EVANTON ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
THE MUNROS of FOULIS
Sources:
'History of the Munros', Alexander Mackenzie (1898) The Clan Munro', C.I. Fraser of Reelig (1954)
Donald Munro
Died 1053.
Said to have been the Son of O'Cathan, Prince of Fermanagh. Received lands between Dingwall and River Averon as a reward from Malcolm II, King of Scots, for assistance against the Danish invaders. The land received the name of "Fearann-Domnhnuill", anglicised to Ferindonald. A portion was erected into the barony of Fowlis.
An alternative theory says that Donald was a member of the Siol O'Cain, claimed to be an ancient tribe of North Moray.
(The Chronological Account 1805 says that Fowlis is so named "after a land so-called in Ireland, near Loch Fowle")
George Munro
Said to have assisted Malcolm III in his contentions with Macbeth between 1054 and 1057.
Hugh Munro
Son of George, the first in the account of the family to be designated "Baron of Fowlis."
He is said to have acquired Logie Wester and Findon, of which the Earls of Ross were superiors.
Robert Munro
2nd Baron, son of above.
Loyal subject of David 1 and Malcolm IV. Died in 1164 and buried at Chanonry (Fort rose).
Donald Munro
3rd Baron, son of above.
Is said to have built the Old Tower of Fowlis in 1154.
It is said that he assisted William the Lion on his expedition to quell disorder in Ross.
Robert Munro
4th Baron, son of above.
Tradition has it that he married the daughter of Hugh Freskyn de Moravia, with whom he allied to capture Harold, Earl of Caithness who had murdered his bishop, Adam.
Died 1239
George Munro
5th Baron, son of above.
Received a charter from Alexander II (1198-1249). Died 1269

Robert Munro
6th Baron, son of above.
Attained majority in 1282.
Joined Robert the Bruce; his son George was killed at Bannockburn. He died in 1323.
George Munro
7th baron, grandson of the above.
Steadfast supporter of the Bruce dynasty. Marched to Northumberland to take part under Hugh, Earl of Ross, in the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, which resulted in his own death and total defeat for the Scots. His brother escaped unhurt and took charge of his nephew's affairs.
Robert Munro
8th Baron, son of George.
Received from William, Earl of Ross, a charter of confirmation of Easter Fowlis and other lands, in which it is declared that they had belonged to his predecessors since the time of Donald. It was confirmed by David II in 1364.
He was one of the baron Bellies of the Earldom of Ross.
Killed in an obscure clan fight while assisting William, Earl of Ross.
Hugh Munro
9th Baron, son of above.
In 1369 he received from William of Ross the lands of Keatwell and Fortyr (upper lands) of Badgarvie in the parish of Kiltearn; and lands in Edderton, Lochbroom, Carbisdale and Kincardine in 1370; Contullich and the Tower of Ardoch from Euphemia, Countess of Ross, in 1379; and by another charter the davoch lands of Wester Fowlis and Tower of Strathskiach. Joined Donald, Lord of the Isles, in his contest with the Duke of Albany, the Regent of Scotland (while James 1 was a prisoner of the English) over the Earldom of Ross in the early 1400s. Donald claimed possession and title though his wife, daughter of Euphemia Countess of Ross. After the Battle of Harlaw, from which the Lord of the Isles withdrew, the Duke of Albany recovered the whole of Ross and forced Donald to become a vassal of the crown by the Treaty of Port Gilp 1416.
The fortunes of the Munros continued to be bound up with the family of the Isles until 1476, when the Munros and other vassals in the North were made independent of any superior but the Crown.
(The charters henceforth sometimes required the provision of a snow ball from the hill of Fowlis in the forest of Wyvis to be provided at midsummer to the Crown. In 1746 a party of Munros sent snow from Ben Wyvis to the Duke of Cumberland, to cool his wine).

George Munro
10th Baron, son of above, inherited in 1410 his mother's lands in Caithness.
In 1428 King James I, freed from captivity, granted remission to a number of Munros for crimes of killings, thefts, burnings etc, indicating a conciliatory attitude towards them.
George was killed along with his eldest son and many of his clan at the bloody and vengeful Battle of Beallach-nam-Brog in 1452, at a spot between Ferindonald and Lochbroom. Some Mackenzies had seized Walter Ross of Balnagowan, to exchange him for the Mackenzie Chief who had been imprisoned in Dingwall by Countess Euphemia, the Earl of Ross's mother. Lord Lovat, the King's Lieutenant, sent troops north who were joined by the Munros and the Dingwalls of Kildun. The battle is apparently so named as the highlanders tied their shoes to their chests to defend themselves from their enemies' arrows.
John Munro
11th Baron, second son of above. Inherited in 1453. His uncle John of Milntown, was appointed "Tutor of Fowlis". In 1454 he led the clan in the Battle of Clachnaharry between the Munros and Mackintoshes after Malcolm Og had demanded as 'road collop' a major part of the booty from Atholl being carried by John Munro. An obelisk was erected in 1821 to mark the spot of this bloody skirmish.
Mackenzie finds no evidence to suppose that the Munros took part in the Battle of Park of 1488 between the MacDonalds and the Mackenzies. Baron John was Chamberlain to John, last Earl of Ross, in Dingwall.
William Munro
12th Baron, son of above, inherited in 1491.
Knighted by James IV for his prominent part in public affairs, which as justiciar brought him into confect with Hector Roy Mackenzie at the Battle of Druim-a-chait in 1501 by Knockfarrel. After Munro had removed one couple from Mackenzie's barn, Mackenzie invited him to come and take the other, which he duly did only to be ambushed and massacred on his return home. (Tobar nan Ceann, Fountain of the Heads, is named after nineteen heads that tumbled down beside it.)
William was killed by Lochiel while on king's business in Lochaber in 1505,
Hector Munro
13th baron, son of above; attained majority in 1514.
Married Catherine Mackenzie, of the house of Kintail, by way of reconciliation.
Appointed a Privy Council Lieutenant of Wester Ross to protect the district from the incursion of Sir Donald MacDonald of Lochalsh.
Acquired lands at Lochcarron, Lochalsh, Lochbroom and others which were confirmed by James V in 1541.
Died at Carbisdale in 1541.
Robert Munro
14th Baron, son of above.
A resolute and magnanimous man and a loyal subject.
Brought clan to Edinburgh to join Scottish Army in defence against the Protector, the Duke of Somerset. Killed along with many hundreds of his countrymen at the Battle of Pinkie on 8th September 1547.

