Colours of Mackay's Regiment in the service of Holland

Until the late-18th century, it was customary to name regiments after their colonel. Hugh MacKay of Scourie (c.1640-1692) began his military career in his early 20s when he joined Douglas's (Dumbarton's) regiment of the English army and, when it was lent by Charles II to Louis XIV, accompanied it to France. Despite succeeding to the family estates after the deaths of two elder brothers, he continued to serve overseas. In 1672 he fought with the French in their invasion of Holland but, after marrying Clara de Bie of Gelderland, he had a change of heart and resigned his commission to take a captaincy in a Scottish regiment in the Dutch army. He was a Major-General of the Scots Brigade in 1685 when it was called to England to help suppress the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion and was Commander-in-Chief of the Brigade in the army of William of Orange which landed in Britain in 1688.<br /> <br /> The MacKay connections to this regiment were strengthened when, in order to bolster troop numbers in Scotland to face the first Jacobite revolt under Graham of Claverhouse, General MacKay called upon the other staunchly Protestant noblemen of Sutherland, Lord Reay and Lord Strathnaver, to supply him with men and weapons. Two 200-strong contingents of MacKays, under the command of Captain William MacKay of Kinloch and Captain Hugh MacKay of Borley, were supplied and stationed in Inverness and in Perthshire. Lord Strathnaver's men were quartered in Inverness and Elgin.<br /> <br /> This illustration of the regimental colours is from 'Sutherland and the Reay Country' edited by Rev Adam Gunn & John Mackay, 1897