Details
Attributed to Samuel MacKenzie R.S.A. (1785-1847)
Portrait of Archibald Macnab of Macnab, (1778-1860) 17th Clan Chief, standing full-length in the dress tartan of the Macnab Clan, holding a dirk
oil on canvas
30 x 24in. (76.2 x 61cm)
Portrait of Archibald Macnab of Macnab, (1778-1860) 17th Clan Chief, standing full-length in the dress tartan of the Macnab Clan, holding a dirk
oil on canvas
30 x 24in. (76.2 x 61cm)
Provenance
A.C. Macnab of Macnab CIE, 22nd Chief, by family descent to the present owner
Further details
Archibald Macnab of Macnab (17th Chief) was born in 1778, and married Margaret Robertson, the daughter of a Writer to the Signet and of Miss Murdoch of Gartincaber. All their three sons and three daughters died unmarried.
Archibald had studied law in his youth and travelled on the Continent. His uncle had made a disposition of the Macnab lands in his favour in 1812. When his uncle died, he found that the estate was hopelessly encumbered. He made desperate efforts to extricate it; but in 1823, a writ of foreclosure was issued. Part of the property had already been sold. An effort was made in 1823 to sell the remainder but no purchaser could be found. Archibald went out for a walk one morning with his gun and his two dogs as if all was as ausual and then disappeared. He took refuge with his cousin, Dr Hamilton Buchanan of Leny but was discovered and fled to London and thence to Canada, where eventually he obtained a grant of 81,000 acres of land in the Valley of the Ottawa River. Eighty-five men, women and children arrived at Montreal on May 25th, 1825 and were settled by him in the estate to which he had given the name of Macnab. As in all such cases, the early years of such a settlement were full of difficulties and discomforts and Archibald had promised more than he could perform. The settlers had to endure many privations.
In 1853 he left Canada. His wife, who had left him when he fled to Canada, made him a small allowance. He lived for a while at Rendall in the Orkneys, made a bigamous marriage in London, and then moved to France where he died a Lanion in the Department of Cotes du Nord on August 12th, 1860, at the age of 83.
Archibald had studied law in his youth and travelled on the Continent. His uncle had made a disposition of the Macnab lands in his favour in 1812. When his uncle died, he found that the estate was hopelessly encumbered. He made desperate efforts to extricate it; but in 1823, a writ of foreclosure was issued. Part of the property had already been sold. An effort was made in 1823 to sell the remainder but no purchaser could be found. Archibald went out for a walk one morning with his gun and his two dogs as if all was as ausual and then disappeared. He took refuge with his cousin, Dr Hamilton Buchanan of Leny but was discovered and fled to London and thence to Canada, where eventually he obtained a grant of 81,000 acres of land in the Valley of the Ottawa River. Eighty-five men, women and children arrived at Montreal on May 25th, 1825 and were settled by him in the estate to which he had given the name of Macnab. As in all such cases, the early years of such a settlement were full of difficulties and discomforts and Archibald had promised more than he could perform. The settlers had to endure many privations.
In 1853 he left Canada. His wife, who had left him when he fled to Canada, made him a small allowance. He lived for a while at Rendall in the Orkneys, made a bigamous marriage in London, and then moved to France where he died a Lanion in the Department of Cotes du Nord on August 12th, 1860, at the age of 83.