Robert Mor Munro
15th Baron, son of the above, reached majority in 1548.
Killed 2 tenants in Little Boath. Had to lease the lands of Kiltearn to John Munro.
In 1560 he received the lands and mill of Kiltearn. Acquired from the Bishops of Ross Lemlair, Pellaig, Wester Glens and Mukle Boitt (Boath).Gave Neil Beaton a heritable tack of Culnaskea for being surgeon/doctor to the family.
Married Margaret Ogilvy of Findlater, whose father was a close friend of the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, and her daughter Mary, Queen of Scots.
The Munros came to her aid in 1562 when she came to Inverness and found the Castle shut against her by Captain Alexander Gordon House of Huntly. He was beheaded.
In 1570 a serious quarrel broke out between the Munros and the Mackenzies over possession of the former castle of the bishops at Fortrose. The Munros held it for 3 years until dispossessed when out for salmon.
Robert was as early as 1560 an avowed Protestant and so too most of his clan. He voted in the Parliament of that year for the overthrow of the Popish Church. and for the Scottish Confession of Faith.
The first place the reformed religion is reported to have been preached in Ross-shire was at Waterloo, by Rev. Donald Munro, Dean of the Isles Robert became a Baillie and Chamberlain of James VI in 1581.
The Munros were now "considered a clan of some importance and amongst the most available of the Celtic of northern friends of the Grown." Robert Mor profited considerably by the long leases of church lands and forfeitures at the time of the Reformation and he left a much extended inheritance.
In 1586 he was denounced by the Privy Council, along with other Highland Chiefs, for obstructing fisheries and extortionate exactions.
In 1588 he was appointed by the King collector for Inverness-shire, which included Ross.
Died in 1588, aged about 60. The first Chief to be buried at Kiltearn, so marking a complete severance with Rome.
3 sons and 3 daughters by first wife Margaret; 3 sons and 4 daughters by second wife, Katherine Ross, Balnagowan, the 'Foulis Witch'.
In 1576/7, in conjunction with Hector her stepson, who became Chief, she supposedly attempted to kill, by means of clay images and elf arrows, Robert, the Fowlis heir. A William Macgillivray also sold her a box of poison for which he was burnt at the stake in 1577, along with various accomplices. She was tried in 1590 and acquitted.
Robert Munro
16th Baron, eldest son of Robert Mor.
His first 2 wives died young; he died in 1589.
Hector Munro
17th Baron, brother of above.
Chaplain of Newmore in 1560, then of Obsdale, then Dean of Ross.
In 1590 he was tried, immediately after his step-mother Katherine, for causing the death of his half-brother George, who died of slow poison in 1590. He was acquitted.
He was favoured as a trusty friend by James IV.
In 1597 a bloody fight took place between the Mackenzies on one hand, Munros and Baynes on the other, after which a lament was composed.
In 1602 the Munros levied a hundred men to assist Queen Elizabeth against her rebellious Irish subjects.
Died in 1603, buried at Kiltearn.
Robert 'Dubh' Munro, 'The Black Baron'
18th Baron, inherited in 1608.
In 1617 he is referred to as "Robert Munro of Tayne", the family having acquired additional lands all round Tain.
He became highly indebted and pledged his lands and castle to his uncle, Lord Fraser of Lovat, redeeming them 20 years later.
In 1626 he took a Captain's commission in the King of Denmark's Service against the Catholic Emperor. The regiment commanded by Sir Donald Mackay of Strathnaver was mainly Highland and wholly Protestant.
When the Danes made peace the Munro company and others joined the army of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden - "The Champion of Protestantism". Robert Munro distinguished himself as Colonel of Foot and Horse at the Battles of Leipzig of 1631 and Lutzen in 1632, where Gustavus fell, having defeated Wallenstein's Imperial German army.
Robert died of a foot wound in 1633 aged 44.
Sir Hector Munro
19th Baron, brother of the above.
Educated for the Church but joined his brother in the 30 Year's War. Was created Baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles I as a hereditary title. Died in 1635 in Hamburg.
Sir Hector Munro
20th Baron, second baronet; son of the above. Died in 1651 aged 16
Sir Robert Munro of Fowlis
21st Baron; 3rd Baronet; second son of Col John Munro II of Obsdale; cousin of the 'Black Baron'.
Distinguished himself in Denmark, Sweden and elsewhere on the Continent in the 30 Year's War when Munros comprised 3 Generals, 8 Colonels, 5 Lt. Colonels, 11 Majors and 30 Captains and many subalterns in Gustavus Adolphus' army.
Was sent to Ireland where he was defeated by Owen Roe O'Neill in 1646 and in 1648 he was seized by the Parliamentary General Monck and confined to the Tower of London.
In 1649 Colonel John Munro of Lemlair joined Pluscardine's abortive Royalist Rising, but the following year he took part in the defeat of Montrose at Carbisdale.
Sir Robert was responsible for bringing Thomas Hogg as minister to Kiltearn and continued to pay his stipend after Hogg's dismissal.
He died in 1666.

Sir John Munro, Fowlis 22nd Baron, 4th Bt
Signed a bond of friendship with the Kenneth Mackenzie, Earl of Seaforth in order to mend the fences.
Became known as "The Presbyterian mortar-piece". Suffered fines and imprisonment for non-conformity. Rev Mackillican, deposed minister of Fodderty, preaching in Obsdale, reputedly escaped detection by the soldiers, sent by the Bishop John Paterson of Ross, by concealing himself under Sir John's ample skirts.
In 1689 he was one of Scottish representatives who approved of offer to William of Orange and his Queen.
Sir Robert Munro "The Blind Baron"
23rd Baron of Fowlis, 5th Bt
William III in 1698 granted a charter of confirmation of the lands of Fowlis and other estates. He, like his father, was a strenuous upholder of the Protestant succession.
Mobilised the clan in support of the Hanoverian succession and his son, Captain George, of Culcairn, trysted at Alness with the forces of the Earl of Sutherland, the king's lieutenant in the North.
The Earl of Seaforth took advantage of the departure of the troops and proceeded to ravage the countryside and took the castle.
After The Battle of Sherrifmuir they recouped their losses by spoiling Seaforth's lands at Brahan.
4 years later George Munro of Culcairn helped General Wightman to defeat another attempted Jacobite Rising at Glenshiel, organised by Cardinal Alberoni of Spain and in which Rob Roy's Highlanders fought furiously alongside the Spaniards. Here Culcairn, gravely wounded, was shielded by possibly his foster-brother, until both were rescued. George continued in active service, fought with the Gordons in 1745 at Inverurie and was active against the Jacobites. In 1746 he was shot and killed, while on a borrowed white horse, alternatively with a borrowed cloak, supposedly in place of another officer, near Loch Arkaig, where 'Culcairn's Brae' is still known.
Sir Robert Munro of Foulis
24th baron, 6th Baronet
Born 1684. Succeeded father in 1729.
One of the greatest of all Munro Chiefs.
Served in Marlborough's Army on the Continent.
1710 - Whig MP for Wick Burghs for 30 years. In 1721, at the time of one election, he employed armed Munros, under Culcairn, to kidnap and temporarily detain at Fowlis Castle certain Kenneth Bayne of Tulloch and most of the Dingwall councillors. A boy was shot in the tongue and the wife of Alexander Mackenzie later died of her wounds. "It would do her good to lose some of her foul blood" said Colonel Robert. The planned exile of the councillors to Orkney was prevented by a terrific storm and they were rescued by a mob of women. Sir Robert was subsequently fined £200. The jury did not credit Sir Robert's version of the event which claimed that a mob had attacked them when about lawful business and that the shots were fired by gentlemen who had come to their assistance. Sir Robert and his brother were fined £200.

Sir Robert became Lt Colonel of the 1st Highland Regiment in the Regular Army, the Black Watch, the Frelceadan Dubh, which quickly impressed by its unexpected discipline and sobriety.1745. He inspired the army to glorious victory against the French at the Battle of Fontenoy on 9th May 1745 -"notwithstanding his great corpulency" and standing exposed to volleys. "The Highland furies rushed upon us with more violence than ever did a sea driven by a tempest" (French records)
He was ordered home at the time of the 1745 Rebellion but the Black Watch was not sent to the Highlands. It was as Commander of the 37th Foot, an English Regiment, that in January 1746 he took part and was killed by Lochiel's men at the Battle of Falkirk aged 62.
He had married Mary Seymour, daughter of the Speaker of the House of Commons. He had the pleasure of subsequently confiscating the property of the Jacobite 'postman' who had earlier interrupted all his correspondence to the object of his affections.
Sir Harry Munro
25th Baron, 7th Bt.
Captured by the Jacobites at the Battle of Prestonpans and rescued from imprisonment at Glamis.
In 1746 Jacobites again captured Fowlis Castle and harried Ferindonald, which was in mourning for Sir Robert.
Sir Harry received some compensation and a pension.
In 1776 he entailed all the estates by a deed, which included female heirs and became the object of much litigation by different branches of the family.
Died 1806.
Sir Hugh Munro
26th Baron, 8th Bt, son of above. Born 1763.
Irregular union with Jane Law whom after 7 years he married in 1801, whereafter they moved to Fowlis castle. His beautiful wife drowned in the Firth soon after in 1803.
Their daughter Mary Seymour, born in 1796 in England, was the subject of a great lawsuit to test the legitimacy of her birth and her right of succession, in which she was ultimately successful, after appeal to the House of Lords. The Culcairns, who sought to inherit, questioned the paternity of the pursuer. The Lords found in favour of Mary Seymour on the grounds that her father had never lost his Scottish domicile and that therefore his subsequent marriage had legalised the birth of all children previously born out of wedlock.
She died unmarried in 1849, aged 53.
Sir Hugh, who died in 1848, during the course of the litigations had found it necessary to dismantle the property. The furniture was sold and the beautiful timber, including large chestnuts, throughout the estates cut down.
Sir Hugh had a natural son, George, to whom his sister bequeathed the property of Milntown and it was sold to William Matheson, Newton, who sold it to Major Jackson of Swordale.
The male line of Robert, 21st Baron, now extinct, the estates reverted to the nearest male heir, the Baronetcy of Nova Scotia.
The estates and clan headship passed to the Culcairn and Culrain line.

Sir Charles Munro of Culcairn,
27th Baron. Eldest son of George Munro of Culcairn and Culrain.
Served in the 45th Regiment in the Peninsular War under the Duke of Wellington. Badly wounded at the Storming of Bagadoz; also in the War of Independence in South America, including in 1818 under General Simon Bolivar.
Died aged 91 on 12th July 1886 in Southport. Lady Amelia Munro survived him by 5 days.
Sir Charles Munro their eldest son succeeded.
He was a D. L. and J. P. for Ross-shire, a Captain in the Highland Rifle Militia and a Major in the Ross-shire Rifle Volunteers. He died in 1888.
Colonel Sir Hector Munro
1849 - 1935
11th Baronet, 29th Baron of Foulis; JP,
Commanded 3rd Bn (Militia), Ross-shire Buffs, relieving a Regular Army batallion in Egypt during the South African War.
ADC to King Edward VII and King George V.
Lord Lieutenant Ross and Cromarty 1899 till death (36 years.)
The Ross-shire Journal of 5.1.1900 reports the speeches and presentation of a scroll and silver engraved cask, made to him, by the tenants of Foulis, in recognition of his appointment as Lord Lieutenant.
Rev. MacQueen stated "there was not in all broad Scotland a landlord who was more respected and beloved by his tenantry".
Marianne Chamier, a grand-daughter, recollects that he was "Very highly regarded. I think you'll find everybody liked him - a super old boy, a great peace-maker. He was very nice to everybody, the same to everyone. He used to go alternately to the Episcopal Church in Dingwall and the Kiltearn Kirk" He was not a strict disciplinarian but didn't allow tennis or cards, or any sort of games on Sundays. We could go for walks... We had family prayers before breakfast every morning and always grace before meals. He was a very clean, neat old man, with polished shoes and a shiny, bald head. He wore black and white knickerbockers when he went to London and Bath, where he took the waters every spring. He used to be wracked with rheumatica and a bad chest, which several weeks at Bath seemed to cure."
Sir Hector married the daughter of Sir John Stirling, Margaret Violet Stirling, who became Lady Munro (1856 – 1946).
Rev. Watson stated that "she combines in herself all the qualities that go to make a good wife and a good neighbour.... her amiable disposition throws a warm glow of affability around her life without detracting from the dignity that belongs to her station." At least one person describes her, at least in her latter years, as "a bit fierce.. very expressive, very good looking and (with) a frightful temper. She had fearful rows with the maids."
Their first son Robert died in infancy. Their other son and heir Hector Charles Seymour MC, 2nd Bn Seaforths, joined the Ist World War in 1914. In 1915 he was in Boulogne hospital with a severe chill and later that year suffering from a gas attack. Just weeks before the Armistice he was killed, aged 23, by a sniper near Cambrai on October 22, during a recce for a German gun. He was interred at St Souplet.

