BBC Radio, 2016) and Malcolm Cumming ( ''Kidnapped'' (play)).

The Alan Breck's Prestonpans Volunteer Regiment

Founded in 2007, the Alan Breck's Prestonpans Volunteer Regiment is a living history and battle re-enactment society focusing on the 1745 Rising and associated histories. Half of the society portray redcoat soldiers and half Jacobites, in recognition of Stewart's service on both sides of the conflict, and is accordingly named after him. The society is based in Prestonpans, East Lothian, but performs at events around the country and has members from across Scotland.

References

Sources

*Nicholson, Eirwen E. C. "Allan Stewart", in Matthew, H.C.G. and Brian Harrison, eds. ''

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...

.'' vol. 52, 628. London:

OUP Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2004. *Nimmo, Ian (2005). ''Walking with Murder: On the Kidnapped Trail''. Birlinn Ltd. Paperback. *Gibson, Rosemary. "The Appin Murder: In Their Own Words" ''History Scotland.'' Vol.3 No.1 January/February 2003 *MacArthur, Lt. Gen. Sir William: 'The Appin Murder and the Trial of James Stewart' (1960) JMP Publishing. *Hunter, Professor James.'Culloden and the Last Clansman'

External links

''The Scotsman'' article on James of the Glen's deathThe Appin Murder in Pictures, from the BBC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Allan British Army soldiers People convicted of murder by Scotland Jacobite military personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745 People sentenced to death in absentia Prisoners sentenced to death by Scotland Scottish Jacobites Scottish military personnel Scottish people convicted of murder Scottish prisoners sentenced to death Year of birth uncertain Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown