The Story behind the Stone – the families, estates and stories of Kirkmichael, Cullicudden, the Black Isle and beyond
Helen Stuart of Abertarff House Inverness, Captain John Reid of the Old Orchard Cromarty –
and Hugh Miller’s mermaid tale
text by Dr Jim Mackay
all documents, unless specifically stated otherwise, are held within the National Records of Scotland (NRS) in Edinburgh
thanks to Andrew Dowset for photography in St Regulus,
Jason Ubych of Tain Museum for drawing my attention to their copies of the Pitcalnie Papers and
Matt Hall for access to his home, the Old Orchard, previously the Old Manse and once the home of Captain John Reid and Helen Stuart
This is a story that links three of the oldest houses in the Highlands of Scotland, Abertarff House in Inverness and the Old Orchard and Hugh Miller's Cottage in Cromarty, all three adorned with marriage lintels, and all three rescued from dereliction. And they are all linked by the tale of a mermaid.
from left, Abertarff House, Inverness, the Old Orchard, Cromarty, and Hugh Miller’s Cottage, Cromarty; photos by Jim Mackay
The Three Wishes
Helen Stuart, according to Hugh Miller's evergreen (and morally dubious) story of Captain John Reid's encounter with the mermaid, was a beautiful Cromarty heiress. She was eighteen years old and had no romantic interest in the rough-and-ready, far-travelled sailor who was fully twelve years older than she. But he had certainly fallen for her.
Early on the first of May, Captain Reid went for a walk to the east of Cromarty, hoping to see Helen like other young ladies catching the morning dew. Hugh Miller doesn’t mention it, and I don’t believe anyone has noted this before, but he and Captain Reid shared a common ancestor: Paul Feddes. who is buried in St Regulus on the hill above Cromarty. Well, whilst Reid was walking along the shore, he heard a melody and following the sound spied a mermaid sitting on a skerry opposite the Dropping Cave, half in and half out of the sea, and singing to herself. The strange power of mermaids over the destinies of men he was well aware of.
the eerie Dropping Cave with its Great Stone in the foreground that Hugh Miller could raise chest-high; photo by Jim Mackay
looking out onto the very skerry, perhaps, on which the mermaid sat; photo by Jim Mackay
the mermaid sculpture in the garden of the Old Orchard, Cromarty; photo by Jim Mackay
Captain Reid crept up on the mermaid, wrestled her into submission and demanded his wishes three, as set out in Miller’s Scenes and Legends (1834). Reid’s father, a sailor like himself, had been drowned many years before; and his first wish was, that neither he himself nor any of his friends should perish by the sea. The second – for he feared lest Helen, so lady-looking a person, and an heiress to boot, might yet find herself the wife of a poor man – was, that he should be uninterruptedly fortunate in all his undertakings. The third wish he never communicated to any one except the mermaid, and yet no one ever failed to guess it.
Shortly afterwards he met Helen, out with a companion whom Helen had been telling of a strange dream she has had. The girls had just heard someone singing the same song Helen had heard in her dream. On their return to Cromarty, Helen leans on his arm for support and protection, “a freedom which no one would have remarked as over great at May-day next year, for the sailor had ere then become her husband. For nearly a century after, the family was a rising one; but it is now extinct. Helen, for the last seventy years, has been sleeping under a slab of blue marble within the broken walls of the Chapel of St. Regulus; her only daughter, the wife of Sir George Mackenzie of Cromarty, lies in one of the burying-grounds of Inverness, with a shield of I know not how many quartering over her grave; and it is not yet twenty years since her grandson, the last of the family, died in London, bequeathing to one of his Cromarty relatives several small pieces of property, and a legacy of many thousand pounds.”
So goes Hugh Miller’s tale of the mermaid, a curious amalgam of fact and fiction. For Helen Stuart did marry Captain John Reid, and her daughter (well, stepdaughter) did indeed marry Sir George Mackenzie of Cromarty, and a grandson (well, actually a son), did leave a substantial legacy to a Cromarty relative and there are other elements of the story which are undeniably true…
Helen Stuart (1700-1768)
Helen certainly wasn’t an heiress, although her father at the time was a successful merchant. She was born in 1700 in Abertarff House on Church Street in Inverness, now the oldest house in the city. The Stuart family had resided there since 1681, the date on her grand-parents’ marriage lintel over the fireplace. You can follow the story of how I came to discover that Alexander Stuart and Helen Pape were the owners of the initials AS and HP in this complementary story here.
photo by Kirsty Mackay
Bailie John Steuart’s family a few generations prior to this had been Barons of Kincardine so he was no ordinary merchant. An ardent Jacobite, he himself was named as a rebel in the ’45 and had to seek sanctuary with his son-in-law, Richard Hay-Newton of Newton, whom daughter Anne had married in 1742.
The Bailie’s daughter Marian married into a family actively associated with the Jacobite cause. Her husband was merchant captain and smuggler Alexander Wedderburn, a close relative of Sir John Wedderburn of Blackness who was executed for his role in the ’45, when he acted as Collector of Excise for the Young Pretender and was one of his Life-Guards. Captain Wedderburn in fact was asked to see if he could assist Sir John, but in vain.
Helen’s baptism record; it reads “Upon the 14th of Jully ther was a childe born to John Stuart Alexrsone mer[chan]t and Helen Rose his Spouse, and baptised the 6th day of August 1700 be Mr Hector McKenzie named (Helen) wittnesses Alexr Duff of Drumoore Alexr McLean Mr Alexr Clark & David Stuart mer[chan]ts”
Life in Abertarff House for the young Helen must therefore have been punctuated with moments when she would be sent outside to play in the long garden that swept down to the River Ness whilst her father discussed confidential matters with frequent visitors such as the Bailie's cousin, John Roy Stuart, the celebrated Strathspey musician, poet – and rebel.
As Helen was born in 1700, she would have known her grand-parents Alexander Stuart and Helen Pape well given that they were also residing in family, with Alexander and Helen passing away in 1720 and 1728 respectively. She must have sat with them in front of the very fireplace, with its curious carved heart linking their two sets of initials, which is still there in Abertarff House.
photo by Jim Mackay
Captain John Reid sails in
Although John Reid had been born in Cromarty (to skipper John Reid and Jean Feddes), in the 1720s he was residing in Inverness. He had married Janet McWirrich, daughter of prominent Inverness merchant William McWirrich and Elizabeth Fouller, there in 1723, by which time he was already “Skipper”. They had several children, including Elspet or Elizabeth, who was baptised 15 October 1724, and William, who died in 1728, but Elizabeth was the only one to survive to adulthood. She became Lady Elizabeth Mackenzie. Her biological mother, Janet McWirrich, died still a young woman, buried in Inverness on 26 December 1729, by which time John Reid is recorded as “Shipmaster Burges”.
Captain Reid first sails into the Stuart story in 1723, when he carries north some domestic goods for Bailie John Steuart.
The Bailie's mercantile exploits, recorded in his letter-books, in turn summarised in the indispensable The Letter-book of Bailie John Steuart (editor William Mackay, 1915), involved deals transporting goods by his ships, either owned or contracted, across Europe and beyond. Captain John Reid was involved in some of these deals long before he married Helen in 1730, so he must have known her for several years before their betrothal.
As I say, the first time the Bailie mentions him in his published letters is in 1723. He was writing to another merchant for whom he had been selling a shipload of salt, and offering a deal with him to purchase dry cod and ling on the west coast with freight to Barcelona. But he had some specific requirements for himself, to be delivered by Captain Reid:
Inverness, 12t April 1723.
Mr. George Ouchterlony [London].
Sir,–… The barque Margret of this place, John Reid Master, I supose will be with you before this comes to hand. Please ship for my accot. a tinn watering pott, and 2 spads for a gardend, ½ hundred wt. double refined suggar, one Duz of comon prayer books without gilding in 8vo, Doctor Predo his Conection of the old and new tastament, and some of the leatest and best pamphlets, particularly the story of the Plott, a leat one called News from Pernassus ; and place ye value of all to my accot. …
A curious mix! The Margaret’s full name was the Prosperous Margaret, a fact we learn unfortunately when she was lost:
Newcastle Courant 8 January 1726
We have an Account, that the Prosperous Margaret, Captain Read, from London to Aberdeen, was lately lost off of Inverness.
and
GD23/6/77 Correspondence, addressed to Gilbert Gordon and John Mackintosh, senior, merchants in Inverness, and valuations, inventories, accounts etc. concerning salvage and sale by auction of goods etc. from the ship “Prosperous Margaret” of Inverness, John Reid master, wrecked at Montrose on 16 December 1725, coming from London.
The Bailie was therefore making a frightful pun when lamenting the loss of his personal cargo, and does not come over as being sympathetic about poor Captain Reid:
1 January 1725/26,
Mr. Alexr. Forbes [London].
Sir,– I received your favour of 30th Novr. last, with Invoyce and bill of loading for goods shiped in the un-prosperous Margt., John Reid master, which Ship was soon after lost on the Barr of Montrose water, and of my litle cargoe there is nothing saved but a barrell of pitch. I wish you hade insured it as others did what they shipped without orders ; but now no help. I observe the value of these goods extends to £10 : 14 : 1 Strl., which shall verry soon order you at London, being just now shipping off about 500 qrtrs. oats for your Port. I hear there is a pink bound from the Thems to this place immediatly. If so, please send me a doz. of dwarf pear and apple trees
in place of what was lost, and only one handsom varricated holly, for I find I can be provided in the rest at home. Send likeways half hundred Suggar, such as you sent last.
The Bailie’s garden must have been very pleasant, fruit trees flourishing inside its sturdy walls. Helen would have a similar walled garden when she and Captain John Reid resided in the house now known as the Old Orchard in Cromarty. Captain Reid in his life lost several ships but always seemed to bounce back. In this case, he shortly returned to the seas on the aptly named Adventure.
Helen Stuart and Captain John Reid married in 1730, in Inverness. Helen at the time of her marriage was 30 years of age (so much for the 18 year old lassie whom John Reid meets at Cromarty in Hugh Miller's tale). And John Reid had lost his first wife on Boxing Day the previous year, and there was five-year old Elizabeth Reid to be taken care of as well. So there is a lot of back-story there.
Inverness Marriage Register
1730 … [ contracted] August … 27 John Reid Skipper & Helen Stuart in this Burgh [married] Septer 15
Helen would have been well acquainted with the risks involved with shipping from her familiarity with her father’s business, but even so she must have felt worried whenever her husband departed on a new voyage. Shipping was a staple news item in the papers of the time, and anxious relatives could learn of the progress of a ship from such sources:
Caledonian Mercury 4 September 1733
Cadix [Cadiz], Aug. 18. The 10th sailed the Adventure, Reid, for the North…
Captain Reid would become a great benefactor to Bailie Steuart in his later, poorer years. You will notice a personal element creep into the Bailie’s letters when John Reid became his son-in-law. This letter is undated, but lies between letters bearing dates of 1734 and 1735:
Capt. John Reid, Commander of the Adventure of Cromarty.
Dr. Sr.,– I have shipped on board of your shipe, the Adventure, for London 32 barrells salmon and grilses, marked $, of which there is one barrell on account of my Daughter Marion, to purchess her a gown; … When, please God, you came to any port in the Mediteranian, pray buy me a barrell of rice, about 200 weight, and a dozen flaskes of fine eating oyle. So, wishing to a good safe Voyage, etc.
Helen’s sister Marion, for whom the gown was being bought, resided in London for a long time with her ship-master husband Alexander Wedderburn. Their only child to reach adulthood, Helen, was born there in 1747.
Helen’s own children would have started arriving from 1731 onwards. Their baptisms are not recorded in any parish register, but there were at least five:
John (c1732-1815), gentleman and plantation owner on the island of Carriacou, Grenada. He retired to Blue Style, Greenwich, and is buried in St Alfege, Greenwich. He married Elizabeth Read in 1768 but there were no surviving children. His will is most interesting, and is the one referred to by Hugh Miller in the mermaid story, albeit he gets the generation wrong, but we’ll come back to that in our Appendix on his will. He was the last of the family which, as Hugh Miller said, with him became extinct.
James (c1736-1753), who died as a young man and is buried in St Regulus, Cromarty
Alexander (alive in 1764, when Gilbert Barkly, then in America, reports (National Library of Scotland Barkly Papers) that Sandy Reid, with whom he had been financially involved, had sailed for the Spanish Main), merchant and skipper like his father
Christian (alive in 1758) who remained at home with her mother and is buried in St Regulus
Margaret (who died as an infant and is also buried in the family area in St Regulus.
Helen would also have become step-mother to Elizabeth (1724-1807), born to husband John’s first wife, Janet McWirrich. There were also two baptisms of un-named children in the Inverness Baptism Register to Janet and John; one was probably William, who is recorded as “son of shipmaster John Reid” when he died in 1728. I don’t know what happened to their other child, but in 1743 Elizabeth is described as their only living child. Relationships between stepmothers and stepchildren can be challenging but the indications from correspondence are that Helen and Elizabeth got on well together. Elizabeth, of course, became Lady Mackenzie, wife of Sir George Mackenzie of Cromarty and Grandville Baronet, and is buried in Chapel Yard, Inverness. There were to be no children.
I have seen only one letter written by Helen herself, and it is recorded in the Letter-book. Her father was in Edinburgh, her husband was presumably at sea, and she was very competently looking after the affairs of both in their absence. You will note that Helen clearly liked to dress well, and charged quite an extensive set of materials for clothing to her husband's account.
Inverness, 6 August 1735.
Mr. John Faiknie [London] from Mrs. Reid [the Bailie’s Daughter, and wife of Captain John Reid of the Adventure of Cromarty].
I received your favours of the 17 June and 19 Jullie last. The last brought me accot. of goods sent me pr. George Anderson, extending to £8 : 7 : 7 Sterling, which goods are come to hand. But I must complain that the shipmaster did not take the proper care of the Silk Stuff, both the green Damistz and the Satine, by being keept in some damp place. I observe what you write annent Insureance made of £500 sterling for my husbands Accot., from Cette to Amsterdame, which is well, and of remitting me any money. May complay with my Fathers orders to you from Edr. to retire his accepted bill drawn by George McLeod for twenty seven pounds Sterling; and draw on him to me for like value, when you send his acceptance retired; and send me pr. David Rose, who is ready to saile for London, three and ¼ yards scarlet Cloath for Cloakes, and a Black velvet Cape for rideing, of the Laitest fasation for my proper use, and one quarter of hundred double refind suggar, and a noat of Leather which I have given to David Rose, which please buy and ship, and charge all to my husbands accot.; which is all from, etc.
The Old Orchard, the Reids’ home in Cromarty
The Old Orchard nowadays is a stunningly beautiful house. It is only when you see the “before” pictures that you can appreciate the transformation wrought by the restoration project in the early 1990s. But I am sure it would have been equally ship-shape and well-maintained under the command of Captain John Reid and Helen Stuart.
the Old Orchard; photo by Jim Mackay
many families have sat before this fireplace in the Old Orchard over the centuries; photo by Jim Mackay
It was originally built in the 1600s but has seen much change over the years. Prior to being purchased by John Reid, it was for a long time in the ownership of the Laing family. The initials of John Laing and Margaret Clunes (and various later dates and initials) can still be seen above the fireplace which current owner Matt Hall was kind enough to allow me to photograph in May 2024. And, of course, the mermaid in the pool in the back garden!
the initials of John Laing and Margaret Clunes and several others; photo by Jim Mackay
Like all old houses it has been transformed multiple times over the centuries so you might think it would be difficult to envisage its form back when John Reid and Helen Stuart were residing in it with their children. But fortunately a detailed description of it does exist from the very end of the Reid period, to which we'll come.
Captain Reid would not be there much of the time, of course, whilst away on voyages or engaged, as he often was, in business in Inverness. But the house would be a busy place with the children and servants to look after them.
Even when the Captain was abroad, efforts were made to keep him up-to-date with family affairs. For example, Bailie Steuart writes to Ostend:
1st 8ber 1737.
I wrot Likeways of this dait to John Reid, my son in Law, to the care of Mr. Thomas Kay at Ostend, adviseing him of his wife and children’s health, and of my own family and Marian, and thanking for his kindness to my son John
You hear much about the activities of John Reid in this period but not so much about his family. His business had its ups and downs and it is said that he struggled financially. I'm not so sure that is correct: the sasine record indicates that he held pieces of land or property in both Cromarty and Inverness. When there was a business reversal, he could release a chunk of land. Some of the land he held on wadset: he would loan money to a proprietor and get the benefit of the land such as rentals until the money was repaid, with interest. And if the money wasn’t repaid, he gained ownership of the land.
It is undeniably true that he was unfortunate in his business partners. Bailie Steuart himself was not always successful in his enterprises, particularly in later life when in fact he came to rely on John Reid. But on numerous enterprises Reid was jointly engaged with the notorious Gilbert Barkly, whose life may be found in two complementary stories here and here. Whilst Gilbert clearly had many redeeming features, it would always be wise to avoid getting into business with him.
David Alston in his excellent My Little Town of Cromarty (2006) sets out a couple of joint Reid/Barkly ventures, and also summarises the shipping background of the period:
In 1752, Reid and his partner, Gilbert Barkly, attempted to imitate the success of the Clyde ports by shipping a cargo of tobacco from Virginia to Inverness. Much of it was for onward distribution to European ports, but they also established a snuff-mill at Kirkmichael, in the parish of Resolis, operated by Barkly’s brother and in Cromarty a tobacconist set up in business. As a major development of trade the venture failed…
…
Cromarty's shipping was at much the same level in mid-century. The Betty and the Helen and Margaret, both of Cromarty, appear on the customs books, which are extant from 1742 onwards. However, by 1748 the Betty was a Rosemarkie ship and the Helen and Margaret was based in Inverness. Two Cromarty merchants, Gilbert Barkly and John Reid, responded to improved trading conditions by having a ninety-ton ship, the Adventure, built in the town in 1751. It was probably commissioned with a view to it being used by the British Linen Company to ship flax, since Barkly was initially the BLC’s principal contact in the area. However, the BLC became suspicous of Barkly’s dealings with them, terminated their contract and bought out Barkly’s share in the Adventure. This, and other ventures, had overstretched the finances of both men – Reid struggled with debt until his death in 1767 and Barkly, after imprisonment for debt, sought sanctuary at Holyrood and then emigrated to Philadelphia.
John Reid in fact lived right through to 1778, and as I say I don’t think he was so financially unsound as David suggests (he moved to Inverness and had a large, 19-windowed house there in the Window Tax for year 5 April 1769 to 5 April 1770) but you can see how the BLC had soon got the measure of Gilbert Barkly.
As a gauge of their relative fortunes, you can see Gilbert Barkly selling to John Reid an area of land in Cromarty in 1752.
RS38/10 160 recto and verso. Sasine in favours of John Reid 1752.
… upon [15 December 1752] compeared Alexander Reid lawfull son to John Reid Shipmaster in Cromarty as pro[curato]r and attorney for and in name of the said John Reid in whose favours the Disposition and Translation containing the precept of Sasine aftermentioned was made … granted by Gilbert Barkley merchant in Cromarty To and in favours of the said John Reid, whereby for the Reasons & Causes therein specified, the said Gilbert Barkley sold annailzied and disponed to the said John Reid his heirs successors & assignies all and whole that particate or tenements of Ground upon the Ness in the Wester End of the Town of Cromarty with the houses built and to be built thereon and pertinents thereof whatsoever Extending in length from the south to the north to thirty five elns, and in breadth from the east to the west to twenty six elns
But John Reid’s fortunes would be at a low ebb whenever a cargo or a ship was lost. And there were many ways in which this could occur: a storm, enemy action – or seized for smuggling!
Inverness, 28 7ber N.S. 1752
To my son John [in Carolina].
… Your sister at Cromarty is well. Her husband Mr. Reid had had considerable losses in the way of trade. His ship, the Helen and Margret, was sized at Harwich last winter coming from Dunkirk with a great deal of wine, spirits, and prohibited cash and tea, etc. ; and after a very expensive process at Law the ship was got. back, but the cargoe very much damaged ; and the ship sold there for a trifle. However, honest John has got another brigg, about 90 tun, built at Cromarty, and is going now with a loadning of salmon to the Mederanian @ 30 £ pr. month, 6 month sure, and got 2 partners to his ship, which coast him 550£ sterlin, being all good oak outsid and inside. He breeds his son John, your nephew, to his oun bussiness, who, I hope, will turn out very well.
And in his new ship, another Adventure, Captain Reid can be seen plying the oceans again:
Aberdeen Press and Journal 24 February 1756
the Adventure of Cromarty, Reid, from London with Sugar, Hops, Lemons, &c.
Caledonian Mercury 26 June 1756
Leith, June 26. … Sailed the Adventure of and for Cromarty, Reid, with Wood and Merchant Goods…
Smuggling contraband was socially acceptable, financially rewarding – but high risk. John Reid had lost the Helen and Margret through smuggling, and in fact Bailie John Steuart had illicit goods he had concealed in Castle Stuart (he acted as factor for the proprietor) confiscated himself. And Captain Alexander Wedderburn, John Reid’s brother-in-law and the Bailie's son-in-law was also caught – at Inverness – smuggling on a massive scale:
Newcastle Courant 30 April 1737
Edinburgh, April 14. ’Tis almost incredible to believe what considerable Seizures are daily made in many Places of the Country, notwithstanding the severe Laws against the Smuggling Trade: They write from Inverness of the 6th current, that Alexander Brodie, Comptroller of the Customes there, seized out of the Providence of Dundee, Alexander Wedderburn, Master, from Hamburgh, 1545 Gallons of Spirits, besides several parcels of fine China and other Goods….
I wonder if Bailie Steuart had been involved in this particular clandestine operation! Presumably, though, the temptation to make illicit profits would be tempered by experience of the serious financial implications of being caught.