His eldest sister, Eva Marion Gascoigne, inherited. She had married an English soldier in the Seaforths, who died quite young. The baronetcy of Nova Scotia could not pass through a female line and became separated from the Clan chief. It passed to a distant cousin of the Obsdale branch, now styled Munro of Foulis-Obsdale.
Mrs. Gascoigne took an active role in the parish, particularly with regard to Kiltearn School. She is fondly remembered.
The Gascoigne's eldest son Patrick (b.1912) inherited in 1938 (33rd Laird) on condition he change his name to Munro. He was then required to disinherit his mother. After the Imperial Service College and Sandhurst he joined the Seaforth Highlanders in 1933 and was a POW after the Highland Division surrendered at St Valéry. "My eldest brother and youngest brother were both taken at Valéry. They had trouble staying together because one was Gascoigne and the other was Munro.... the Germans wouldn't believe they were brothers."(MG)
Captain Patrick was Vice Lieutenant of Ross & Cromarty in 1968; also Hon. Sheriff of Ross and Cromarty.
Married to Eleanor Mary French.3 sons; His heir is Hector William.
(Refs: Who's Who in Scotland 1991; Ross-shire Journal; Hector Munro)

NOVAR
General Sir Hector Munro, K.B., of Novar
1726 - 1805
Opinions differ widely as to the value of his military career in the aftermath of the '45 and in India with the 34th Regiment. In British/Indian history he is remembered as Major Munro, the victor of Buxar, when "undismayed by giant odds, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat" and as Sir Hector, the villain of Conjeeveram who "allowed the golden moments to slip through his palsied fingers." (Thornton)
In 1764 he took over command of the 101st from Major Carnac. "Major Hector Munro of Morris's regiment, lately employed in Bombay, brought the remains of his own and Morgan's regiments (89th and 90th)." (Fortescue). He quickly reasserted discipline among the Europeans, around 200 of whom, mainly Frenchmen, had deserted to join Meer Cossim. His reaction to a revolt among the Sepoys was to tie 24 of them to canons and "blow them away".
He gained a crucial Victory at Buxar against Shuja/Surajah Dowlah on Oct.23 1764 against odds of 5 to 1, which was followed by dreadful carnage. He went on to accept the surrender of Benares but failed to reduce the fortress of Chunar. Suffering from ill health, he returned to Scotland and received rank of Lt Colonel and £16,000 from Surajah's treasures.
In 1766 he was created baronet and for the first time established in his ancestral estate of Novar. (Bain) He spent £120,000 on his estate at Novar and levelled one of the hillocks in front of the site for the mansion house. "Sir Hector Munro expended (on his estate) the whole wealth which he had acquired in India so that he was obliged to go to India again and make a second fortune for the purpose of enabling him to live upon it" (Southey).
Sir Hector Munro introduced larch to Easter Ross; he received 3 from Duke of Atholl.
In 1767 he bought his way to a seat on the Inverness Burghs and with four other Ross-shire lairds, including Sir Harry Munro of Fowlis, took over the Council. This they accomplished by marching ten councillors with full fanfare into a tavern and plying them with "metal and other means so forcible as to cause every one of them to desert the interests of their old friend and become mere sepoys." (Sir Alexander Grant of Dalvey). Sir Hector became the Provost.
In 1768 he was duly returned as MP for the Inverness Burghs and "an additional recruit was added to the Indian cohort in the House of Commons."(Hist. of Ross) He continued to represent the same until 1802, in spite of his further Indian campaigns.

Edinburgh Evening Courant 22 June 1771
A BLACK SLAVE run away
On the 11th current there run away from the house of Col. Munro of Novar, in Rossshire, a BLACK SLAVE a native of the East Indies, called CAESAR. He is about 25 or 26 years of age, about five feet four or five inches high, has long black hair and was bred a cook. – Whoever secures the said Slave within any of his Majesty’s goals [sic] in Great Britain, upon notice given to Col Munro by Dingwall, or to John Fraser, writer to the signet at Edinburgh, shall receive FIVE GUINEAS reward. It is hoped that masters of ships, and others, will be careful not to secret or carry off the said Slave, otherways they shall be prosecuted in terms of law. If the Slave himself shall return to his master’s service, his offence shall be forgiven.
In 1771 Sir Hector was made Commander of the Forces in India with a seat on the Council of Madras and was knighted for his services. In August 1778 with war between Britain and France he took Pondicherry with some difficulty after which the other French settlements fell more easily.

In 1780 attempts to conciliate with long-standing adversaries Hyder Ali and his son Tippu Tipp/Tippu Sultan with their base in Seringapatam, were unsuccessful and Munro then orchestrated a campaign to defeat them. After disagreement with Lord Macleod, the commander, he appointed someone else to his seat on the Council and took direct control. He unwisely tied himself to Conjeeveram (Kanchipuram = Golden City, one of S. India's most ancient cities once had over 100 temples) and failed to come to the aid of Baillie's force, 3000 of whom were lost. "Munro must be held responsible for one of the greatest calamities that has ever befallen British arms	a good and gallant soldier went near by sheer perversity to accomplish the ruin of British power in India" Mt, Fortescue,1911)
General Sir Eyre Coote helped to turn the situation around but Sir Hector had a major disagreement with him at the battle of Perambancum, where troops were needlessly sent to their deaths and he retired soon after from Coote's army.
He was about to return to Britain due to ill health when he was given the command of the siege of the settlement of Negapatam, which Hyder Ali had agreed to give to the Dutch (the Dutch had captured it in 1661). Negapatam, which was defended by 7000 Sepoys and 600 Europeans, surrendered 5 days after the trenches were opened on Nov.12 1781. Hyder Ali then retreated from Tanjore. "No small share of credit must belong to Munro" (Fortescue)
From 1787 he was Colonel of the 42nd Highlanders, the Black Watch, and played a part in the dispersal of the flock gatherers at Boath.
In 1792 "he was smitten with a mania for the introduction of sheep". In the face of local resentment he allowed the Cameron brothers of Lochaber to convert the estate lands of Kildermorie into a sheep walk. A confrontation resulted in May when the brothers poinded the roaming cattle of their neighbours in Strathrusdale. The latter went for reinforcements in Ardross amongst them Alexander Wallace, 'Big Wallace', who came to grapple with a Cameron and twisted the barrel of his gun "like a wuddie". The cattle were set free.
Only two months later the famous confrontation at Boath was one of the results. Seizing on the success of the prior fracas, the guests at a wedding in Strathrusdale, determined to drive all the sheep in Ross and Sutherland across the River Beauly. Proclamations were made accordingly at parish churches and public houses from Alness to Lairg and 200 people assembled in Strath Oykel on Tuesday 31st July. They proceeded to the outlying areas of Lairg and headed south, pressing the shepherds into their service. By Saturday they had reached Boath with many thousand sheep.
Here they dispersed on receiving information of the advance of the Depute Sheriff, Donald Macleod of Geanies, Sir Hector Munro and a party of the 42nd Regiment, who had force-marched from Fort George. A few of the raiders were captured and held at Novar House before being escorted to Inverness prison. Hugh Mackenzie and John Aird were sentenced to 7 year's deportation, Alexander Mackay and Donald Munro to banishment from Scotland for life, Malcolm Ross to a fine of £50 and one month's imprisonment, William Cunningham for three months. All, however, mysteriously escaped from prison. Dr Aird said that he heard "The feeling in the country as to the unrighteousness of the sentence was so strong that the prison door was opened and the prisoners escaped."

