Servant to Sir Ewen

[Thomas Cameron]

Chris,

I've received your records from the 1718 report of the Lochiel Estate. Thanks for sending this along - very interesting items! What great finds!

One thing really jumped out at me, and I'm wondering what your thoughts might be. In the papers relating to Sir Ewen's American land holdings, it mentions a servant of his who witnessed a power of attorney paper in 1713. The servant's name was John Bennet.

One of the details from the Battle of Achdalieu, in 1654, was the lone English survivor, who became Sir Ewen's cook and very loyal servant. I'm wondering whether this might be John Bennet. Granted, this paper was 58 years later, but if Ewen was still alive, then perhaps the servant was as well. Granted, they'd both have been very old, but it's an interesting possibility. There was also an Alexander Cameron who witnessed the paper as a "servant," but that surname is more to be expected than an "alien" surname like Bennet in Lochaber.

If anyone has any ideas about this, I'd love to hear them. It's all a mere "blip" on history's radar, but sometimes those blips are the most fascinating...

[ChrisDoak]

Hi Tom,

John Bennet was probobly not related to the Englishman surviving the Battle of Achdalieu,but I reckon he must have been a Lowlander.I have a note (can't remember where I got it from),that John Bennet was the Gardener at Achnacarry for 25 years up till the 1715 period.He subsequently went to work for McDonnell of Glengarry,and in 1721 was Gardener for Allan Cameron of Glendessary,at his home at Acharn,Morvern.

Given the requirement for someone with the right horticultural and arborial skills,the Gardener at Achnacarry always seems to have been recruited from the Lowlands (I assume frrom their names).For instance,in the late 1720s the Gardener was called George Wishart,in the late 1730s/early 40s the exotically-named Litellus Birrell,and for the three years prior to 1746,a John Abernethy.

Achnacarry,prior to its destruction in 1746,must have been a very colourful and attractive wee estate.It is a pity we don'y know more about what it looked like.

Regards,Chris.

[Thomas Cameron]

Chris,

In a word, wow! You have the Jacobite era gardener names for the Lochiel Estate? That's amazing! Perhaps it was at John Abernethy's suggestion that the Gentle Lochiel directed the Beech Avenue to be planted. Never would I have imagined that they brought up gardeners from the south, but perhaps that - in retrospect - explains the plane trees and several other more unique plantings.

Alas, Sir Ewen's post-Achdalieu servant and cook remains a mystery...

[SherbrookeJacobite]

Wow indeed! Thanks so much for this thread, it is fascinating, and gives me an entirely new perspective on what Old Achnacarry must have been like.

[Alans]

I haven't visited for a while but the gardening History is absolutely fascinating. Given that many of the educated gentry had travelled widely as well, "exotic" gardeners are to be expected.