Jamie Macpherson (1675–1700) also known as James Macpherson was a Scottish outlaw, famed for his poetic work commonly called "Macpherson's Lament" said to have been composed by him on the eve of his execution. "Macpherson's Lament" is known also as "Macpherson's Rant" or "Macpherson's Farewell".
Early life
Macpherson was born in 1675, the
illegitimate
Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...
son of the Macpherson family of
Invernesshire
Inverness-shire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in populatio ...
,
to a
Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
laird
Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...
and a
tinker
Tinker or tinkerer is an archaic term for an itinerant tinsmith who mends household utensils.
Description
''Tinker'' for metal-worker is attested from the thirteenth century as ''tyckner'' or ''tinkler''. Some travelling groups and Romani p ...
or
gypsy
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
woman that he had met at a wedding. Macpherson's father acknowledged the child as his and raised him in his house. The father died while attempting to a recover cattle which were taken by
reiver
Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their ...
s from
Badenoch
Badenoch (from gd, Bàideanach, meaning "drowned land") is a traditional district which today forms part of Badenoch and Strathspey, an area of Highland Council, in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath Mountains, on the east by th ...
. Following the father's death, the child was taken in by the mother's
Gypsy
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
(
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
) community. Macpherson and his mother would often visit together the boy's relations and
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
smen, who clothed him and provided money to the mother. It is reported that Macpherson was of uncommon strength and he had become an expert swordsman, as well as a musician capable of using the fiddle.
Outlaw career
Though his prowess was debased as the exploits of a robber, it is certain, says one writer, that no act of cruelty, or robbery of the widow, the fatherless, or the distressed was ever perpetrated under his command. Indeed, it is alleged that a dispute with an aspiring and savage man of his tribe, who wished to rob a gentleman's house while his wife and two children lay on the bier for interment, was the cause of his being betrayed to the vengeance of the law. Thus he was betrayed by a man of his own tribe, and was the last person executed at
Banff previous to the abolition of
heritable jurisdictions
Heritable jurisdictions were, in the law of Scotland, grants of jurisdiction made to a man and his heirs.
They were a usual accompaniment to feudal tenures and conferred power on great families. Both before and after the Union frequent attempts ...
.
Macpherson had incurred the enmity of the rich lairds and farmers of the low country of Banff and
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland.
It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...
, and especially Duff of Braco, who organised a
posse
Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates.
Posse may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Posse'' (1975 ...
to capture him. "After holding the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and
Moray
Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.
Between 1975 ...
in fear for some years", says Chambers, "he was seized by Duff of Braco, ancestor of the Earl of Fife, and tried before the Sheriff of Banffshire (8 November 1700), along with certain Gypsies who had been taken in his company.
Before ultimately being brought to trial, Macpherson was captured several times but always escaped from his enemies. In
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, his cousin, Donald, and a gypsy named Peter Brown, aided by the populace, rescued him from prison. Shortly afterwards, he was again captured, but was once more rescued, this time by the Laird of Grant.
Capture and trial
Macpherson's career of robbery had culminated in a "reign of terror" in the markets of Banff,
Elgin and
Forres
Forres (; gd, Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There ...
. Apparently under protection of the Laird of Grant, he and his band of followers would come marching in with a piper at their head. Perhaps he became too powerful for comfort for he was hanged at Banff in 1700, for bearing arms at
Keith
Keith may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters
* Keith (surname)
* Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949)
* Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...
market. At the Saint Rufus Fair in Keith Macpherson was attacked by Braco's men, and was captured after a fierce fight in which one of Jamie's crew was killed. According to the traditional account penned by Jamie himself, a woman dropped a blanket over him from a window, and he was disarmed before he could get free of it. Duff and a very strong escort then took him to Banff prison.
It was still at that time a criminal offence merely to be an Egyptian (Gypsy) in Scotland, and it was under this statute that Macpherson was tried in November 1700.
[ Macpherson and others were brought to trial at Banff before Nicholas Dunbar, the Sheriff of Banffshire——on 8 November 1700, accused of thievery. Macpherson was sentenced to ]death by hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...
.
Dunbar's sentence against Macpherson remained in the written record, and his death sentence was a follows:
Macpherson's Lament
While jailed before the execution of his sentence, Macpherson is said to have composed his song known today as Macpherson's Lament. According to Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
, Macpherson played this tune beneath the gallows
A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...
, and then, after playing his song, he offered his fiddle to his clansmen to play it at his wake. No one came forward, and so Macpherson either broke the fiddle across his knee or over the executioner's head, throwing the pieces to the crowd, saying, "No one else shall play Jamie Macpherson's fiddle". The Clan Macpherson Museum in Newtonmore
Newtonmore ( gd, Baile Ùr an t-Sléibh ) is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. The village is only a few miles from a location that is claimed to be the exact geographical centre of Scotland
There is some debate as to the lo ...
houses what remains of Macpherson's fiddle.
He then was hanged or, according to some accounts, threw himself from the ladder, to hang by his own will. This was allegedly the last capital sentence executed in Scotland under a heritable jurisdiction, taking place on 16 November 1700.
The traditional accounts of Macpherson's immense prowess seem justified by his bones, which were found not very many years ago, and were allowed by all who saw them to be much stronger than the bones of ordinary men.
It is alleged a pardon was enroute to Banff during the time of Macpherson's execution. Legendary accounts state Duff of Braco spotted a lone ride coming from Turriff
Turriff () is a town and civil parish in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It lies on the River Deveron, about above sea level, and has a population of 5,708. In everyday speech it is often referred to by its Scots name ''Turra'', which is derived fr ...
and assumed the ride bore a pardon for Macpherson from the Laird of Grant. Duff is said to have changed the village's clock to be 15 minutes early to cause the death sentence to be carried out sooner, before the rider with the pardon arrived. The magistrates allegedly were punished for this and the town clock was kept 15 minutes before the correct time for many years.
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, Jamie
17th-century Scottish people
1675 births
1700 deaths
Scottish outlaws
Scottish Travellers
Scottish poets
Scottish fiddlers
British male violinists
Scottish Romani people
Romani fiddlers
Romani criminals
People from Banffshire
People executed by the Kingdom of Scotland by hanging
Antiziganism in the United Kingdom