According to local tradition, Sir Hector Munro had the Fyrish Monument and the two lesser models built to provide work at time of famine. They were supposedly modelled on gates of Indian city of Negapatam, which he had captured from the Dutch. (There are no trace of such gates. Nagapattinam is a town in Tamilnadu, with which a story of a Christian vision is associated. A boy from nearby Velankanni saw a vision of a beautiful lady with a child and the lady asked him to run to Nagapattinam to request a particular Catholic gentleman to build a church for her. The boy did so and found that the gentleman had had a similar vision. The gentleman put up a thatched shed and placed the statue of Mary in it and the statue still adorns the shrine of the Basilica today). Alternatively the gates (according to Norman Macrae) were modelled on those of Seringapatam, the capital city of Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan, but one which was only later captured by Arthur Wellesley.
The National Dictionary of Biography states that Sir Hector married Isabel Gordon, who died in 1799 aged 92. Mackenzie writes that he was unmarried, had 3 children out of wedlock but treated them all as legitimate. Mackenzie relates that Hugh, the first son, a Lieutenant and deputy barrack master, was eaten by a tiger at Sangor Island, India; his second, Alexander, was devoured by a shark also in India. (An eighteenth century Staffordshire model of a Redcoat being eaten by a tiger is entitled 'Death of Munro'. A clockwork model, said to have been made for Hyder Ali, was bought at auction by the British Museum in mid 1970s).
The General's daughter Jane survived to marry the wealthy Colonel Sir Ronald Crauford Ferguson and their descendants in 1865 succeeded to Novar as the Munro-Fergusons, following on from Hector's brother Sir Alexander and his son.
References:
Alexander Mackenzie's 'History of the Munros' Bain's 'History of Ross'
Colonel Thornton's 'Light and Shade in Bygone India' JW Fortescue's History of the British Army, 1911 'The State of Husbandry in Scotland', Andrew Wright National Dictionary of Biography
Hector Munro, Fauns

Ronald Crauford Munro Ferguson, Lord Novar KT, PC, GCMG
1860-1934
First viscount 1920.
KT 1926, PC 1910, GCMG 1914
Eldest son of Colonel Munro-Ferguson, MP (who had added Munro on the death of his first cousin, on inheriting Novar and Muirton).
Married 1889.
Educated at home and at Sandhurst. Grenadier Guards 1879 to 1884. Took an active part in the agitation for electoral reform.
Liberal MP for Ross and Cromarty 1884 to 1885, when he was defeated by Dr MacDonald, a Land Leaguer candidate;
In the 1886 Election he was narrowly beaten by Sir Archibald Orr Ewing, but in the same year was successful in Gladstone's old constituency, the Leith Burghs, where he remained MP 1886-1914.
Private Secretary to the Sec. of State for Foreign Affairs (Earl of Roseberry) in 1886 and 1892-4.
Junior Lord of the Treasury 1894.
Provost of Kircaldy 1906-1914.
Governor General and Commander in Chief of Australia, on Asquith's recommendation, 1914 - 1920. "In Australia his past military experience was of great service particularly in training and dispatching the Australian Expeditionary Force. In travelling to visit the camps he made himself very popular everywhere."
He considered that his encouragement of the cultivation of timber was his "best legacy to Melbourne". (Who Was Who)
Secretary of State for Scotland 1922 - 24.
The Ross-shire Journal wrote that he was "a Roseberry follower throughout; but for his allegiance to the noble Earl, he might have risen to cabinet rank. More recently he had acted with considerable independence and has been an inconvenient critic of the government.... In Ross-shire until the last eight years or so, he was a somewhat notable figure	since then he has spent his spare time in Fifeshire."(13.2. 1914)
There is a portrait of him by Lorimer at Raith House.
He was particularly interested in forestry and was apparently held in high regard by his tenants and staff at Novar.
Lady Novar, GBE, LLB
1865-1941
Lady Helen Hermione Blackwood of First Marquis of Dufferin.
In Australia she was closely involved in the nursing of troops, for which she received the GBE in 1918.
"In the service of others her life was spent" (Memorial at Novar)
She was involved in running the estate after Lord Novar's death. She lived in Raith and visited a couple of times a year.
Arthur B. L. Munro-Ferguson
He took over the running of Novar in 1951, having served in the army and studying at University,
He is a grand nephew of Lord Novar who had no offspring. His grandmother was Lord Novar's sister who married Luttrell of Dunster castle. A more direct heir, a son of his brother Robert, lived in America and declined the position.

