Lord Robert Kerr (died 16 April 1746) was a Scottish nobleman of the

Clan Kerr Clan Kerr () is a Scottish clan whose origins lie in the Scottish Borders. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the prominent border reiver clans along the present-day Anglo-Scottish border and played an important role in the history of the Bo ...

and the second son of

William Kerr, 3rd Marquess of Lothian William Kerr, 3rd Marquess of Lothian, ( – 28 July 1767) was a Scottish nobleman, styled Master of Jedburgh from 1692 to 1703 and Lord Jedburgh from 1703 to 1722. Early life He was the son of William Kerr, 2nd Marquess of Lothian and Lady Jean ...

. His family's surname at the time he lived was often also spelt as 'Ker'. He is thought to have gone on a

grand tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

of Europe between 1732 and 1739, on which he acquired the only surviving score of the Il Gran Mogul concerto by

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

– he played the flute himself. He was commissioned into the army in 1739 and fought at the

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden (; gd, Blàr Chùil Lodair) was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force under Prince Wi ...

on 16 April 1746 as Captain of the Grenadiers in Barrell's Regiment. He is reported to have received the leading Highlander on the point of his

spontoon A spontoon, sometimes known by the variant spelling espontoon or as a half-pike, is a type of European polearm that came into being alongside the pike. The spontoon was in common use from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century, but it was ...

, but then a second cut him through the head to chin, making him the only high-ranking Government soldier to be killed in the battle. Many accounts of Culloden cite Major Gillies MacBean of Lady Anne Mackintosh's regiment as the man who killed Lord Robert Kerr at Culloden, and this remains in the traditional historical memory of Clan MacBean.Culloden Tales: Stories from Scotland's Most Famous Battlefield, by Hugh G. Allison (Penguin Random House, 2007). Page 128: ''The Clan Chattan Regiment charged the government's left flank, where an eyewitness account describes the fall of Captain Lord Robert Kerr of Barrell's Regiment, 'his head being cleft from crown to collarbone' by Major Gillies MacBean'' His Great Uncle, General Lord Mark Kerr's regiment – ' Kerr's (11th) Dragoons' were also at Culloden.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Robert 1746 deaths Younger sons of marquesses British Army personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745 King's Own Royal Regiment officers British military personnel killed in action Year of birth unknown