Mrs MacFarlane (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1716–1719) is known for being outlawed for the murder of John Cayley. The story of how she avoided punishment was the basis of verse and it was part of the story in Sir Walter Scott's novel '' Peveril of the Peak''.

Life

MacFarlane was born to Colonel Charles Straiton at the end of the 17th century. She married John MacFarlane who was many years her senior when she was 19. She came to notice following the death of John Cayley on 2 October 1716. He had been wounded and then killed by two shots from his own pistols. These pistols had been lent to John MacFarlane. It was said that the motive for the murder was self-defence as Macfarlane feared that she was to be sexually assaulted. This account was given to her servant, Barbara Martine, when she returned to the house. When her husband returned she told him what had happened and that she had been attacked by Cayley after being tricked to his lodgings three days before. Her husband found the body and he advised his wife not to face trial but to flee. Other sources indicate that MacFarlane had changed her underwear before Cayley arrived. Cayley was a commissioner for the customs and he was known to the family.''An Exact and Particular Account of the Way and Manner of the Killing of Commissioner Cayley, by Madam Mackfarling, together with the depositions of the witnesses there anent'', 1716, British Library BL1505/28(3) MacFarlane followed her husband's advice and she was "

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...

ed". Verses were written that supported MacFaralene for killing in self defence. According to some sources, she lived on in Edinburgh, being kept in a hidden room by the Swinton family. Sir Walter Scott says that he was told this story by his aunt Margaret Swinton, who said that she had met Mrs MacFarlane in her parlour and she had disappeared into a secret apartment. Her aunt's family had sworn her to secrecy as they said that MacFarlane's life was at stake.

T. F. Henderson __NOTOC__ Thomas Finlayson Henderson (25 May 1844 – 25 December 1923), often credited as T. F. Henderson, was a Scottish historian, author and editor. Henderson was a prolific author and contributed entries on Scottish figures for the ''Dictio ...

, ''Macfarlane, Mrs (fl. 1716–1719)'', rev. Barbara White, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 10 May 2015
/ref> Her husband remarried in 1719, and this is presumed to be after her death.

References

{{reflist

External links

Cayley Family History website
Scottish murderers British female murderers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Scottish outlaws