Nothing endures like a debt
One man that many traders must have particularly regretted having dealings with was William Mackay, a big merchant in Inverness. There was a plethora of actions against him before he failed in the late 1730s. One debt had rested to Janet McWirrich, John Reid’s first wife, dating back to 1716. In 1743, John Reid and daughter Elizabeth, clearly worried that the money might be lost, took action. Despite the late date, Elizabeth was now formally made executor dative to her mother. The document (CC11/1/4 Inverness Commissary Court) sets out the story:
The Testament Dative of and Inventary of the following debt and sums of money which pertained and was resting to Umquill Jannet McWirrich spouse to John Reid shipmaster in Invs. now in Cromerty … given up by Elizabeth Reid only lawfull child in life procreat betwixt the saids John Reid and Umqll. Jannet McWirrich executrix dative qua nearest of kin … resting owing to the said defunct at the time of her decease the sum of one thousand merks scots money as her third share of the prin[cipa]ll. sum of three thousand merks scots contained in a Bond of date 16 Novr. 1716 granted by Thomas Robertson the Baillie of Inverness as prin[cipa]ll. & Hugh Robertson merchant there as cautioner to the deceast William McWirrich mercht. there father to the said Jannet … to which sum of a thousand mrks, … the said Jannet McWirrich had right for a Generall service to her broyr John McWirrich and thereafter with consent of the said John Reid convey’d the same to Willm McCay Senr. merchant in Ins. and for which sum the said William McCay became accountable to the said Jannet McWirrich & John Reid in terms of his Declaration and Backbond of Date 23 Sepr. 1725…
With these necessary preparatory stages in place, the Captain and his daughter in 1744 sought an adjudication. The case stalled, and in 1777 (GD71/213 and 214), towards the end of his life, Captain John Reid and his daughter Elizabeth raised an action to revive it (“the Process of Ranking and Sale, originally raised at the instance of John Reid, shipmaster in Cromarty, and Dame Elizabeth Reid, otherwise M’kenzie, widow of Sir George M’Kenzie of Granville, against the heir and representative of the deceased William Mackay, merchant in Inverness, and his Creditors”). It again stalled, until, in 1814, it was revived once more by the son of Captain John Reid and Helen Stuart – “now wakened and transferred at the instance of John Reid, Esq. of Greenwich.” But John Reid of Greenwich himself died the following year. It was revived yet again in 1825 at the instance of “John Napier Forrester, Esq. of Craigannet, heir served and retoured to the deceased Mr John Napier of Craigannet, a Creditor called in the original action”. Whether or not a process ever succeeded I know not, but the debt with the interest growing all the time, originating in 1716, had managed to outlast the entire Reid family.
Life in the Old Orchard
We don’t learn much about the Reid family’s early domestic life in Cromarty; it is only after Elizabeth married Sir George Mackenzie that records are forthcoming. There are two main sources of these.
The Pitcalnie Papers
Elizabeth was a great friend of Naomi Ross ms Dunbar of Pitcalnie in Easter Ross. The Dunbars were from Moray and were connected to many of the families in Easter Ross and the Black Isle (one of them, Justina Dunbar, would later marry George Gun Munro of Poyntzfield, whose magnificent marble memorial stands in the nave at Kirkmichael). Naomi's correspondence may be found within the NRS at GD199 but most of it has been withdrawn as unfit for production! Fortunately several of her letters were earlier transcribed by Miss Rosa Ross and these copies are held in Tain Museum (and thanks to Jason Ubych there for drawing my attention to them). The correspondence includes letters from Dame Elizabeth, as well as from another mutual friend, Lady Ardoch (Ann Gordon ms Munro), whose unusual tomb may also be found at Kirkmichael and whose story can be read here.
The Warrand of Bught Papers
Another source lies within GD23, the Warrand of Bught Papers, particularly the correspondence of Gilbert Gordon with Sir George Mackenzie and Lady Elizabeth (Betty) Mackenzie ms Reid (GD23/6/148). Gilbert Gordon was a merchant in Inverness from whom Sir George ordered much but to whom he paid very little and following Sir George's demise, Lady Elizabeth had some challenging letters to pen.
I haven’t read all of the correspondence in these sources, and there will certainly be more revealing information yet to emerge.
Marriage of Elizabeth Reid to Sir George Mackenzie of Cromarty and Grandville Bart.
Elizabeth Reid and Sir George Mackenzie married in 1744 (My Little Town of Cromarty, David Alston, 2006). It was a low-key wedding as I see nothing about it in the press or letters of the time. In age, he would have been about 42 and she would have been about 20.
The marriage did not last long, as poor Elizabeth lost her husband in 1748. He had kept out of trouble during the ’45, only to die soon afterwards.
Newcastle Courant 28 May 1748
On Friday the 20th inst. died at Cromarty, the Hon. Sir George Mackenzie, of Granville, Bart. and on the 26th was interr’d at Dingwall. He was a Gentleman of great Honour, and when Member of Parliament for the County of Cromarty, from 1727 to 1734, he all along shew'd a steady Attachment to the Interest of his Country, and remarkably distinguished himself in opposing the Excise-Bill.
I understand from Jonathan McColl, the expert on St Clement’s Dingwall and the Cromartie family, that Sir George is likely to have been buried in St Clement’s Aisle, sadly deteriorated but for which a restoration project bid is being considered.
St Clement’s Aisle, Dingwall; photo by Jonathan McColl
One of the mysteries that has puzzled historians is why a Baronet married a merchant’s daughter in the first place. It has been suggested that as Reid was not rich it could not have been for money. However, I suspect that John Reid could indeed have mustered a substantial sum if he had to. Sir George was financially embarrassed, and had sold the Cromarty Estate back in 1741, and when he died Elizabeth took years to sort out his finances.
She was quite open about the situation to merchant Gilbert Gordon, writing from Cromarty on 23 March 1750 (GD23/6/148):
I realy ca’'t say when, or how you’l be paid, of the Balance of the Draught you Got on John Fraser, for was you in Dilligence agt. me, it woud not be in my powre to pay you, as hitherto I have not recovered any part of the subjects left me, and what is still worse, I have no Immediate View, of Gateing money to pay of, the Privileged Debts, I woud willingly pay if I had it, but if you belive me, I have not handled above forty shillings, of any money that belonged to Sr G since I was the widow.
Note her careful use of “I have not handled … money that belonged to Sr G since I was the widow” – I’m quite sure she had handled lots of money that had not belonged to Sr G as her father would have been supporting her. There are several high profile cases in court records where she herself pursued money that should have come to Sir George or herself, sometimes succcessfully sometimes not.
For those who wish to know how it all fell out, this seems to be the ideal document, from the Cromartie Papers in the NRS:
GD201/5/143 Discharge and renunciation by Mr. John Fraser, W.S., as factor for Dame Elizabeth McKenzie or Reid, widow and executrix of Sir George McKenzie of Grandville, bart., in favour of Ranald Macdonald of Clanranald of £668 18s. 33/4d. sterling and certain lands following on decreet of ranking and preference of 19 July 1759 and 20 February 1763; decreet of 20 January 1747 and 26 January 1758; decreet of adjudication of 20 June 1745; and GD201/5/108, GD201/5/56 and GD201/5/23
For some reason the funeral arrangements for her husband had been given to Gilbert Barkly as “a nuterall person” as he put it in a letter to merchant Gilbert Gordon of 9 August 1748 (GD23/6/194), by which he assures Gordon that funeral expenses would be paid out of the first available money, and he can draw on himself for the amount of the account. Fast forward and in Lady Elizabeth's letter of 23 March 1750 to Gordon, who clearly had been writing for the account to be settled, she says that Barkly has told her that he had paid Gordon in July 1749. It had been a dangerous move giving this duty to Gilbert Barkly!
This story focuses on the Reid and Stuart families and hence we will not spend time examining the life of Sir George. Suffice to say he was the grandson of the first Earl of Cromartie and was the proprietor of the Cromarty Estate in the Black Isle. He was MP for Cromarty-shire for 1729-1734, and in his later letters to Gilbert Gordon irritatingly more than once says the news is very complex and he is no politician to understand it. The man had been a Member of Parliament! By the time he married, he was in financial difficulties and had lost the Cromarty Estate.
Curiously, in his letter to merchant Gilbert Gordon of 20 April 1742 (GD23/6/148) he says “please send of the white metal buttons, for a Coat vest, & breeches, for a boy about fifteen years old, you must enquire of a Taylor, our Master Fashioner being from home; of a Leather Cap of a small size; you have inclosed a Catalogue of the Pictures, for any of your virtuosoes”. It sounds like he may have had a child prior to his marriage to Elizabeth Reid; there was to be no issue from their marriage.