Major Hector Munro-Ferguson of Assynt (Lovat Scouts)
1867 - 1951
Brother of Lord Mover. Second son of Robert Munro-Ferguson of Raith Novar. He had no legitimate family. It is widely reputed in the village that he fathered a daughter by a maid servant late in life. "Annie gave birth to a little girl who eventually had a private tutor and everything. She wasn't allowed to go to the public school." Another version is that the girl was taken in and brought up by them.
The Major took an interest in the village. He provided/supported the Club House and was often in there, playing billiards,’ Scissor legs' was his local by-name.
Henrietta Christobel Ellis, wife of Major Munro-Ferguson 1888 - 1958,
Kept the garden at Assynt beautiful.
"They were both very. affable".
Had the Glenglass schoolchildren for Christmas tea.
She was "a bit of a character." She was very good to the neighbours. A chain smoker, she used to roll her own cigarettes, She was wracked with cancer. She was related to the Queen Mother. Her next of kin, she told the infirmary nurse, was the Countess of Norbury,

THE GALLANT MAJOR and other SWORDALE GENTRY
In 1885 the residents of Evanton were curious to know who was this bluff, english north countryman with military bearing, who had arrived as the new owner of Swordale.
Some remembered back to another character of Swordale, John Dearg Munro, renowned for his whisky smuggling escapades involving coffins and hearses. Rumours persisted as to how he had come by his great wealth, starting by earning 6d a day and going on to purchase Lemlair, Clare and Swordale. It was even supposed that he had found the proceeds of a mail coach robbery.
It was he who had changed the name of Bogreach to Fannyfield, after his dear wife Fanny.
* * * * *
Now his grandson, John, was selling Swordale to Major Randle Jackson. The 'Gallant Major' was soon to make his mark for he determined from the start not only to develop the estate but to play the full the role of an active, conservative landlord and gentleman. During the next 18 years he was to impose himself forcefully on most facets of local life, from employment to entertainment, church to education, and soup to politics. In so doing there is no doubt that he trod on many toes and created some animosity, but at the end of the day the parish had much to thank him for.
Jackson arrived a wealthy man. His father-in-law, Edward Baxter, of Kincaldrum was an important Dundee jute merchant, owning several spinning mills. Baxter Park, Dundee, was gifted by and named after him. Randle's own father was one Edward James Jackson, a barrister from Unwell, Norfolk, and his mother Elisa Seton.
Educated at Edinburgh and Sandhurst, he joined the Middlesex Regiment and he took part in suppressing the Indian Mutiny. In 1861 he joined the 32nd Cornwall Light Infantry and in 1366 passed to the King's Royal Irish (the 8th) Hussars. Retiring in 1874, he settled in St Andrews and joined the
Fife Light Horse, receiving the rank of Major.
A life-scale painting of Major Jackson in the Evanton Diamond Jubilee Hall shows him sporting his long whiskers, golf club in hand. This would be on either St Andrews 'Royal and Ancient', of which he was captain for a term or Tain Golf Course, of which he was both captain and patron. The painting was presented by his wife in 1906 and supported by public subscription.
It is said by some that he bought Swordale from Munro of Swordale on condition it was cleared of all tenants. Jackson himself always protested that he had known nothing of any crofters when he had bought it.
His lasting reputation is as village benefactor. He was on Kiltearn School Board, which he chaired for some years. He initiated the School Soup Kitchen in 1900. He was the main force behind the building of the Diamond Jubilee Hall. He was largely responsible for the establishment of the Knockrash Smallholdings on the Swordale road, making Kiltearn itself one of the first parishes in Scotland to benefit from the provisions of the Smallholding Act 1382.

In 1890 Major Jackson, spoke in Dingwall concerning allotments for the working class. He criticised the inconsistency of a candidate in adopting a policy of "land for the people", while he retained the whole of his big farm bordering on Dingwall and Maryburgh, when there were so many poor people in Maryburgh and Dingwall.
In Invergordon in January 1394 he spoke on the topic of 'The Ploughman and Agriculture.' He urged ploughmen to "be reasonable and not to grasp too much.” When asked if he had given his ploughmen a 9 hour day he stated "They have already except when we are greatly pressed." He was, however, against legislation on the matter.
When he entered the political arena it was put about that his 'good works' were motivated by political ambition. In 1895 he sought to stand as Unionist Party Parliamentary Candidate for the County. Many within the party were not in favour, "his greatest service to the Unionist cause", wrote one Unionist, "would be a judicious retirement, an opinion which is held by every thinking man in Ross-shire, whether he be Tory or Liberal". After considerable wrangling, however, he was adopted unanimously and set to the campaign with his customary vigour.
He was questioned whether when he came into the estate of Swordale there were crofters on that estate. "Is that not so?” asked Meldrum.
He replied that when purchasing Swordale he had written to the then proprietor Mr Munro of Lemlair "enquiring if there were any crofters on the estate and he replied that there were not. But since I became proprietor I found out that there had been crofters at Clair. I did take the following steps to bring them back. I wrote some of the crofters who had been there inquiring if they wished to go back and they told me that they could not live at Clair. When I bought Swordale there was no residential population nor a crofter on the estate. There were 11 persons employed at a wage of £240 a year. At present they have a resident population and there are 38 people employed at a wage of £1000 pa, not including milk, potatoes and coal. There are also many in the district employed	I have not dispopulated the county."
Through his solicitor he had said much the same at the Royal Commission Enquiry of 1892 ('Red Deer Commission'), when he claimed that "in no way could the land on his estate support in comfort more mouths than it does at present." He claimed to have spent £20,000 on the estate since he came to Swordale. This excluded the Victorian mansion house, designed by Maitland of Tain, that he had built onto the older house.
Donald Maclennan, a crofter in Cullicudden, told the enquiry that, despite the larger number of domestic servants engaged by Jackson than his predecessor Munro, "it would be immensely preferable to have those various lands occupied by small tenants as before."
Jackson's views were very close to those of Arthur Balfour, the leader of the Unionist party. His opponents put him down as an 'old fashioned Tory' but he denied the claim. He counterclaimed that "the Gladstonian party has done nothing for the agricultural labourer to help him out of the present difficulty."
He wished to see:
•	More persons owning land;
•	Improvement in the housing of farm servants
•	A deputation of ploughmen to meet with farmers to discuss better conditions
•	The Crofter's Act being extended to leaseholders.
•	A continuing mixture of large and small land holdings, "as one helps the other."
•	More Small-Holdings and compulsory purchase next to populous places. The continuation of the Game Laws.
•	Amalgamation of the Churches in order to lower the Sustentation Tax. The maintenance of the Established Church and the issue as a 'Test Question' for MPs.
•	The Old Age Pension Scheme (four years later, however, he was speaking in favour of Friendly Societies, as against the Old Age Pension proposals).
He was not in favour of:
•	Saturday half holiday, "preferring to give a week's holiday at a time." The Employer's Liability Bill
•	Paying MPs - far better to let them continue unpaid
•	Home Rule for Ireland? - "decidedly not"
On Home Rule for Scotland he stated that he was "in favour of Scottish affairs being settled in Scotland."
Asked whether he allowed fishing on River Skiach, he stated "Yes,..but (they) need to ask permission..."I have put 6000 trout in that river"
He did not "see that everyone should go at me for Clair - I never turned anyone out of Clair."
In February 1994 Rev Watson presided at an Election Meeting in the Thomas Hogg Memorial Hall, Evanton. He commended Major Jackson for having got the County Council to purchase Knockrash in 1393 and having given £100 to make the land cheaper and for advancing one fifth of the price on loan. He suggested that the wranglings over Jackson's candidature were reputedly caused by his views on the Land Question being too advanced for other landlords.
A correspondent in Lochbroom reported that "only for the Major the General Election would be as quiet as a churchyard. "
In June 1895 Jackson's message to the Electors of Ross and Cromarty "Gentlemen, I am in favour of Temperance but not by coercion, " He alleged that his Liberal opponent Weir was "tied to the Irish Gladstonian party"
At the final Election Meeting in Evanton, he said the 'Separatists' were trying to make capital out of the fact that the ploughmen were to vote against him. He was glad to say he "would have the majority of the votes of this class,"
The Ross-shire Journal criticised Novar and his factor for standing outside the polling booth and trying to influence the electors of Kiltearn against Jackson: "Now, suppose any other landlord in Ross-shire had done such a thing on their side, what a cry here would have been among the land Leaguers."

