Flora MacDonald
1722-1790
Jacobite heroine
Flora was the daughter of Ranald MacDonald of Milton on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides , and his wife Marion, the daughter of Angus MacDonald.
In June 1746, During the Jacobite Risings and at the age of 24, she was living on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides when Bonnie Prince Charlie took refuge there after the Battle of Culloden. Flora was approached by the prince's companion, a Captain O'Neill, to assist the prince escape capture which she promised to do and her help led to the prince's successfully escape.
Local talk brought suspicion on to Flora MacDonald, and she was arrested and brought to London for aiding the prince's escape. After a short imprisonment in the Tower of London, she was allowed to live outside of it, under guard. In 1747, When the Act of Indemnity was passed, she was released.
On 6 November 1750, at the age of 28, she married Allan MacDonald of Kingsburgh, a captain in the army. In 1774, she and her husband emigrated to North Carolina. During the American War of Independence Captain MacDonald served the British government in the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants).
He was captured after the battle and was held prisoner for two years until a prisoner exchange occurred in 1777. He was then sent to Fort Edward in Windsor, Nova Scotia where he took command of the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants), Second Battalion. After her husband was taken prisoner, Flora remained in hiding while the American Patriots ravaged her family plantation and took all her possessions. When her husband was released from prison during the fall of 1778, she reunited with him at Fort Edward.
In 1779 Flora returned home to Scotland in a merchant ship. During the passage, the ship was attacked by a privateer. She refused to leave the deck during the attack and was wounded in the arm.
She died at Kingsburgh on the Isle of Skye in 1790, at the age of 68.
She is buried in the Kilmuir Cemetery.
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