Cluny MacPherson

Ewen MacPherson of Cluny, also known as "Cluny Macpherson" (11 February 1706 – 30 January 1764), was the Chief of Clan MacPherson during the Jacobite Rising of 1745. He took part as a leading supporter of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. After the rebellion was crushed, he went into hiding and eventually escaped to France. He was the uncle of poet James Macpherson, who collected, translated, and adapted the epic poem ''Ossian'', based upon the Fenian Cycle of Celtic mythology.

Early life

Ewan MacPherson (called Cluny) was born on 11 February 1706. He was the first-born son of Lachlan MacPherson of Nuide (1674-1746). His mother was Jean Cameron, daughter of Sir Ewan Cameron of Lochiel.

Cluny grew up to be a respected individual. His father-in-law, Lord Lovat, described him as "a thorrow good natur'd, even temper'd, honest gentleman". Physically he was described as "of a low stature, very square, and a dark brown complection".

Clan MacPherson

The territory of the Clan MacPherson covered Badenoch, south-east of Loch Ness, but the Macphersons were also part of a federation of other clans, called the Chattan Confederation (also called Clan Chattan). This alliance, which dated back to the 13th century, included the Mackintoshes, MacGillivrays, Davidsons, Shaws, and others. A meeting of these allied clans in 1724 established that leadership was with the Mackintoshes.

1742

The year 1742 marked his arrival into the interconnected world of Scottish affairs. On marrying Lord Lovat's daughter Jean (Jenny) in 1742, Cluny took over management of his father's estate. At the request of the Duke of Gordon (the clan's feudal superior), he undertook to protect a wide area of land from cattle thieving.

Also in 1742, he signed a bond of friendship with his father-in-law Simon Fraser (chief of Clan Fraser) and with his cousin, Donald Cameron (chief of Clan Cameron), "binding themselves and their followers to stand by and support each other". This was an attempt to loosen the tie to the Mackintoshes, and may have been a factor in his later recruitment to the Jacobite cause.

The '45

In August 1745, with rumours of a Jacobite uprising circulating, the government offered Cluny command of an independent company in Lord Loudon's regiment. This required swearing an oath of allegiance to George II. Once Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard at Glenfinnan in that same month, Cluny was in a bind. His clan had been Jacobite in 1715, but not all were similarly inclined thirty years later. A historian has noted that he "had no particular reason, economic, political or religious, strong enough to propel him into the Jacobite camp". Moreover, his wife Jenny wanted her husband to remain faithful to the government.

Cluny did remain loyal to the government, to the extent of turning up with his company to assist the government general John Cope on his march north in August 1745 to head off the Jacobite army. However, as it was understrength, he was sent back by Cope to raise more troops. Then, whilst home in Cluny Castle on the night of 28 August, he was taken prisoner by a Jacobite raiding party composed of Camerons (his mother's family). To some extent, he may have wanted to be taken prisoner. Taken to Perth, he emerged within two weeks as a newly minted colonel in the Jacobite army.

He went north to raise troops for the Jacobite cause, but needed to use both persuasion and threats of violence to raise about 300 men. He was present at the Battle of Prestonpans on 21 September, when Cope's forces were routed in a 15-minute battle. He met Bonnie Prince Charlie at Holyrood House in Edinburgh in late October. In December he took part in an attack on the Duke of Cumberland's cavalry, at the Skirmish of Clifton Moor, near Penrith. He was also present at the Battle of Falkirk in January 1746. By February, with the Jacobite army retreating northwards, Cluny was sent ahead to raise more men, "burning the houses and killing the cattle of any reluctant to serve". Overall, his contribution to the Jacobite causewas described by Lord George Murray in March as "indefatigable".

He was not present at the Battle of Culloden in April, and went on the run after the Jacobite defeat there. His clansman surrendered in June, the same month Cluny House was plundered and burnt. On the last day of June, his elderly father Lachlan died "of a broken heart among the ruins of his son's estate". His father-in-law Lovat was captured by government forces in this same month, whilst his cousin Cameron of Lochiel escaped to France in October with the Prince.

In hiding

Cluny spent the next nine years in hiding with a price on his head. In winter he was relatively safe from discovery. In summer, with troops on patrol, he led an itinerant existence. A report by a government officer suggested he "haunts the houses of his kindred and his wife's in the day time, and he has proper places of retirement in the night time, to which he repairs by turns, according to the danger he (fears) he's in, from the different motions of the troops". He had many hiding places, although his most famous one was a small cave on Ben Alder, known as "the Cage". It was in an area "full of great stones and crevices and some scattered wood interspersed". Luckily, the colour of the rock obscured any smoke.

The Cage was no larger than to contain six or seven persons, four of which number were frequently employed in playing at cards, one idle looking on, one becking (baking), and another firing bread and cooking

It is here he spent a week with Charles Edward Stuart in September. It is also where the fictional character David Balfour meets Cluny in the novel ''Kidnapped'' by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Escape to France

In September 1754, Charles Edward Stuart (then living incognito in Paris) asked Cluny to come, and to bring any effects or money he had left over from the rebellion, "for I hapen to be in great strets". So, still with a price on his head, Cluny travelled through Edinburgh and arrived in London, where he spent several days among Jacobite sympathisers (possibly at the home of his wife's half-brother, Archibald Fraser). He then went to Dover and arrived in Calais in May 1755. His prince had moved to Basel, Switzerland, at that point, which is where Cluny also went. It was not a happy reunion. The often intoxicated Prince expected Cluny to account for the large sum of money given to him in 1746 to distribute among the disaffected and "to keep up the spirit of Jacobitism". This money became known as the Loch Arkaig Treasure, and is rumoured to still be buried there.

Later life

His wife Jenny and daughter Margaret, aged 14, soon joined him in France. His son Duncan (b. 1748) stayed behind to be educated in Inverness. By 1763, he was living in some poverty in Dunkirk

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