Another factor in the unlikely union that must be remembered is that whilst John Reid may not have come from noble stock, his wife Helen Stuart was descended from the Barons of Kincardine. Elizabeth, although biologically the daughter of Janet McWirrich, was now associated with the family of Stuart. One of Helen Stuart’s sisters had married a gentleman and another into a family with gentry in the background. Sir George mentions the Steuart family several times in his letters, in both a business and a social context. The social gap was less extreme than it first appears. But it is still surprising, and it would be nice to think the marriage was through mutual attraction.
Here are just a few snippets from Dame Betty’s letters to Lady Pitcalnie (GD199) to give you a feel for the lady’s personality.
25 August 1757, Lady Elizabeth Mackenzie, Cromarty, to Lady Pitcalnie
(Note that it appears from her letter that her father Captain John Reid was in Inverness. And note the luxury items being obtained from abroad. You can learn more about two of her friends, Lady Ardoch here and the famous Dr Alexander Mackenzie of Elgin, New Tarbat and Cromarty here. Dr Mackenzie was very active in smallpox inoculation, and Lady Pitcalnie’s son, Munro Ross had clearly just been inoculated by him.)
Dear Madam, / As I am anxious about Munro I run you this boy, by whom I beg to hear how the child does. I trust in God he will come easily through as he is a wholesome child; and has the Happiness of a Good Physician to wait for him. The day after I came here I waited of your cousin Lady Ardoch, she expressed great joy at my telling her that Pitcalnie was quite free of the Dropsie, and earnestly prayed for his getting the better of everything that could molest him; she did not at all disapprove of your inoculating Munro, and was very Glad to hear, that he was in such good hands as Doctor Mckenzie’s.
The Lady desired me to write you that she expects you’ll acquaint her how the child does and that when he is fully recovered that you'll carry him to see her. You’ll please receive two pounds of chocolate & a half Dozen lemons, which Mr Reid sends you from Inverness. He writes to me, this is all he could get from Capt. Cowan of his sea stores. Tho he is come last from Lisbon & I asks your forgiveness for taking the rind of two of the lemons for a Little Cake for Munro which you’ll like ways receive from the Bearer & the snuff you wanted, but there is no such thing to be had here as Gold lace or Black Silk Galowns for shoes. I wrote to Mr Reid to enquire, your name, at Capt. Cowan about Mr George Symons, as Mr Cowan was in April last, at Charlestown in South Carolina and is I believe an acquaintance of your cousin Symons, and as I was told that Mr Cowan had so[me] French Powdered sugar, I desired Mr Reid to endeavour to get Fifty weight of this sugar for you; Tho this ship was consigned to Mr Reid he could not get a drop of wine, for himself but Mr Cowan has no kind of wine, but Lisbon white wine. I wrote you a line Friday last by which you will see that it was for want of a creel, that you only got 2 Bottles Claret & 2 Bottles Lisbane from Mrs Forsyth and my reason for sending the 2 Packs flour … Pray make an offer of my best respects to Pitcalnie & Good Doctor Mackenzie … And wishing for good accounts of my dr. engaging mansie I ever am
My dear Madam, / With sincere Regards & Esteem / Yours Elizth. Mackenzie.
29 January 1758, Lady Elizabeth Mackenzie, Cromarty, to Lady Pitcalnie
Gives congratulations on success with a case before the house of Lords and notes that she had seen the bonfires (presumably across the Firth at Pitcalnie) with satisfaction. I think the L. McK must be a servant, perhaps named Lillie MacArthur, daughter of a tenant of Pitcalnie, in service with the Reid family – but this is merely a guess.
Mr Reid wanted to out-shine Mr Mackarter’s with some Colls and Tare Barrels, but his Prudent Daughter, L. Mck., considered her present connection with Mr George Ross, and that There was Foolks in Cromarty who wrotte idle and Triffling Things to London, it was therefor agree’d that we woud Rejoice within Doors.
4 September 1758, Lady Elizabeth Mackenzie, Cromarty, to Lady Pitcalnie.
(I think the reference to “Mrs Reid & Christie” must be to her mother Helen Reid and sister Christian Reid.)
Your things would have been sent by now had it not been bad weather. I would not alow Lillie to give them too thick starch, as the Lawns that is now goeing hase not strenth to beare much clapping, which you’l see by your new Ruffles, which gave way in the washing, but all of them hase a prittie Gaze look. The Box sent contins six Caps, six pairs of Sleives, two pairs of Double Ruffles, two Napkens, & one Tucker. I wish they may not suffer in the Carriage. You will please to return the Box by the Bearer, who I understand was goeing the lenth of Pitcalnie.
I am afrayd my Dr. friend, that I cannot doe myself the promised favour of being with you the end of this week; because of sime incidents that is come in my way. (Tho no business) but please God I will be with you as soon as possable and will carrie Lillie with me, as I believe you will want a tuch of her hands; by the last weeks news I was sorrie to see Captn. Gordon Graham amongst the wounded at the Besigeing of Crown-point where they met with a severe Repulse & lost 2,000 men. Our rejoicing at the first accompts, we had to this place was too premature. I hope Captn. Graham’s wound is not mortal. I pittie his anxious wife, Amongst the killed & wounded there is not one of the name of Dunbare so I hope your brother is come off hitterto scarte free, but I am much affrayd we will loss many pritty ffellows er this place is taken. Please return the Printed accompt of Capt Brittian surrendering as it is not my own. I was Saturday with Lady Ardoch, her enquires about Pitcalnie & you and Munro (were many & kind). She desires her Best Wishes to you all. Mr Reid is not yet unload & will not be hear before the end of this week; about which time if I get an opportunity I will writte you. Pray when did you see my worthy & good friend Doctor Mackenzie. I realie long to have an opportunity of setting my eyes on him. I am much afrayd I will be put upon the Black Ston by his Lady , for my laziness in not writting or seeing her. Had I things to my mind, there woud be fewer complents of this kind agenst me. My best wishes attends you & Pitcalnie in which joins Mrs Reid & Christie for I trulie am, / Dear Madam, / Yours Elizth. Mackenzie.
From the wording of her letter, Lady Betty was in residence in the Reid household in Cromarty at this time, along with the unmarried “Christie” or Christian. They would have been important members of the privileged section of Cromarty society at the time. They would visit each other for cakes and tea (perhaps imported by Captain Reid himself) and enjoy card games and promenades. Sunday of course would be strictly observed, and the family had its own seat in the East Church.
The Passing of Helen Stuart
But all this was to change when Helen Reid died in 1768. She was buried in St Regulus graveyard under what Hugh Miller calls blue marble which is an intriguing description. The inscriptions within St Regulus were recorded back in 1979 and the records are held by the Scottish Genealogy Society. Andrew Dowsett and I have now re-recorded five of the stones in St Regulus for this series of Story behind the Stone and have found significant errors or omissions on all five stones. It was therefore essential that for Helen Reid we examine the original memorial, albeit it was now completely smothered in vegetation.
the overgrown Reid enclosure at St Regulus; photo by Andrew Dowsett
the Reid enclosure following much toil by Andrew and yrs trly; photo by Andrew Dowsett
The great tablestone commemorating Helen is surrounded by a broken iron railing. The humbler slab commemorating their son James lies outside the railing, to the west, and is a typical slab of our Highland cemeteries. But the tablestone is very unusual. Hugh Miller says: “Helen, for the last seventy years, has been sleeping under a slab of blue marble within the broken walls of the Chapel of St. Regulus”. Whilst the stone definitely has a bluish tint and is very hard, I’m not sure if it is in fact marble. But I am no geologist and Hugh Miller was!
The stone slab certainly is not of local origin. Given that John Reid’s ships traversed the globe, the blue stone may have come from anywhere, perhaps from a Mediterranean country. It has survived remarkably well despite being pushed off its west support by a now well-rotted tree. Andrew Dowsett and I spent several hours in May 2024 clearing ivy, elder and nettles to record the memorial and were astonished at how clear the inscription was given its age. And it is large compared to the usual slab – 1.995 m x 1.134 m, and yet only 0.090 m thick. Compare that with the more conventional slab commemorating son James just to the west – 1.745 m x 0.900 m, and 0.130 m thick.
inscription on Helen Stuart’s gravestone in St Regulus; note the strange grey-bluish colouration of the stone; photo by Andrew Dowsett
Having photographed the inscription, we covered the stone in leaf mulch once more. We put the broken railing back together again better than we found it, but it could do with some serious restoration. Hopefully at some point the Cromarty community will carry out some heritage protection and enhancement across its graveyard resource including this unusual memorial.
It reads:
In Memory of
MRS HELEN STUART REID, Wife of
MR IOHN REID, of Cromarty, who died
the 14th. Feb. 1768 Aged 68.
Also her son IAMES, & daughter CRISTIAN,
with an Infant daughter MARGARET
The death of son James, just entering adulthood, must have been a terrible blow to the family at the time. The stone commemorating him lies just to the west of the enclosure, is a typical slab of local yellow sandstone and reads:
the slab commemorating James Reid is just outside the Reid enclosure at St Regulus; photo by Andrew Dowsett
the James Reid inscription; photo by Andrew Dowsett
HERE LYS THE BODY OF / IAMES REID SON TO MR / IOHN REID SHIPMASTER / IN CROMATY WHO DIED / JUNE THE 9TH 1753 AGED / 17 YEARS
The heavily-ligatured lettering displays the usual poor carving decisions by local stonemasons. Despite having ample space to accommodate the text if measured and marked out in advance, the length of text was miscalculated resulting in compressed and abbreviated text at the end of lines. Hugh Miller was quite rightly scathing about the standard of work on gravestones, and it is seen even here, in this burial ground of the well-to-do merchants of Cromarty.
You can look down from the heights of St Regulus the short distance to the prominent house of the Reids below. And from the house you can look up the steep brae to the burying ground. There was a close connection between home and grave.
Cromarty from St Regulus graveyard, with the Old Orchard spotted in red; photo by Andrew Dowsett
St Regulus from the Old Orchard – it lies just behind those trees; photo by Jim Mackay
Moving to Inverness
Perhaps too close. With Helen now gone, the family made the decision to move to Inverness. A couple of months after the funeral a series of advertisements appeared offering their house and grounds for sale. It is a most valuable record of the layout and uses of the residence.
Caledonian Mercury 18 April 1768
To be SOLD, at CROMARTY,
A NEAT HOUSE, in good repair, lying in Cromarty, inclosed by a court to the street, and a large garden behind. 1st Floor, a good kitchen, a pantry, servants room, and two cellars. 2d Floor, dining room, three bed rooms and a bed closet with a fire place. 3d Floor, a neat study, two garret rooms with fire places, and a lumber room.– Brewhouse, with a pump well, stable, hay loft, cow house, and little house, a grass park, walled with stone and lime, as is the garden. For particulars, enquire at Mr. John Fraser, Writer to the Signet, or the proprietor, Mr. John Reid at Cromarty.
Of course advertisements can be misleading, but even so the house seems so well-appointed there must have some reluctance to move.
But the house they moved to on Church Street, Inverness, was a substantial one as well. There were relatively few houses in Inverness with 19 windows. They were to reside there until 1790.
Window Tax E326/1/185
From 5 April 1769 to 5 April 1770
…
Capt. John Reid [windows] 19 [duty on windows £ s d] 1.8.6 [duty on houses] -.1.-
Following that first year, perhaps because he was taking a backseat now that he was getting on in years, it was his daughter who became the named person liable for rates and taxes:
Window Tax E326/1/185
From 5 April 1770 to 5 April 1771
…
Lady MacKenzie [windows] 19 [duty on windows £ s d] 1.8.6 [duty on houses] -.1.-
And thus it continued at Church Street for many years. Dame Betty became incorporated into the Inverness genteel society as had been the case in Cromarty, and her correspondence with her friends continued unabated. Let us return to our small sample from the dozens of her letters within the Pitcalnie Papers:
13 April 1773, Lady Mackenzie writes from Inverness to Lady Pitcalnie, then at Amat.
She had hoped to have had a visit from or heard from Lady Pitcalnie and beseeches her to come and visit them; she is bothered about her being in “such a remote place”.
22 February 1774, Lady Mackenzie writes from Inverness to Lady Pitacalnie, currently residing at the Lawn Market, Edinburgh.
She has news of a ball to be given by the Duke and Duchess of Gordon and Lord George, and is organising getting money sent to her – something she often did for Lady Pitcalnie when she was away from home.
Her father, who must have been in his 80s by now, passed away in 1778.
Inverness Burial Register
1778 … April 19 Reid Departed John Reid Shipmaster in this Burgh Big Bells
The “Big Bells” were rung only for the passing of someone of importance within the town. I presume that Captain Reid was buried in Chapel Yard, Inverness, but there is no record of an inscription. The memorial to his daughter is on the west side, on the wall beside Chapel Street, and her uncle John McWirrich is buried not far away, so it may be that there was previously a memorial to her father there as well.
the memorial top right (with red spot) is to Lady Elizabeth Mackenzie, the one on the left is too eroded to read – it is perhaps too modern in design to be her father’s; photo by Jim Mackay
Following her father’s death, life seems to have gone on for Lady Elizabeth much as it had before. Certainly her correspondence shows no change:
26 October 1778, Lady Elizabeth Mackenzie, Inverness, to Rev Geo Balfour, Tarbat
Acknowledges she has received the money and letter he sent for Lady Pitcalnie and will find a “sure hand” to send it to Lady Pitcalnie as soon as possible; rumoured that “Pressing not Recruiting” is going on in his parish and hopes “Geanies will show favour to his neighbour Pitcalnie’s tenants”.
8 October 1781, Lady Elizabeth MacKenzie, Inverness, to Lady Pitcalnie.
Quotes a letter from her sister in law, from America or perhaps Jamaica, giving an account of distresses and numbers of white and black people dying for want; “We have gote the Glasgow players here they have made up a wooden Play-house which three times a wick is full of all … ranks of People in town and country Even the Clargie. They have gate non of my money.” Lord Kaims and his lady on the circuit; “my Lord is quite week as to his strenght but Extremlie clear and sound In mind and memorie which is a Great Blessing”.
28 January 1785, Elizabeth MacKenzie from Inverness to Munro Ross of Pitcalnie.
“We Every Evening Play Cribbage – in the fornoon with this very fine weather we walk so Pop in when you Please…”
And now a lovely couple of letters complemented by an entry from a source I rarely quote from – the Female Servants Tax records! These particular entries have a P.G. Wodehouse feel to them.
1785, Lady Elizabeth Mackenzie, Inverness, to Lady Pitcalnie.
Has lost her servant who has been “decoyed away by that monster of ingratitude Mary Cuthbert now wife to Davidson the Pawn Broker & Laird of Cantray” – and wants her to send her Sallie Dunbar. Complemented by an undated letter but clearly after “Sallie” had arrived: Lady Elizabeth Mackenzie to Lady Pitcalnie, Amat – discusses the work and training in domestic chores of Sallie.
E326/6/4 Female-servants tax Burgh of Inverness
For the period 5 July 1785 to 5 April 1786
Lady McKenzie Granville [names of female servants] Janet McIntosh / Sally Dunbar [number of female servants] 2 [due] £-.3.4
12 January 1786, Lady Elizabeth Mackenzie, Inverness, to Mrs Ross of Pitcalnie.,
Relieved to hear that she was not as ill as had been thought; hopes Munro will get settled with a wife; thanks for the game birds she sent; hopes to be soon at Amat; sending oranges & lemons; rum & coffee.
These are but a small sample of the letters which have survived. I see none later than the 1780s. At the end of that decade, Lady Mackenzie must have decided to move and she put her house on Church Street up for sale:
Caledonian Mercury 6 February 1790
HOUSE &c. TO SELL.
To be SOLD by public voluntary roup, within the house of Mrs Beverly, vintner in Inverness, upon the 8th day of March next, at one o'clock afternoon,
THE HOUSE, GARDEN, and Office-houses, possessed by Lady M'Kenzie, and lying in the Church Street of the said burgh of Inverness.
For particulars, enquire at the house.
It is intriguing to consider where on Church Street the Reids had lived for so long. Was it close to Abertarff House? Unfortunately you simply can’t be certain with the Window Tax records as different surveyors seem to have used different geographical routes when detailing houses and occupants. Two people with distinctive names and numbers of windows might be side by side in one year’s tax records, and a dozen houses apart in the next. Bailie Steuart himself appears in the first couple of Window Tax records in 1758/59, with 11 windows, but his death coincided with one of these survey rearrangements.
Anyway, she definitely down-sized after the sale of her Church Street house. She moves a few times to houses with 7 to 10 windows, until the end of the Window Tax records in 1798. When she died in 1807, she was “bewest the water” i.e. residing in a house on the west side of the River Ness.
Various histories state whe was aged 84 at the time of her death. I calculate she was probably 82 if her baptism followed soon after her birth, which was usually the case in this part of the world.
Inverness Burial Register 1807
Aug[us]t. … McKinzie 28 Dep[arted] Lady McKinzie from bewest the water
Her memorial is a grey limestone plaque attached to a pillar on the Chapel Street wall of Chapel Yard. Hugh Miller mentions “a shield of I know not how many quarterings over her grave” but there is certainly nothing like that there now. Was there an earlier shield memorial at this location, or was Miller taking a guess?
The inscription on the immediately adjacent memorial is too badly worn to be read, and it is tempting to think this might once have commemorated her father, but it seems too recent in style to be his. But it is lovely to know that at least the doughty Lady Mackenzie is still commemorated in the town where she was born.
To the Memory / of / Lady McKENZIE / of GRANDVILLE, / who died the 23rd August / 1807.
thanks to Donald Ross for holding the umbrella during photography; photo by Jim Mackay
Appendix – Hugh Miller, the Feddes Family and the Mermaid Tale
Hugh Miller heard many of his tales whilst sitting at home, in the “low, long house built by my great-grandfather the buccaneer.” This was John Feddes (c1667-1757) who married Jean Gallie in 1698. And on the fireplace in that cottage is a lintel still bearing their initials: JF and JG, and the date 1711, when the lintel would have been put in.
Hugh Miller’s Cottage, Cromarty; photo by Jim Mackay
fireplace with marriage lintel within Hugh Miller’s Cottage; photo by Jim Mackay
The presence of John Feddes was heavy in that cottage, and Hugh Miller would practice writing JF on the door and on one occasion actually saw the buccaneer step out onto the landing from an upstairs room. In later life, he placed his daughter’s grave immediately adjacent to the grave of John Feddes.
headstone commemorating Hugh Miller’s daughter, carved by Hugh Miller himself, immediately adjacent to the grave slab commemorating John Feddes; photo by Jim Mackay
And thus both the fireplace in his house and the gravestone in St Regulus bear his pirate forebear’s initials.
photo by Jim Mackay
Now, the father of John Feddes was one Paul Feddes, whose gravestone lies in St Regulus. And those initials JF and JG recur on that gravestone, as the next generation was recorded in their time. The quality of the stone and of the lettering demonstrates that Paul Feddes was a man of some standing. The original text, lightly ligatured, follows the perimeter of the stone clockwise, starting top left. The initials of the next generation lie across the stone towards the base. The previously recorded version contains some minor errors. The sandstone slab has a beautiful curved camber and is 1.660 m long by 0.842 m wide and a substantial 0.160 m thick. A good quality stone.
St Regulus Burial Ground
HERE LYES THE BODY / OF PAUL FEDDES WHO DIED JUN THE 14 / DAY 1694 AND / HIS SPOUS ELSPAT HOOD WHO DIED / THE 10 OF OCTOB / 1701
J F
J G
slab in St Regulus commemorating Paul Feddes, Elspat Hood, John Feddes and Jean Gallie; photo by Jim Mackay
Hugh Miller in Scenes and Legends describes the stone and its setting in his beautiful style:
Nearly about the middle of the burying-ground there is a low flat stone, over which time is silently drawing the green veil of oblivion. It bears date 1690 [actually 1694], and testifies, in a rude inscription, that it covers the remains of Paul Feddes and his son John, with those of their respective wives. Concerning Paul, tradition is silent…
Tradition may be silent, but I note one other reference to Paul Feddes: in the Cromarty marriage register, on the marriage of John Reid and Jean Feddes, the parents of Captain John Reid, shipmaster of Cromarty and Inverness. The reference is rather important.
Cromarty Baptism Register
Cromarty March 13 1689
The sd day appeared befor us John Reid & Jean Fiddas both in ye parish of Cromarty & gave up yr names to be proclaymed in order to marriage & cau[tione]rs. being found viz Alexr. Mckiver in Newtown for his broyr in law John Reid & Paull Fiddas in Hillhead for his daughter Jean Fiddas that both these parties shall accomplish yr marriage in due tyme & yt under ye faylzie of ten libs Scottis to be payed by ye party breaker in to the poors box they were booked
And so we find that Paul Fiddas or Feddes in Hillhead was both Hugh Miller’s great great grandfather and Captain John Reid’s grandfather. There is a Hugh Miller family tree that has been added to over the years, including through this Story behind the Stone series, but now we know that Captain John Reid, son of Paul Feddes and Elspat Hood, can be slipped in as well.
photo by Jim Mackay
Now, Hugh Miller, prompted by the gravestone of Paul Feddes and John Feddes and their spouses, launches into a story. John Feddes, a rough diamond, was enamoured of Jean Gallie, one of the wealthiest and most beautiful young women in the area. His love was not reciprocated. Remind you of something? This is the identical opening scenario as in the tale of the mermaid. In the Feddes story, decades pass before the two are united, while the mermaid certainly moves the plot forward faster in the Reid story!
I visited the setting of the mermaid scene, the famous Dropping Cave, in June 2024. It is but a mile east from the centre of Cromarty, but the last few hundred yards are a rough, rocky scramble to be tackled only when the tide is out. Fortunately I had other things to do – I visited the grave of Helen Stuart in St Regulus, recorded the grave of John Feddes the buccaneer there while I was at it, photographed the initials on the fireplace at Hugh Miller’s Cottage – and the tide still wasn’t out. I was obliged to wait in the Fishertown Arms. Several Happy Chappies later (perhaps not ideal preparation) and along the path to the South Sutor I went, branching off at the Harvey Seat to gain the shore itself. The rock out here is not the smooth Old Red Sandstone made famous by Miller, but a sharp igneous rock, raised in ragged tors or running in serrated ridges down the beach. When the tide is in, they become innumerable rocky islands or skerries, on one of which the mermaid sat, combing her hair and singing her captivating song. Mermaids must have cast-iron bahookies, as I certainly didn’t find sitting on that sharp, rough igneous rock comfortable.
Nowadays the Dropping Cave has drawn the attention of heavy lifters due to the Great Stone which lies below it. Hugh Miller says in his prime he could lift it to his chest. The modern heavyweight lifters who visit can raise it to their shoulders but they are specialist athletes. There is no doubting that Miller was a powerful man.
The setting of the Dropping Cave is spectacular, rocky skerries all around with the off-angle dark entrance to the cave, some way up the cliff face, looking down ominously on the beach. Cromarty seems a long way up the coast, and the only sounds are the screech of the seabirds and the crashing of the waves. A good setting for a supernatural encounter.
