Banff, Scotland

Imagine if you can a rich landowner surveying his lands. He has a small band of his men with him. He looks around his land with pride knowing that everything he can see is his. As he stands there he slowly becomes aware of the sounds of bagpipes coming towards him and behind the pipes there is a large band of outlaws, vagabonds and hangers on walking like free men across his land.  His blood starts to rise and he contemplates charging at them and sweeping them off his land. Suddenly he recognises the leader and as quick as he can he orders his men to flee.

If you were living in the north east corner of Scotland in the late 1690’s you would be familiar with the leader of that band of outlaws James MacPherson. Born in 1675 MacPherson was the son of a Laird (Lord) and a gypsy woman his father had met at a fair. MacPherson robbed from the rich and the wealthy of these parts and became known as a hero to the poor and a villain to most of the landowners in this part of Scotland. He was eventually arrested and sentenced to death. Just before his execution he wrote the words and tune of a song that has become a famous part of the Scots folk scene and is the subject of this week’s murder ballad monday. The song is entitled “MacPherson’s Rant.”

The Corries singing “MacPherson’s Rant.”

There is in this story the outline of a western in the Howard Hawks tradition of Hollywood with perhaps a young Kirk Douglas or Tony Curtis as the young MacPherson. He is handsome and reknown for his skill with his sword. MacPherson was described as being “in beauty, strength and stature rarely equaled.” The story contains robbery, posses, escapes from prison, rewards for capture and betrayal. All the ingredients for a fantastic story. Add into the mix the fact that MacPherson was an excellent fiddle player and songwriter and we have the basis for an epic.

Invereshie

MacPherson’s father was MacPherson of Invereshie, in the North east Scotland. MacPherson’s mother was a beautiful gypsy. The Laird accepted his illegitimate son and treated him as his son. James was  raised by his father in Invereshie House. He would have been educated and would have become accustomed to the finer things in life. However this wealthy upbringing came to an abrupt end when his father was killed trying to bring back cattle that had been stolen by reivers. At this point MacPherson’s mother and her family came back into his life.

A more recent version of Invereshie House.

Wandering families known as gypsies, tinkers or travellers were well known in Scotland. It is believed that they first arrived in Scotland roundabout 1490. They were known as ‘egyptians’ which became shortened to gypsy. They developed a reputation for theft and they are many accounts of gypsies being caught and hanged for their activities. Like many immigrants they were seen as an easy target to blame for the ills of society. The experience of gypsies in Scotland is very similar to other countries at this time and throughout history. Various attempts to defend and protect gypsies lasted for a short while only to be replaced by attempts to ban them entirely from Scotland. By the time of Jamie MacPherson it was the law of Scotland that an ‘egyptian’ could be hanged on sight. James MacPherson would have been quickly introduced to the history and traditions of the gypsies. An excellent history of the gypsies in Scotland can be found here.

So the scene is set for our adventure. Young MacPherson who started his life as the son of the Laird growing up with the finer things, has grown to manhood amongst his mother’s family, developing the skills for excellence with a sword and a fiddle for which he was to become famous. Somewhere between the Laird’s house and the gypsy gamp MacPherson learnt to question the distance between the wealthy and the poor. At some point towards his late teenage years he lifted his head and sword and the legend began………….

James MacPherson’s sword (replica – Clan Macpherson Museum)

The actual truth concerning the life of James MacPherson has been long lost in the mists of time. However, as with the truth concerning Liberty Valance we are really concerned with the legend. Legend has it that MacPherson and his gang swept through the lands of the north east Scotland, plundering, stealing and making many enemies amongst the rich and the landowners. MacPherson quickly became known for sharing his takings with the poor of the land. This clearly would have added to the woe of the powerful.

In my mind I have imagined MacPherson as a young boy learning, initially from his father about the importance of honour and fairness. The fact that MacPherson’s father treated him as he would have done if he had been “legitimate” when he could have quite easily denied everything and had nothing to do with him shows that there was something about MacPherson senior that was not of his age.

After the death of his father MacPherson was re-embraced into the heart of his mother’s family. He would have learned by the light of the fire, the tales of his travelling family, of their skill with  their wits. MacPherson would have learnt to dance, to sing and to play the fiddle. He would have learnt the joys of life, of being able to feed himself and his family, to catch and kill every wild animal local to that part of Scotland. MacPherson would also have learnt how to ride horses and to select the best horses both legally and not so legally. Indeed there is some evidence that MacPherson was a legitimate horse dealer.

I suspect he started with members of his extended family, learning to reive the cattle off the land – a small irony considering that it is believed that it was reivers that killed MacPherson’s father. Eventually he had formed his own band to reive.

MacPherson developed a reputation by raiding the wealthy farms of Banffshire and Aberdeenshire. Very quickly he became the public enemy number one of Duff of Braco, a wealthy and increasingly dangerous enemy. Duff organised a posse to try and catch MacPherson. MacPherson was in the eyes of the poor of these lands, a latter day Robin Hood. He shared what he stole with them and thus they helped him stay clear of the likes of Duff of Braco.

Once MacPherson was actually captured and was held in the jail at Aberdeen. Such was MacPherson’s standing and reputation amongst the ordinary folk that an escape plan was hatched. MacPherson’s cousin, Donald MacPherson and a gypsy named Peter Brown, heavily aided by local Aberdeen folk broke into the prison, distracted and disarmed the guards and to delight of his rescuers he fled the prison to cheering crowds.

MacPherson appears to have gained praise and favour from one of the landowners, the Laird of Grant, who adds to the legend and perhaps also, MacPherson’s growing sense of himself, by stepping in on more than one occasion to help the young man.

Aberdeenshire

Eventually, as Butch and the Kid discovered, all good things must come to an end. And of course, it came through betrayal and deceit. Such was MacPherson’s fame that he decided to alert everyone to his coming by having a piper playing at the head of his gang. Clearly this must have added to his legend and his status. However it meant he was becoming somewhat lax and predictable in his actions. The dreaded Mr Big of this tale, Duff of Braco, guessed that MacPherson could not stay away from the St Rufus fair in the town of Keith. Indeed he was right and Duff of Braco set a trap.

There are various versions of the capture. One suggests that MacPherson had had a fall out with one of his own men over a woman. This led to his betrayal with a Judas style kiss. However this seems unlikely as we
will see when we come to MacPherson’s own version of his capture. My feeling is that Duff of Braco knew that MacPherson liked to parade at public events and thus set a trap. A fight broke and during the fight one of MacPherson’s gang was killed. MacPherson was forced to flee through a particular narrow street. As he did so a pre-arranged trap kicked into play. As MacPherson passed through the very narrow street in Keith, a woman in a house above the street threw a blanket over MacPherson and men rushed him from all sides. Duff of Braco must have been delighted. His nemesis, the criminal mastermind had finally been caught.

As MacPherson was waiting in prison he composed the song that has now become the main reason that we still remember the story of James MacPherson.

The lyrics he wrote are as follows: