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Roderick Mackenzie - Jacobite Hero

By Philippa MacKenzie - uploaded 10/03/2009

A Memorial Cairn to Roderick Mackenzie, Jacobite hero, stands beside the A887 about ten miles west of Invermoriston. The actual grave lies across the road in a beautiful, secluded spot down by the river. A generous lay-by allows access to both sites.

Roderick was a gallant, unsung hero of the '45 who made the ultimate sacrifice in order to save the life of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Not enough is yet known about Roderick's family background and short life; however, various snippets of information, gleaned over the years, give a remarkable story of loyalty and bravery, perhaps putting Roderick on a level with Flora MacDonald.

Roderick came of 'a very respectable family', possibly related to the Mackenzies of Ardloch. His father, Kenneth, was a well known Edinburgh goldsmith and jeweller, a Burgess of the city who, although not 'out' in the 1715 Jacobite rebellion, was a staunch Jacobite. Young Roderick preferred a freer, travelling life and is entered in the Roll of Edinburgh Burgesses dated 15th February 1744 as a Writer and Merchant, having inherited the Burgess-ship on the death of his father.

When news came of the Raising of the Standard in Glenfinnan on the 19th August 1745, Roderick lost no time in joining the Jacobite army. Most sources say this was when the Prince reached Edinburgh but, according to family tradition, Roderick was in Glenelg at the time so was able to join the Prince immediately. Roderick became an officer in Lord Elcho's Troop of the Prince's Life Guards and, probably because of his close resemblance to the Prince, a personal bodyguard to his Royal Highness, in which capacity he became invaluable as a decoy. It is likely that Roderick fought at the Battle of Culloden in the epic last stand by Elcho's and Fitzjames' Horse, a stand which allowed much of the Jacobite right wing to escape the battlefield.

After the Culloden disaster Roderick did not return home to Edinburgh, where his widowed mother and two sisters lived at Gray's Close in the High Street, but chose instead to continue his dangerous life as decoy for the Prince - now a Prince in hiding. It was in this guise as a Prince Charles look-alike that Roderick's last great act of bravery caused his death.

There are varying accounts of that fateful day in late July 1746. The Prince and a small band of close followers had been hiding for some days up Coire Dho at the head of Glen Moriston in a high cave complete with tiny burn trickling by and clear views down the glen, but with no escape route to the rear as the cave lies in a jumble of rocks fallen from the steep mountains behind. The Redcoats, scouring the glen in search of the Prince, were circling dangerously close to the cave so Roderick, dressed as the Prince, allowed himself to be seen and ran down the glen towards Ceannocroc, leading the Redcoat soldiers seven or eight miles away from the cave. Some sources say that Roderick was already down by the burn below Ceannocroc when surprised by the Redcoats, who mistook him for the Prince. Whichever the case, when finally surrounded, Roderick drew his sword in self-defence and, as the soldiers fired a volley at him, he cried out as he died "You have killed your Prince!" This selfless act of bravery persuaded the Hanoverians that at last they had indeed caught Prince Charles Edward Stuart himself. To quote from 'The Lyon In Mourning' "the monumental work collated by Bishop Forbes in the years following the Battle of Culloden." Mrs Jean Cameron says that Roderick "so far deceived them that the Duke of Cumberland went up directly for London in full persuasion the thing were done." Roderick's head was taken for identification to Fort Augustus, where MacDonald of Kingsburgh, a prisoner there, declined to identify the head without the body, thereby endangering his own life and further delaying proof of the Princes's capture and death; accounts vary as to whether or not Roderick's head was next taken to London for further identification, by which time it would have been completely unidentifiable.

Roderick's noble sacrifice allowed the Young Pretender many days to escape from being trapped in Glen Moriston where he would certainly have met the same fate. One of the bravest deeds of the '45, it attracted wide notice at the time and Bishop Forbes, in 'The Lyon in Mourning', requests further details of the incident. As far as is known no details were found, therefore exact dates, routes and order of events cannot yet be verified. Roderick's body, without the head, was buried by clansmen below the spot where he died, now marked by a cairn.

For many years in recent times the grave has been cared for by Mrs Sonia Cameron Jacks and by the Mackenzie family from Fort Augustus who built a flight of wooden steps to make access safer down the steep slope to the grave; daughter Sasha Mackenzie, a Territorial Army officer, organised the Fort Augustus Cadets to haul a large boulder down to the graveside, with a plaque giving an outline of Roderick's life and death. Tragically Sasha died in 2002, and the family placed a memorial seat by the river for use at the annual ceremony which takes place during the last fortnight in July to commemorate the gallant Jacobite hero, Roderick Mackenzie. Sonia Cameron Jacks was instrumental in discovering one of Roderick's direct descendants, Mrs Nellie Leitch (née Mackenzie), whose family papers provided much of the information on her ancestor.

The next Commemoration Ceremony date can be found on the Clan Mackenzie of Scotland and the UK website, www.clan-mackenzie.org.uk

Previous Comments


John Graham	Beauly
04-05-2010
Clan Mackenzie Society are presently attempting to install an informative display board at the site. Any assistance either financial or otherwise would be appreciated

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