The 1895 election resulted in a slightly increased majority for the sitting MP, Galloway Weir (3272 to 2409). Jackson found the result of the poll "somewhat disappointing." The Ross-shire Journal suggested indignantly, that "having labelled Major Jackson a Tory, little else was needed. In one place the people were told that Major Jackson was a Roman Catholic, in another that he was an Episcopalian. They were also told that all his acts of kindness and generosity had been performed solely with a view to making political capital and that he had ruthlessly evicted a number of crofters from his estates."
Despite his defeat, Jackson was met in Evanton by an enthusiastic reception, presided by Dr Allan. His carriage was pulled through the streets. When his successful opponent, Galloway Weir, passed through later, he was booed by some before going on to a warmer welcome in Alness.
Within a few years Major Jackson was preparing again to contest Ross and Cromarty and had formed a committee and formidable organisation throughout the county. The Ross-shire Journal asked "whether this irresponsible way of working will be looked on with favour by the Association." 

* * * * *

In October 1896 while driving home from Wyvis Lodge with Percy Barbour, Wyvis, their horse shied and their carriage overturned. Major Jackson was thrown into the loch Glass and Mr Barbour was seriously hurt. A sign marks the spot.

Jackson was the moving spirit behind the Diamond Jubilee Hall and chairman of the fund-raising committee as well as one of its trustees. The foundation stone was laid by his daughter Annie Constance and the Hall was opened on the last day of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Year in 1897. Controversy had arisen along the way, however, when the factor of Novar Mr Meiklejohn had publicly insinuated that Jackson and one other trustee might seek benefit for themselves or their heirs (or turn it into an Episcopalian Chapel!). 
Jackson threatened legal action if he did not receive a full apology and subsequently proceeded with a lengthy and presumably costly court case and appeal, in which he failed to win a case for libel but must have received some satisfaction from the judges' criticism of the Novar factor.
In the course of the trial there was criticism of Novar himself. Ronald Crauford Munro Ferguson MP (later Lord Novar) had been lukewarm at best in his support for the Hall, preferring to renovate the Chapel for the same purpose. Politically, of course, Novar and Jackson were in different camps, Novar a Liberal MP, in 1884 for the local county, since 1885 for Leith Burghs. 

A large portrait of the major, set at St Andrew’s Golf Course, was donated to the community by his widow, and (until 2010 at least) hangs in the hall. 

Jackson was highly disappointed, despite his ill health, not to be selected as Unionist candidate in 1900, as a letter from his widow Emily to the Constitutional Association in 1905 makes clear:
"In 1895 Major Jackson made a long, continuous and gallant fight for the Unionist cause in Ross-shire. He visited every part of the constituency and addressed the electors all over the country. He spared neither health, time nor money. The result of the election was most gratifying, 2409 Unionists voted for him - a Conservative and a landlord. In November 1899 he again offered his services to the party. No word was sent to him for 9 months.
He was then informed by your committee that he would not make such a strong candidate as another gentleman."
"Major Jackson was discarded without being thanked either publicly or privately for his services, which was a breach of political etiquette and courtesy that I am glad to think rare in this country. That I am not the only one to resent the treatment Major Jackson received is shown by the result of the 1900 election when the 'strong' candidate polled 758 fewer votes than Major Jackson."
The Jacksons entertained frequently, holding annual parties for the school children, dances for the tenantry and so on. The Major frequently held gramophone recitals in various halls. In Edderton he gave a talk on China, based possibly on his time as a soldier. He supported the Alness Caberfeidh Lodge of Oddfellows, a Friendly Society, and spoke at public meeting in Evanton to form a local branch of the same. His pressure for a side school at Swordale, and his offer of a small building for the purpose, received the authority of the department of Education shortly before his death.
He is attributed with having successfully squeezed the Congested Areas Board for grants and was claimed to be a staunch advocate of the crofter and cottar classes. He sat in he County Council for two terms, he was a Commissioner of Supply, Chairman of the Piers and Harbours Committee, a Deputy Lieutenant of the County and a Justice of the Peace. In all matters, says the Ross-shire Journal, he was thorough and often impulsive.
In May 1900 he took action against the Industrial Inventions Development Company in the Queen's Bench to recover £475. The action was settled out of court.
* * * * *
He was often opposed at School Board meetings by Alexander Paterson, Ardullie, who sometimes insinuated that Jackson was out for his own good. Others disagreed: "As to the bridge at Alltgrade it was not taken down by Major Jackson but by the shepherd. Neither is it true that Major Jackson vetoed the young children going to Glenglass school. The gallant Major is acquainted with the sort of philanthropy which criticises much and gives nothing. And his schemes for betterment have a habit of getting through in the end. This was notably the case in regard to the Knockrash Small Holdings, the Diamond Jubilee Hall, the Soup Kitchen and many other ideas." ('Fair Play')
The initiative for a School Soup Kitchen was his own and it attracted virulent criticism in the letter's column of the Ross-shire Journal from 'Native' who maintained that "....The people of Kiltearn are and always have been of an independent spirit and object to charity in any shape or form."

