Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston (1753 – 30 April 1783) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer and Chief of the

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 ...

Clan Mackenzie Clan Mackenzie ( gd, Clann Choinnich ) is a Scottish clan, traditionally associated with Kintail and lands in Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands. Traditional genealogies trace the ancestors of the Mackenzie chiefs to the 12th century. However ...

Origins

Mackenzie was the eldest son of Major William Mackenzie (died 12 March 1770), by Mary, daughter and heiress of Matthew Humberston of Humberston, in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. His father was the son of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie and grandson of Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth. On the death of his cousin,

Kenneth Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Seaforth Kenneth Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Seaforth FRS (15 January 1744 – 27 August 1781) was a British peer, politician, soldier and Chief of the Highland Clan Mackenzie. Origins Mackenzie was the son of Kenneth Mackenzie, Lord Fortrose (died 1761) ...

of the new creation, Mackenzie became the representative of the ancient house of Mackenzie of

Kintail Kintail ( gd, Cinn Tàile) is an area of mountains in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, located in the Highland Council area. It consists of the mountains to the north of Glen Shiel and the A87 road between the heads of Loch Duich and Loch Clu ...

and the attainted Earls of Seaforth. Mackenzie adopted the additional name of Humberston on succeeding to his mother's property and purchased the remaining ancestral estates of the Earls of Seaforth from his cousin.Sir James Balfour Paul, ''The Scots Peerage'', volume VII (Edinburgh, David Douglas, 1910), at pages 512-513

Career

In 1771, Mackenzie was commissioned into the 1st Dragoon Guards. He became a lieutenant in 1775 and a captain in 1777. In 1778, during the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, he helped his cousin, Lord Seaforth, to raise a corps of highlanders to fight in the war. The regiment, initially staffed by Clan Mackenzie officers, became the

78th Foot The 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line, raised in 1793. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with 72nd Regiment, Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders to form the Seaforth Highlanders in 1881. ...

later that year. Mackenzie became a major in that regiment in 1779 and was present with five companies at the repulse of an attempted French landing in St Ouen's Bay,

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

, on 1 May 1779. In 1780, Mackenzie was transferred to the 100th Foot and promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. On Lord Seaforth's death Humberston was transferred to the 78th regiment as lieutenant-colonel commandant in his place, 15 Feb. 1782. He subsequently served with distinction in India during the

Second Anglo-Mysore War The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the conflict between Britain against the French and Dutch in ...

. In April 1783, the ship on which Mackenzie was travelling was attack by

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

pirates, and he died on 30 April in Gheriah from the effects of wounds he had sustained. Mackenzie died unmarried but with an illegitimate son, Thomas B. Mackenzie Humberston. He died whilst serving as a captain in the 78th Ross-shire Buffs in 1803.

Posterity

He was succeeded in the chiefship and in his estates by his younger brother

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...

Line of Chiefs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie Humberston, Thomas Frederick 1st King's Dragoon Guards officers 78th Highlanders officers 100th Regiment of Foot (Loyal Lincolnshire Regiment) officers

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

1783 deaths Anglo-Scots 1753 births Seaforth, Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston, 5th Marquess of British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Mysore War