John McPherson

Owner of Cluny in St Thomas-in-the-East, Jamaica, from at least 1810. Deceased by 1820.

1. Son of Captain Lachlan Macpherson (1714-1777) and his wife Catharin Campbell (daughter of Duncan Campbell of Achlyne). Born 08/06/1746. "Cluny estate in Badenoch was the seat of the chiefs of the Macphersons. John’s father, Captain Lachlan Macpherson, was brother of Ewan Macpherson of Cluny who led the clan in support of the Jacobite Rising of 1745. John was therefore nephew of the chief known generally as ‘Cluny of the ’45’, and was first cousin to the next chief, Colonel Duncan Macpherson of Cluny. John was actually heir to the chieftainship of the clan until Col Duncan’s son was born in 1804. John’s father, Capt Lachlan, did not fight with the Jacobites; he had joined the British Army before the ’45, and had actually fought at the siege of Cartagena in 1741."

2. John and his elder brother Evan emigrated to Jamaica. A family letter of 1791 described them as merchants, "not hitherto very successful", although a letter from a different author in 1796 described them as "in Jamaica doing, we hear, very well". John married Mary, daughter of Daniel Bernard, apparently against the wishes of her father. A descendant and family historian, William Cheyne-Macpherson claimed in the 1940s to have letters in his possession from John's father-in-law Daniel Bernard describing John as "this beggarly Scotch trader". According to Cheyne-Macpherson, John's acquisition of the Cluny estate in Jamaica can be ascribed to his marriage to Mary rather than his own success in business.

3. The Inverness Courier in 1833 printed the following account of John McPherson: "A Genuine Celt – Died lately, at Cluny Estate in St Thomas in the East, Jamaica, John Macpherson, Esq. the relation and heir presumptive of the chieftain of that clan. The old gentleman, in defiance of mosquitoes and everything else, continued to wear the philabeg [kilt], composed of the tartan of his clan; and at the skirl of the piobrach [sic] every negro within reach of its sound was heard to exclaim, “God bless my old Massa; he make plenty of noise for we.” So universally was this gentleman respected in the quarter, that a holiday was granted to all the negroes to attend his remains to the “narrow house;” and a poor old Highlandman who could scarcely crawl to his kinsman’s grave, produced his bagpipe, and played the “Macpherson’s Lament,” in a style which was responded to by every Celt present, by doffing his bonnet." The slave registers and Jamaica Almanacs clearly show John McPherson had died c. 1820. It may be that the Courier printed an anecdote on the basis that the details made a good story, and added the death as "lately" as the editors had no idea of the actual date of his death.

Presumably this other John McPherson was a relative: Death 'Lately, at Cluny Estate in St. Thomas in the East, Jamaica, John McPherson, Esq, the nephew and heir Presumptive of the Chieftain of that Clan. The old gentleman, in defiance of' mosquitoes and every thing else, continued to wear the phiiabeg, composed of the tartan of his clan; and at the skirl of his Pilbroch, every negro within the reach of its sound was always heard to exclaim, "God bless my old mass; he make plenty noise for wi." So universally was this gentlemen respected in the quarter, that a holiday was granted to all the negroes to attend his remains to "the narrow house" and a poor old Highland-man, who could scarcely crawl to his kinsman's grave, produced his bagpipe and played the ' McPherson's Lament', in a style which was responded to by every Celt present, by doffing his bonnet.'

1. Email from David Taylor 28/07/2020; https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/mac/macpherson01.php [accessed 06/01/2022]; William Cheyne-Macpherson, The Chiefs of Clan Macpherson (Edinburgh, 1947), p. 116-117. For background to the Macpherson clan in the ’45 and their later eighteenth-century history see David Taylor, The Wild Black Region: Badenoch 1750-1800 (Edinburgh, 2016).

2. William Cheyne-Macpherson, The Chiefs of Clan Macpherson (Edinburgh, 1947), p. 116-117.

3. Inverness Courier 09/10/1833.

We are grateful to Peter Selley and David Taylor for their assistance with compiling this entry.