Another correspondent, 'Anti Humbug', retorted that "a limited coterie of men, in very fair circumstances, are abnormally jealous of the position of Major Jackson's frank and kindly disposition has secured for him among the parishioners of Kiltearn. The whole opposition is an attempt to lessen Major Jackson's influence in the community."
'Fair Play' considered that "Men who ought to know better are devoting more time to securing the failure of the soup kitchen than they are to their lawful calling, or to their homes. Major Jackson came to Swordale affluent, open-handed, and kindly-hearted, safe and sure to run into popular favour but an insignificant clique, jealous of his popularity, have adopted to traduce his name and lessen his influence."
The Soup Kitchen survived until the 1940s.
"The 'Gallant Major', a favourite of the Unionist Ross-shire Journal, died of 'cardiac dilation' in the Policy Grounds in January 1902, having suffered over several years with cirrhosis of the liver. He was buried on Swordale Hill, at a favourite spot overlooking his estate, the Firth and Glen Glass. In this small private cemetery he was in course joined by his wife Emily and all too soon by one daughter Annie Constance, as well as other members of the family. The funeral, despite the rain and inaccessibility, was attended by about four hundred people and Revs. Watson and Macqueen of Kiltearn conducted services inside and out.
'Archer' wrote for the Unionist Ross-shire Journal, that it was Jackson's "happy mission to show that landlordism carried with it great duties and noble responsibilities". The Rev MacFarlane said Major Jackson was "a man of great energy and force of character - on most matters his views were enlightened and extensive. A true philanthropist." The Dingwall Presbytery recorded their expression of great sorrow. Major Jackson had "for many years a member of their Court and acted on several occasions as one of the Commission."
Rev L Wallace Brown, Alness, who had been chaplain to the Major's Curling Club in Swordale, preached a sermon on Major Jackson
"Known and esteemed by all. Under the brusque manner of the old soldier there beat the tender heart of the little child."
* * * * *
Emily Margaret Baxter, his wife since 1882, succeeded to his position on various local bodies and continued to hold children's parties and to provide prizes for the Kiltearn Crofter's Show and the West Ross Farmer's Show. She became chairman of the School Board. Her eldest daughter, Annie Constance, took over the estate in 1914 and Mrs Jackson moved to St Andrew's. On her death on 19 March 1925, the Ross-shire Journal described her as "the gentlest of women, with a certain firmness in her decision."

Their daughters Annie Constance, dark-haired and gentle featured and Dorothy, were both fine horsewomen and rode frequently to Dingwall. It is remembered that people doffed caps and curtsied as they passed. Both were good shots and keen on wild life. Dorothy's health suffered following a riding accident; she was a good friend of Violet Munro, Foulis and was a renowned entomologist. Annie was an active ornithologist, a writer on ducks and waders. In 1915 she was made an Honorary Lady Member of the British Ornithologists' Union.

In 1921 Annie Constance married Richard Meinertzhagen, the subject of Mark Cocker's biography 'Soldier, Scientist, Spy.' He was born in 1878 and died 1967, having received the DSO in 1916 and CBE 1957. His colourful military career started with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, followed by the King's African Rifles. He was a member of the Paris Peace delegation and chief political officer Palestine and Syria 1919-20. He listed his interests as ornithology, biology, geography, science, solitude and space. He and Annie went to Bombay, Sikkim, Tibet and Darjeeling in 1925 to study which birds were wintering there.
 Meinertzhagen in the Highlands (1922)
T.E.Lawrence (of Arabia') wrote of him "This was Meinertzhagen, a student of migrating birds drifted into soldiering, whose hot immoral hatred of the enemy expressed itself as readily in trickery as in violence
Meinertzhagen knew no half measures. He was logical, an idealist of the deepest and so possessed by his convictions that he was willing to harness evil to the chariot of good. He was a strategist, a geographer, and a silent, laughing masterful man; who took as blithe a pleasure in deceiving the enemy (or his friend) by some unscrupulous jest, as in spattering the brains of a cornered mob of Germans one by one with his African Knob-kerri. His instincts were abetted by an immensely powerful body and a savage brain."
On Friday 6th July 1928, after breakfast, he and his wife went together to the revolver range and, after practising, proceeded to return to the castle. "Colonel Meinertzhagen was a short distance ahead of his wife when he heard the sound of a shot. Turning round he saw his wife fall. It seems that Mrs Meinertzhagen had been examining her weapon unaware that she had left in a live cartridge. The bullet entered her head.... death had been practically instantaneous" (R.J).
It is said that her last words were "the damned thing won't go off,
Dicky." She was 36 and "very popular in the district" wrote the Ross-shire Journal, and she "took warm and practical interest in local affairs".
Garfield (2007) writes that “there is speculation that the shooting was not an accident and that Meinertzhagen shot her out of fear that she would expose him and his fraudulent activities.” Mark Cocker (1989) writes that, "because of the unusual circumstances of the tragedy and the fact that Annie was an expert in the use of firearms, some questioned whether her death had been deliberate. However, there is no solid evidence to support such an inference, while her husband revealed in his diaries a sense of loss so complete that it took him several years to recover." A local rumour does persist, but is by no means general. 
Annie Constance planted bulbs along the Swordale roadside, where flowers can sometimes be seen today.
Meinertzhagen sold Swordale to Walter Mundell in the early 30s. One son, Lieutenant D. Meinertzhagen, a Coldstream Guard, was killed in World War Two and is commemorated on the Kiltearn War memorial.
* * * * *

Sources
British Ornithological Society http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v045n04/p0538-p0546.pdf (accessed 28.1.2010)
Cocker, Mark (1989) Richard Meinertzhagen. Soldier, Scientist and Spy. London: Secker & Warburg
Garfield, Brian (2007) The Meinertzhagen Mystery. Washington, DC: Potomac Books, Washington
* * * * *
John MacDonald Bannerman 1901 - 1969, son of Roderick and Mary Bannerman, married Ray Mundell, a daughter of Walter Mundell, and took over Swordale on his father-in-law's death. A famous rugby player and supporter, he became chairman, then president of the Scottish Liberal Party. He was rector of Aberdeen University 1957 to 1960.

by Adrian Clark, March 1992
edited Jan 2010