McKENZIE, MURDOCH, the younger (1743–1829), commander in the navy and hydrographer, born in 1743, was the nephew of Murdoch McKenzie the elder [q. v.] He is said to have been a midshipman of the Dolphin in her voyage round the world under Commodore John Byron [q. v.], 1764-6. In 1771 he succeeded his uncle as surveyor of the admiralty. In 1773 he was surveying the coast of Cornwall, in 1775 the coast of Kent, in 1779 the south coast of Devon. On 5 Aug. 1779 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the navy, but the promotion made no difference in his work. In 1780 he surveyed the channel between the Isle of Sheppey and the mainland, an idea having been started that the Dutch might attempt to get again into the Medway by this passage. In 1781 he surveyed the Needles, at the request of the Trinity House, in order to determine the best way of protecting vessels from the rocks. About this time his eyesight began to fail, but he continued to act as chief surveyor of the admiralty till 1788. His charts were not published till 1804, and it does not appear that he had anything to do with that stage of the work. He was promoted to be commander on 31 Jan.' 1814, and died on 27 Jan. 1829, in his eighty-sixth year (Gent. Mag. 1829 pt. i. p. 188). He is described as of Minehead in Somerset. The confusion between the two hydrographers of the same name is almost inextricable, and the 'Treatise on Marine Surveying' is commonly attributed to the nephew.
[Dawson's Memoirs of Hydrography, i. 8.]
MACKENZIE, ROBERT (1823–1881), miscellaneous writer, born in 1823 at Barry, Forfarshire, where his father was parish schoolmaster, was educated by his father and at a school at St. Andrews. The family moved to Dundee, and Mackenzie was apprenticed as a clerk in a merchant's office, He served in various situations, but about 1843 became reporter to the 'Northern Warder,' which he afterwards sub-edited. He quitted journalism for commerce, and became partner in the firm of Mackenzie, Ramsay & Co., which failed after the crisis of 1857. He then returned to journalism, frequently visited America, and wrote a few books. Just before his death he was actively engaged as agent for the Westinghouse Brake Company. He died at his house in Magdalen Yard Road, Dundee, on 2 Feb. 1881. He had married, first, a daughter of John Home Scott, and secondly a daughter of William Cunningham (1805-1861) [q. v.], and left four children.
His chief works were: 1. 'The United States of America. A History,' London, 1870, 8vo. 2. 'The Nineteenth Century. A History,' London, 1880, 8vo; abridged in 1881 as 'The Reign of Queen Victoria,' 3. 'America. A History,' London, 1882, 8vo. He also edited with notes in 1883 an incomplete edition of 'Gulliver's Travels.'
[Dundee Advertiser, 8 Feb. 1881; Northern Warder, 4 Feb. 1881; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
MACKENZIE, ROBERT SHELTON (1809–1880), miscellaneous writer, born at Drews Court, co. Limerick, on 22 June 1809, was the second son of Captain Kenneth Mackenzie, an officer in the army, and author of a volume of Gaelic poetry, published in Glasgow in 1796. Robert was educated at a school in Fermoy, co. Cork, where his father held the office of postmaster after his retirement from the army, and at the age of thirteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary in Cork. He seems to have opened a school in Fermoy after serving his term, and in 1825–6 was still in that town, writing poems for the ‘Dublin and London Magazine’ and other journals, over the signature of ‘Sholto.’ The statement that he graduated in medicine at Dublin is unconfirmed by the university register. About 1828 he acted for a short time as editor of a paper at Hanley, Staffordshire. It was in 1828 that his first work, a volume of poems entitled ‘Lays of Palestine,’ appeared in London. After 1830 he went to London, and wrote for various journals, including the ‘Lady's Magazine’ and the ‘London Magazine.’ He contributed biographies to ‘The Georgian Era’ (1832–4), and was engaged on the staff of several London newspapers. In 1834, according to his biographers, he received the degree of LL.D. at Glasgow. Besides writing for the ‘Dublin University Magazine’ (1837–8), he edited the ‘Liverpool Journal’ and corresponded with American papers. He was the first European correspondent for the American press, and in 1852 emigrated to the United States, settling in New York, and engaging in literary work. In 1857 he went to Philadelphia, and there remained till his death on 30 Nov. 1880. The statement that he obtained the degree of D.C.L. at Oxford is an error.
His original writings are not remarkable, but one or two of his compilations are extremely useful. Besides ‘Lays of Palestine’ (London, 1828), he published in England ‘The Dramatic Works of J. S. Knowles,’ with biographical introduction, &c. (4to, London, 1838); ‘Titian, a Romance of Venice’ (3 vols. 12mo, London, 1843); ‘Life of Guizot,’ prefixed to a translation of
