The Earl of Cromartie | |
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Personal details | |
Born | John Ruaridh Blunt Grant Blunt-Mackenzie [1] June 12, 1948 |
Spouse(s) | Helen Murray (m. 1973;div. 1983)Janet Claire Harley (after 1985) |
Children | 3 |
Parent | Roderick Grant Francis Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Cromartie |
Residence | Castle Leod |
Known for | Chief of Clan Mackenzie |
John Ruaridh Grant Mackenzie, 5th Earl of Cromartie (born 12 June 1948) is a Scottish engineer and peer. He is the current chief of Clan Mackenzie. [1] [2]
He is the only child of Roderick Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Cromartie and his second wife, the former Olga (née Laurence) Mendoza (d. 1996). [1] His mother, who was previously married to Peter Mendoza, was a daughter of Stuart Laurance of Paris. From his father's first marriage to Dorothy Downing Porter, he has two elder half-sisters, Lady Julia Blunt-Mackenzie and Lady Gilean Blunt-Mackenzie. [3]
His paternal grandmother was Lady Sibell Lilian Mackenzie, suo jure Countess of Cromartie, who married his grandfather, Lt.-Col. Edward Walter Blunt later Blunt-Mackenzie DL (the eldest son of Maj.-Gen. Charles Harris Blunt of Adderbury Manor). [3]
He was educated at Rannoch School, Perthshire and at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. [1]
Lord Cromartie is registered as a Member of the Institution of Explosives Engineers (M.I.Exp.E.) as an explosives engineer. [1]
He has held the position of Chief of Clan Mackenzie since 1980, he wrote the SMC climbing guidebook Selected Climbs in Skye, which was published in 1982. [4] He succeeded to the titles of 5th Baron Castlehaven, of Castlehaven, 5th Viscount Tarbat, of Tarbat, 5th Baron MacLeod of Castle Leod, and 5th Earl of Cromartie on 13 December 1989. [1]
The seat of the Earl is at Castle Leod, Strathpeffer, Ross-shire. [1]
Cromartie married firstly Helen Murray, daughter of John Murray, a steelworker at Lanarkshire, in 1973, and divorced in 1983, by whom he had an only son: [3]
He married secondly Janet Clare Harley, daughter of Christopher James Harley of Strathpeffer, Ross-shire, in 1985. They have two sons: [1]
Cromartyshire was a county in the Highlands of Scotland, comprising the medieval "old shire" around the county town of Cromarty and 22 enclaves and exclaves transferred from Ross-shire in the late 17th century. The largest part, six times the size of the old shire, was Coigach, containing Ullapool and the area north-west of it. In 1889, Cromartyshire was merged with Ross-shire to become a new county called Ross and Cromarty, which in 1975 was merged into the new council area of Highland.
Ross and Cromarty, is an area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. In modern usage, it is a registration county and a lieutenancy area. Between 1889 and 1975 it was a county.
Earl of Cromartie is a title that has been created twice, both for members of the Mackenzie family. It was first created as Earl of Cromarty in the Peerage of Scotland in 1703 for Sir George Mackenzie, 2nd Baronet, but his titles were forfeited after the Jacobite rising of 1745. It was recreated in 1861 in the Peerage of the United Kingdom for Anne Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland. Since 1979, the Earl of Cromartie has been chief of Clan Mackenzie.
Anne Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland VA, 1st Countess of Cromartie in her own right and known as the Marchioness of Stafford from 1849 to 1861, was a British peeress.
Clan Mackenzie is a Scottish clan, traditionally associated with Kintail and lands in Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands. Traditional genealogies trace the ancestors of the Mackenzie chiefs to the 12th century. However, the earliest Mackenzie chief recorded by contemporary evidence is Alexander Mackenzie of Kintail who died some time after 1471. Traditionally, during the Wars of Scottish Independence, the Mackenzies supported Robert the Bruce, but feuded with the Earls of Ross in the latter part of the 14th century. During the 15th and 16th-centuries the Mackenzies feuded with the neighboring clans of Munro and MacDonald. In the 17th century the Mackenzie chief was made Earl of Seaforth in the peerage of Scotland. During the Scottish Civil War of the 17th century the Mackenzies largely supported the Royalists. During the Jacobite rising of 1715 the chief and clan of Mackenzie supported the Jacobite cause. However, during the Jacobite rising of 1745 the clan was divided with the chief, Kenneth Mackenzie, Lord Fortrose, supporting the British-Hanoverian Government and his relative, George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie, supporting the Jacobites.
Strathpeffer is a village and spa town in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland, with a population of 1,469.
George Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Cromartie FRS (1630–1714), known as Sir George Mackenzie, 2nd Baronet from 1654 to 1685 and as the Viscount of Tarbat from 1685 to 1703, was a Scottish statesman.
George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie was a Scottish nobleman.
Ross-shire, or the County of Ross, was a county in the Scottish Highlands. It bordered Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire, a county consisting of numerous enclaves or exclaves scattered throughout Ross-shire's territory. The mainland had a coast to the east onto the Moray Firth and a coast to the west onto the Minch. Ross-shire was named after and covered most of the ancient province of Ross, and also included the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. The county town was Dingwall.
Tarbat is a civil parish in Highland, Scotland, in the north-east corner of Ross and Cromarty.
Castle Leod is the seat of the Clan Mackenzie. It is a category A listed building, and the grounds are listed in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes of Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens. It is located near Strathpeffer in the east of Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands.
Events from the year 1703 in the Kingdom of Scotland.
Kenneth Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Seaforth was a Highland clan chief and Scottish nobleman, who adhered faithfully to Charles II through his tribulations. From his great stature he was known among the Highlanders as "Coinneach Mor".
Alexander Mackenzie, known as "Ionraic", traditionally counted as 6th of Kintail, was the first chief of the Clan Mackenzie of whom indisputable contemporary documentary evidence survives. During his long life, he greatly expanded his clan's territories and influence.
The chiefs of the Scottish highland Clan Mackenzie were historically known as the Mackenzies of Kintail. By tradition the Mackenzie chiefs descend from Kenneth Mackenzie, 1st of Kintail however their earliest ancestor proven by contemporary evidence is Alexander Mackenzie, 6th of Kintail. The chiefly line became the Earls of Seaforth during the 17th century but this title was later forfeited in the 18th century due to support of the Jacobite rising of 1715. The current official chief of the Clan Mackenzie is John Ruaridh Grant Mackenzie, 5th Earl of Cromartie.
John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod was a Scottish Jacobite politician and soldier of fortune.
Tarbat House is a Category A listed building in the Highland council area of northern Scotland. A three-story stone mansion in the neoclassical style, it was built in 1787 by the Edinburgh architect James McLeran for John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod. The house is located approximately 500m from the village of Milton near Invergordon.
Roderick Grant Francis Blunt-Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Cromartie, was a Scottish soldier and peer. In 1979, he was recognised as the chief of Clan Mackenzie.
Francis Mackenzie, 2nd Earl of Cromartie was a British peer.
The Mackenzie baronetcy, of Scatwell in the County of Ross, was created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia on 22 February 1703 for Kenneth Mackenzie, who represented Ross-shire in the Scottish Parliament. He was a descendant of Kenneth Mackenzie, brother of the 1st Baronet of the 1628 creation. The 5th Baronet represented Ross-shire in the British Parliament and was Lord Lieutenant of Ross-shire.