It is easy to imagine John Feddes stalking the mermaid, but it is less easy to imagine Helen Stuart and her friend out for a stroll in the immediate vicinity. Or why you would be catching the morning dew on a rocky shore. But a short distance away there is grassy pasture and perhaps they were drawn towards the beach by the mermaid’s power.
Miller’s mermaid tale is one of the most enduring of his stories, recast over the years into poetry and tapestry and children's books. There is even a mermaid statue, sitting on a rocky pedestal in a pool within the garden of the Old Orchard, once the home of Captain John Reid and Helen Stuart.
You see in Miller’s mermaid tale how fantastic elements have been overlain on the lives of real people, regardless of the clear contradictions evident when those lives are examined in detail. It would be fascinating to learn how soon after the real John Reid and Helen Stuart had passed on did the mermaid tale descend upon them, to trap them in its spell, in a neat inversion of the legend itself.
looking back to Cromarty from the rocky shoreline at the Dropping Cave; photo by Jim Mackay
the Cromarty Firth comes rolling in when the tide changes, and these rocky heights at the Dropping Cave become islands; photo by Jim Mackay
Appendix – The Will of John Reid Esq. of Greenwich, son of Captain John Reid and Helen Stuart
Hugh Miller ends his mermaid tale by referencing Helen Stuart and adding “and it is not yet twenty years since her grandson, the last of the family, died in London, bequeathing to one of his Cromarty relatives several small pieces of property, and a legacy of many thousand pounds”. The story is close to reality, although the legacy came from Helen’s son, not grandson.
John Reid’s will is of considerable interest as it namechecks many of the Reid and Stuart family connections, adding to our knowledge of both. With no surviving members of the Reid family to leave his money to, Reid made bequests to relatives of his wife’s Read family and to his mother’s Stuart family. The residue he left to his nephew Sir John Stuart, Count of Maida, the son of Colonel John Stuart of Charleston and the grand-son of Bailie John Steuart of Inverness.
But why did he leave substantial sums to the Simpson family of Cromarty? Hugh Miller says the money was left to a relation, but I can see no family connection between the Reid and Simpson families. I am certain the Simpsons whom Reid mentions are the children of sailor Colin Simson and Helen Munro (daughter of Alexander Munro shoemaker in Cromarty) who married in 1766 and had Alexander, Lilias and Colin in 1767, 1772 and 1777 respectively, who are all mentioned in the will. Perhaps John was farmed out to the Simpsons when he was a boy and felt a familial affection for them. Skipper John would be away at sea and Helen would have her hands full with the young girls, and it is quite possible that John, as was so often done in those times, was accommodated with another family.
John owned the Plantation of Belair on the Island of Carriacou, Grenada, a beautiful location, but sadly utilising slavery then inherent in sugar-cane plantation cultivation. According to Carriacou website information (https://carriacou.biz/belair/): “In 1784, John Reid, Esq. owned Belair Estate. An old English great house was completed in 1809. Next to the great house, foundations of an older French house exist, indicative of the amount of times the island of Carriacou changed hands. The house looks upon the old windmill tower still in excellent condition.” The Belair Great House served during the Grenada Revolution as a camp of the People’s Revolutionary Army, and towards the end of the Revolution there was a mysterious explosion which damaged large parts of the house. The cause of this explosion was never resolved. The photos below are all from the website https://carriacou.biz/belair/.
remains of the Belair windmill that powered the sugar cane processing plant
remains of the Belair Great House
the Belair Great House occupied by the PRA
John Reid appears to have been an absent plantation owner for periods, and later in life settled permanently at Blue Style, Greenwich, where he died in 1815.
Caledonian Mercury 8 June 1815
On the 17th ult. at his house, Blue Style, Greenwich, in his 83d year, John Reid, Esq. of Cariacou, Grenada.
His memorial is high up on the wall inside the Church of St Alfege, Greenwich. It bears an urn on which is affixed an armorial shield with three stags heads on either half (although I have to say they look more like moose than stags)! It reads:
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF / JOHN REID ESQR. / LATE OF BLUE STILE IN THIS PARISH, / AND OF THE ISLAND OF CARRIACOU IN THE WEST INDIES; / WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE THE 17TH. MAY 1815, / AGED 83 YEARS. / AND OF ELIZABETH HIS WIFE, / WHO LEFT HIM A DISCONSOLATE WIDOWER ON THE 27TH. JUNE 1813, AGED 79 YEARS. / THE REMAINS OF THIS MUCH RESPECTED COUPLE / ARE INTERRED IN A SARCOPHAGUS, / IMMEDIATELY UNDERNEATH.
South-West view of Church of Saint Alfege, Greenwich; photo from Wikipedia
memorial to John Reid Esq. and Elizabeth Read in Church of St Alfege, Greenwich
And this is the will, referenced by Hugh Miller. I have emboldened names relevant to this story. The John Urquhart of the Ordnance Office mentioned is the final John Urquhart of Mounteagle in Easter Ross (whose story may be read here).
PROB11/1570/28 [proved 1815]
This is the last Will and Testament of me John Reid of the Island of Cariacou in the Government of Grenada planter at present residing at Greenwich in Kent …
I give to Alexander Simpson Blacksmith in Cromarty an annuity of twenty four pounds a year during his life and including a continuation of the twelve pounds a year which at present I give his Mother that is after her demise the reversion to be in him and to his Brother Colin Simpson and Sister [blank] Simpson one hundred and fifty pounds each the principal to be paid them at the End of twelve months after my demise if not the full legal Interest to be paid them yearly and I hereby give and bequeath to Lillie Simpson McLeod their Sister and now a Nurse in the Royal Asylum of Greenwich three hundred pounds to be invested in an annuity on her life to her son John R McLeod £300 in trust to my Executors for his Education and forwarding in the line that he may get into & to his sister [blank] and brother Colin £150 each
to the daughters of James Macintosh Esquire of Farr £700 viz to Ann three hundred pounds and two hundred pounds to each of the other two whose Christian names I do not at present recollect
to Mrs Catherine Douglas my wifes sister £700 viz the remainder of Co. A. Reads Legacy of £1000 to my wife and … in the hands of the Executors of his will Messrs Wedderburne of Leadenhall Street London to hold the same during her life and the reversion of the said sum to be in Miss Robertson Duncan daughter of George and Eliz. Duncan and at present residing with her aunts at Dunhill in Scotland
to Mr John Forsyth of the victualling office Deptford £600 to Miss Mary Fenwick late of So. Carolina my Cousin £800 To Mrs Margaret Sinclair my late wifes maid £300 in consideration of her faithful service to my dear wife and to be invested in an annuity on her life to Mrs Hester Stuart widow of my uncle Allen Stuart an annuity of £20 a year during her life to Mrs Simon Houston widow of my friend Simon Houston an annuity of tweny four pounds a year during her life and I hereby nominate constitute and appoint General Sir John Stuart of Maida my Cousin the residuary Legatee of all my property real and personal wherever it may be and my friends Mr Charles Shaw of Howard Street London and Mr John Urquhart of the Ordnance Office and Mr John Forsyth of the Victualling Office Executors of this my last will leaving to each of them who act as Executors two hundred pounds as a small compensation for the toruble I put upon them done at Greenwich sixteenth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and thirteen [1813]. … As Codicil to the preceding will I give and bequeath to Miss Eliza. Reid eldest daughter of James Reid Esquire of the Customs at Grenock one hundred Guineas say £105 being the Express wish of my dear wife and to the Eldest daughter of Captain James Halliburton named Elizabeth I believe one hundred pounds in conformity with said wish to Mr John Urquhart of the Ordnance aforsaid £300. John Reid 16th August 1814.