Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Francis Humberston Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth, (9 June 1754 – 11 January 1815) was a British politician, soldier, and botanist. He was Chief of the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

Clan Mackenzie Clan Mackenzie ( ) is a Highland Scottish clan associated with Kintail and Ross-shire. Its chiefs trace their lineage to the 12th century, though the earliest recorded chief is Alexander Mackenzie of Kintail, who died after 1471. The clan suppo ...

, as which he raised the renowned

78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot The 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Scottish regiment, 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 Highl ...

Early life

Mackenzie was the second son of Major William Mackenzie (d. 12 March 1770), who was the son of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, and the grandson of Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth. Francis's mother was Mary, the daughter and heiress of Matthew Humberston of Humberston,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. On the death of his elder brother Colonel Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston in 1783, Francis Mackenzie became the last male heir of the attainted Earls of Seaforth.Sir James Balfour Paul, ''The Scots Peerage'', volume VII (Edinburgh, David Douglas, 1910), at pages 513–514 When he was about twelve years of age, Francis contracted

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'', a Group A streptococcus (GAS). It most commonly affects children between five and 15 years of age. The signs and symptoms include a sore ...

, which incurred the loss of his ability to hear and almost all of his ability to speak. As a consequence, he was known as MacCoinnich Bodhar (Deaf Mackenzie in

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

Political and military career

From 1784 to 1790, and again from 1794 to 1796, Seaforth was Member of Parliament for the County of Ross. In 1787, he proposed raising a regiment on his own estates, with himself as commander. The government declined his patriotic offer but accepted his services in procuring recruits for the 74th and 75th. On 19 May, 1790, he renewed his offer, yet the government declined his services again. When war broke out in 1793, he offered for a third time, and a letter of service was granted in his favour dated 7 March, 1793, empowering him as Lieutenant-Colonel-Commandant to raise a Highland Battalion to be called the

. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ross-shire and was raised to the peerage of Great Britain as Lord Seaforth, Baron Mackenzie of Kintail in the County of Ross on 26 October, 1797. In 1798, he was appointed Colonel of the Ross-shire Regiment of Militia. Seaforth served as Governor of Barbados from 1800 to 1806. During his tenure he reformed slavery on the island, implemented a prohibition on killing slaves, and reduced official discrimination against free blacks. As Governor of Barbados, Seaforth appointed Thomas Moody, a mathematical expert from a prominent British family, to a direct commission in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

, which Moody entered as a lieutenant in 1806. Seaforth attained the rank of lieutenant-general in 1808.

Avocational life

In 1794, Seaforth was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

for his contributions to botany, with the genus '' Seaforthia'' named in recognition of his work. A year later, In 1795, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

, again in acknowledgement of his contributions to botany: his proposers were

Daniel Rutherford Daniel Rutherford (3 November 1749 – 15 November 1819) was a Scottish physician, chemist and botanist who is known for the isolation of nitrogen in 1772. Life Rutherford was born on 3 November 1749, the son of Anne Mackay and Professor J ...

, Alexander Monro (secundus), and

John Playfair John Playfair FRSE, FRS (10 March 1748 – 20 July 1819) was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book ''Illu ...

. He was also a Fellow of the Linnean Society, and served as Extraordinary Director of the Highland Society. In 1796, Mackenzie gave £1,000 to

Sir Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English people, English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was a ...

to assist with Lawrence's financial difficulties. Lawrence later painted a full-length portrait of Seaforth's daughter, Mary. Lord Seaforth commissioned

Benjamin West Benjamin West (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as ''The Death of Nelson (West painting), The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the ''Treaty of Paris ( ...

's 1786 painting '' Alexander III of Scotland Rescued from the Fury of a Stag by the Intrepidity of Colin Fitzgerald''."King Alexander III of Scotland being rescued from the fury of a stag by the intrepidity of Colin Fitzgerald"
National Gallery

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

said of him: Seaforth nearly recovered entirely the use of his tongue, but during the last two years of his life, which he spent mourning the deaths of his four sons, he rarely spoke.

Family

In 1782, Mackenzie entered matrimony with Mary Proby, the daughter of The Very Rev Baptist Proby, who served as the 7th Dean of Lichfield and Mary Russel. Mary was the niece of John Proby, 1st Baron Carysfort and sister of Rev. Charles Proby. Francis's four legitimate sons all predeceased him as predicted by the

Brahan Seer The Brahan Seer, known in his native Scottish Gaelic as Coinneach Odhar ("Dark Kenneth"), and Kenneth Mackenzie, was, according to legend, a predictor of the future who lived in the 17th century. The Brahan Seer is regarded by some to be the cr ...

. His children were: *William Frederick Mackenzie (died young) *George Leveson Boucherat Mackenzie (died young) * Hon. William Frederick Mackenzie (died 1814), MP for

Ross-shire Ross-shire (; ), or the County of Ross, was a county in the Scottish Highlands. It bordered Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire, a county consisting of numerous enc ...

*Hon. Francis John Mackenzie, midshipman, RN (died unmarried 1813) * Hon. Mary Elizabeth Frederica Mackenzie, heiress to her father, (married first Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, married second Rt Hon James Alexander Stewart of Glasserton). *Frances Catherine Mackenzie, dsp *Caroline Elizabeth Mackenzie (accidentally killed unmarried) *Charlotte Elizabeth Mackenzie (died unmarried) *Augusta Anne Mackenzie (died unmarried in 1856) buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

*Helen Anne Mackenzie (married Joshua Henry Mackenzie, Lord Mackenzie) (buried in

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 1 ...

)

References

Sources

* * Sidney Lee (ed), Dictionary of National Biography (1891), London, Smith, Elder & Co

External links

*
Seaforth's Lewis
by Finlay MacLeod , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Seaforth, Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron 1754 births 1815 deaths Nobility from Highland (council area) Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Peers of Great Britain created by George III Mackenzie, Francis Humberston British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British Army lieutenant generals Governors of Barbados Lord-lieutenants of Ross-shire Mackenzie, Francis Humberston Deaf royalty and nobility British royalty and nobility with disabilities MacKenzie, Francis Fellows of the Royal Society British politicians with disabilities

Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...

Mackenzie, Francis Humberston Marquesses in the Jacobite peerage British deaf people