Sir Alexander Macdonald, 7th Baronet

Sir Alexander Macdonald, 7th Baronet, 14th Chief of Sleat (1711 – 23 November 1746) was a Scottish Chief of Clan Macdonald of Sleat.

Early life

Macdonald was born in 1711. He was the son of Sir James Macdonald, 6th Baronet and the former Janet Macleod. From his mother's first marriage to John Macleod, 2nd of Talisker (a grandson of Sir Roderick MacLeod, 15th Chief of Clan MacLeod), he had an elder half-brother, Donald MacLeod, 3rd of Talisker. From his parents' marriage, his siblings included Margaret Macdonald (wife of Sir Robert Douglas, 6th Baronet) and Janet Macdonald (wife of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, 5th Baronet).

His paternal grandparents were Sir Donald Macdonald, 3rd Baronet and Lady Mary Douglas (a daughter of the 8th Earl of Morton and Anne Villiers). His maternal grandparents were Alasdair MacLeod, 2nd of Grishornish and Margaret MacQueen.

Career

Upon the death of his father in 1723, he succeeded as the 7th Baronet Macdonald, of Sleat, in the Isle of Skye, Inverness-shire, created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia in 1625. In 1745, despite being expected to support the Jacobite cause during the rising of that year, he backed the Government, almost the only person in the district to do so. The Jacobite historian Melville Henry Massue assessed that it was the defection of Macdonald and MacLeod of MacLeod that largely contributed the failure of the rebellion.

Personal life

On 3 April 1733, Macdonald married Anne, Lady Ogilvy, ( Erskine) (–1735), a daughter of David Erskine. Anne was the widow of James Ogilvy, Lord Ogilvy, the eldest son and heir apparent of David Ogilvy, 3rd Earl of Airlie and Lady Grizel Lyon (a daughter the 3rd Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne) Before her death on 27 November 1735, they were the parents of:

* Donald Macdonald (b. 1734), who died young.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.'' Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, pps. 450-451.

After her death, he married Lady Margaret Montgomerie (d. 1799) on 24 April 1739 at St. Paul's Church, Edinburgh. Lady Margaret was a daughter of Alexander Montgomerie, 9th Earl of Eglinton, and Susanna Kennedy (a daughter of Sir Archibald Kennedy, 1st Baronet). Together, they were the parents of:

* Sir James Macdonald, 8th Baronet (–1766), an accomplished scholar and mathematician who died unmarried in Rome, Italy.
* Alexander Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald (–1795), who married Elizabeth Diana Bosville, eldest daughter of Godfrey Bosville IV of Gunthwaite, and sister of Col. William Bosville, in 1768.
* Sir Archibald Macdonald, 1st Baronet (1747–1826), who served as MP for Hindon and Newcastle-under-Lyme; he married Lady Louisa Leveson-Gower, daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, in 1777.

Sir Alexander died unexpectedly on 23 November 1746 at Berneray. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest surviving son, the ten year-old James. His widow lived for more than fifty years until her death on 30 March 1799.George Edward Cokayne, editor, ''The Complete Baronetage, 5 volumes'' ((); reprint, Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), volume II, pps. 291-292. After James' death without issue in 1766, the baronetcy passed to his next son, Alexander, who was created Baron Macdonald in the Peerage of Ireland in 1776. His youngest son, who was born after his death, was created a baronet in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom upon his retirement as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1813.

Descendants

Through his son Alexander, he was posthumously a grandfather of Hon. Diana Macdonald (wife of Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet); Alexander Macdonald, 2nd Baron Macdonald (an MP for Saltash who died unmarried);.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14'' (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume VIII, page 340. Godfrey Macdonald, 3rd Baron Macdonald (who married Louisa Maria La Coast, the illegitimate daughter of Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh);Anthony Camp, ''Royal Mistresses and Bastards 1714–1936'' (2007) 104–111 and the Hon. Archibald Macdonald (who married Jane Campbell, daughter of Duncan Campbell of Arneave).

Through his youngest son Archibald, he was posthumously a grandfather of Louisa Macdonald; Sir James Macdonald, 2nd Baronet (who married Lady Sophia Keppel, a daughter of William Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle); and Caroline Diana Macdonald (who married Rev. Thomas Randolph, son of Rt. Rev. Dr. John Randolph).

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Alexander, 7th Baronet
1711 births
1723 deaths
Nobility from Highland (council area)
Alexander
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Scottish clan chiefs