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Macpherson
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Macpherson

the house of a friend, special precautions being taken to guard against surprise. Latterly when parting from his friends, even from his wife, he declined to inform them as to which hiding-place he intended to go, lest they should inadvertently betray it. On 4 Sept. 1764 the prince wrote him a letter asking him to come as soon as convenient to Paris, and to bring with him all the effects left in his hands, and whatever money he could come at. The chief reference in this letter was to a sum of 27,000l. left in the hands of Cluny, of which a considerable portion had been spent in accordance with the prince's directions. It was probably in compliance with this request of the prince that Cluny in 1755 escaped to France. Before bidding a final farewell to the highlands, he is said to have called on a noted deer-stalker—Macdonald of Tulloch—and killed a deer (Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, xvi. 212). He died at Dunkirk in France in 1756. By his wife Jane, daughter of Simon Fraser, lord Lovat, he had a son Duncan, and a daughter Margaret, married to Colonel Duncan Macpherson.

The Cluny estates were in 1784, through the good offices of James Macpherson [q. v.], the translator of Ossian, restored to Ewen's son Duncan, who, born in 1750 in a kiln for drying corn, entered the army and became lieutenant-colonel of the 3rd foot-guards. He died 1 Aug. 1817.

Ewen Macpherson (1804-1884), his eldest son, by his wife Catherine, youngest daughter of Sir Evan Cameron, bart., of Fassifern, Argyllshire, was generally known in the highlands as Cluny. Born 24 April 1804, he was in early life a captain in the 42nd highlanders. Subsequently he took a prominent part in starting the volunteer movement in the highlands, and was lieutenant-colonel of the Inverness highland rifle volunteers till 1882. At the volunteer review at Edinburgh in the previous year, Queen Victoria, in recognition of his services, made him a companion of the Bath. Cluny also took an active interest in county matters and held many important public offices, being a governor of the Caledonian Bank, director of the Highland Railway, deputy-lieutenant of Inverness, permanent steward of the northern meeting, and chieftain of the Gaelic Society. While thoroughly loyal to the reigning dynasty, he cherished the Jacobite sentiments of his ancestors, and was specially attached to old highland customs and manners. So far as possible he endeavoured to live among his people the life of the old highland chiefs, of whom he was probably the last representative. He died in January 1884. By his wife Sarah, daughter of Henry Davidson of Tulloch, he had four sons and three daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Colonel Duncan Macpherson, C.B., at one time of the 42nd Highlanders.

[Authorities mentioned in the text; Chambers's History of the Rebellion, 1745; Douglas' Baronage of Scotland; Skene's Highlanders of Scotland; Jesse's Pretenders and their Adherents, p. 345; Burke's Landed Gentry.]

T. F. H.

MACPHERSON, Sir HERBERT TAYLOR (1827–1886), major-general Bengal staff corps, son of Lieutenant-colonel Duncan Macpherson, at one time of the 78th highlanders or Ross-shire buffs, was born in 1827, and in 1845 was appointed an ensign in his father's old regiment, in which he became lieutenant 13 July 1848. He served as adjutant of the regiment In the Persian expedition in 1867 (medal and clasp), and with the force under Sir Henry Havelock [q. v.] at the relief of the residency at Lucknow, 25 Sept. 1857, and in the subsequent defence, where he obtained the Victoria Cross for his conspicuously gallant conduct. He became captain in the regiment 5 Oct. 1857, and served under Outram at the defence of the Alumbagh, and as brigade-major during the operations ending in the final capture of Lucknow, in which he was very severely wounded (brevet of major, medal and clasp, and grant of a year's service). After the East India Company's forces passed under the crown, Macpherson was one of the first officers who obtained permission to transfer their services from the British to the Indian army. He was appointed major Bengal staff corps in 1865, became brevet lieutenant-colonel in 1867, lieutenant-colonel staff corps in 1871, and brevet-colonel in 1872. He served in the Hazara (Black Mountain) campaign of 1868 (medal and clasp), in the Looshai expedition in 1871-2 (medal and clasp), and in the Jowaki campaign of 1877, when he was present at the forcing of the Boripass. In 1878-9 he commanded the first brigade of the first division of the Khyber column in the Afghan war (medal and clasp and K.C.B.) In 1880 he was appointed to a brigade in Bengal, with the local rank of major-general. In 1882 he became a major-general, and commanded the division of Indian troops sent up the Red Sea to Egypt, and was present at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir. His rapid march with the Indian troops to Zag-a-Zig, where on the night of the battle of Tel-el-Kebir he received a telegram from the commission of pashas at Cairo laying the submission of the army and the country at the feet of the Khedive, ended Arabi's rebellion (Maurice, p. 101). For some