Hugh Mackay of Bighouse was a Scottish noble, soldier and a member of the Clan Mackay, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
Hugh Mackay was the eldest son from the second marriage of his father, George Mackay, 3rd Lord Reay to Janet, daughter of John Sinclair of Ulbster, Caithness. [1]
During the Jacobite rising of 1745 Hugh Mackay supported the British-Hanoverian Government and was Captain of the 2nd Mackay Independent Highland Company that fought at the Skirmish of Tongue on 25 March 1746, [2] where money and supplies were captured from a French ship, [3] and 156 Jacobites were taken prisoner. [4] He also led his Independent Company at the Battle of Littleferry on 15 April 1746 where the Jacobites were again completely defeated. [5] His Independent Company was also involved in the Raids on Lochaber and Shiramore. [6] Later he was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st Sutherland Regiment. [1]
Hugh Mackay married in 1728 to Elizabeth, eldest daughter and co-heiress of George Mackay of Bighouse (and this is from where Hugh took his designation) and had sasine of the Bighouse Estate in Strathhallade on 28 February 1742. [1] Hugh Mackay of Bighouse married secondly Isabella, daughter of Alexander Mackenzie of Lentran but this marriage produced no children. [7] From his first marriage to Elizabeth Mackay he had the following children: [7]
The names of the men in Hugh Mackay of Bighouse's Independent Highland Company during the Jacobite rising of 1745 were: [8]
Clan Ross is a Highland Scottish clan. The original chiefs of the clan were the original Earls of Ross.
Clan Mackay is an ancient and once-powerful Highland Scottish clan from the far North of the Scottish Highlands, but with roots in the old Kingdom of Moray.
Sir George Munro of Culcairn was a Scottish soldier of the 18th century from Ross-shire, Scotland. He commanded the 3rd Independent Highland Company from 1714 to 1716, fought at the Battle of Glen Shiel in 1719, led the 6th Company in formation of the "Black Watch" in 1725, the 8th Company of Black Watch when it was regimented in 1739 and again commanded an Independent Highland Company in 1745–46. He was shot in error in 1746.
Donald Mackay, 1st Lord Reay, 14th of Strathnaver was a Scottish soldier and member of Parliament. He played a prominent role in the Thirty Years' War, raising a regiment of 3,000 men, which served in both the Danish and Swedish forces. He was later an unwilling Covenanter. He was the fourteenth chief of Clan Mackay, a Highland Scottish clan.
Sir George Munro, 1st of Newmore (1602–1693) was a 17th-century Scottish soldier and member of parliament from the Clan Munro, Ross-shire, Scotland. He was seated at Newmore Castle. Between 1629 and 1634 Munro held command in the Swedish army during the Thirty Years' War, and from 1642 in the Scottish Covenanter army during the Irish Confederate Wars before changing his allegiance to the Royalist cause of Charles I in 1648 during the Scottish Civil War and Irish Confederate Wars.
The Battle of Allt Camhna was a Scottish clan battle fought in 1586 between the Clan Gunn and Clan Mackay against the Clan Sinclair.
The Battle of Littleferry took place during the Jacobite rising in 1746, just before the Battle of Culloden. Scottish forces loyal to the British-Hanoverian Government defeated a Scottish Jacobite force.
The Battle of Leckmelm was a Scottish clan battle that took place in 1586, in the Scottish Highlands. It was fought between the Clan Gunn against the Clan Sutherland, Mackays of Aberach and the MacLeods of Assynt.
Clan Munro is a Highland Scottish clan. Historically the clan was based in Easter Ross in the Scottish Highlands. Traditional origins of the clan give its founder as Donald Munro who came from the north of Ireland and settled in Scotland in the eleventh century, though its true founder may have lived much later. It is also a strong tradition that the Munro chiefs supported Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence. The first proven clan chief on record however is Robert de Munro who died in 1369; his father is mentioned but not named in a number of charters. The clan chiefs originally held land principally at Findon on the Black Isle but exchanged it in 1350 for Estirfowlys. Robert's son Hugh who died in 1425 was the first of the family to be styled "of Foulis", despite which clan genealogies describe him as 9th baron.
The Skirmish of Tongue was a battle that took place in March 1746 near Tongue in the Scottish Highlands during the Jacobite Rising of 1745.
The Mackays of Aberach also known as the Clan Aberach are a Scottish family and a branch of the ancient Clan Mackay of the Scottish Highlands. They were the senior cadet branch of the Clan Mackay and were seated at Achness, in Strathnaver, which is in modern-day Sutherland. In Scottish Gaelic they are known as the Sleaght-ean Aberigh.
Huistean Du Mackay, 13th of Strathnaver, was the thirteenth chief of Clan Mackay, a Highland Scottish clan.
The Independent Highland Companies were irregular militia raised from the Scottish clans of the Scottish Highlands by order of the British government between 1603 and 1760 in order to help keep the peace and enforce the law in the Highlands and were recognized as such by the government. The officers of the Independent Highland Companies were commissioned as officers of the British Army but the Independent Companies were not recognized as official regiments of the line of the army. The Independent Highland Companies were the progenitors of the Highland Regiments of the British Army that began when ten Independent Highland Companies were embodied to form the Earl of Crawford's Highland Regiment that was numbered the 43rd Regiment of Foot in 1739.
George Mackay of Skibo was a Scottish lawyer, soldier and politician. He fought for the British Government during the Jacobite rising of 1745 and was later a Member of Parliament.
Iye Du Mackay, 12th of Strathnaver, was the chief of the Clan Mackay, a Highland Scottish clan, from 1550 to 1572.
The Mackays of Borley were a minor noble Scottish family and a branch of the ancient Clan Mackay, a Highland Scottish clan. Their territorial designation of Borley is a small village within the parish of Durness, in the modern-day county of Sutherland, Scotland
Donald Mackay, 11th of Strathnaver, was the eleventh chief of the ancient Clan Mackay, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
The Battle of Dornoch took place on 20 March 1746 and was part of the Jacobite rising of 1745 in Scotland. However, although recorded in history as a "battle" there was no actual fighting between the two sides. Instead a large rebel Jacobite force advanced on a position held by a force loyal to the British-Hanoverian Government who were taken by surprise and forced into a retreat. The Jacobite advance was coordinated by James Drummond, 3rd Duke of Perth at Dornoch, Sutherland.
George Mackay, 3rd Lord Reay (1678–1748), was a Scottish noble and chief of the Clan Mackay, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands. During his life the Glorious Revolution took place which directly affected his family and estate, and during his chiefdom he served the British-Hanoverian Government during the Jacobite rising of 1715 and the Jacobite rising of 1745.
George Sinclair was a Scottish nobleman, the 5th Earl of Caithness and chief of the Clan Sinclair, a Scottish clan based in northern Scotland.
Quoting from the Loudoun Papers held in the Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California