Anne Farquharson-Mackintosh

Anne Mackintosh (1723–1787) was a Scottish Jacobite leader, who was daughter to the Chief of Clan Farquharson and the wife of Angus Mackintosh, Chief of the Clan Mackintosh. She was one of very few (apparent) female military leaders during the Jacobite rising of 1745 and the first female to hold the rank of colonel in Scotland. 250px

Early life Born Anne Farquharson at Invercauld Castle, Aberdeenshire in 1723, Her family were Jacobite sympathisers. Around 1741 she was married to Angus (or Aeneas) Mackintosh, chief of the Clan Mackintosh, a committed anti-Jacobite.

The next month Mackintosh's husband and 300 of Loudon's men were captured north of Inverness by the Jacobite army. The Prince paroled Captain Mackintosh into the custody of his wife, commenting "he could not be in better security, or more honourably treated". She famously greeted him with the words, "Your servant, captain" to which he replied, "your servant, colonel" thereby giving her the nickname "Colonel Anne". She was also called "La Belle Rebelle" (the beautiful rebel) by the Prince himself.

A high number of her men, particularly the Clan Chattan men, and Alexander MacGillivray, were killed at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746. Their grave is marked by the Well of the Dead on the battlefield. After the Jacobite defeat at Culloden, Mackintosh was arrested and turned over to the care of her mother-in-law for a time. She stepped in to stop Anne McKay, a local Inverness woman who helped Jacobite officer Robert Nairn escape, being whipped through the streets of Inverness. Mackintosh later met Prince William, Duke of Cumberland at a social event in London with her husband. He asked her to dance to a pro-Government tune and she returned the favour by asking him to dance to a Jacobite tune.

Mackintosh died on 2 March 1787 in Leith, the harbour district of Edinburgh. She is buried in Old North Leith Burial Ground on Coburg Street. Her grave is marked by a white Jacobite rose and a commemorative plaque.

Historical fiction Scottish author Janet Paisley has written a novel based on Mackintosh's exploits, "White Rose Rebel", published 2007. Author Marsha Canham has also written an historical romance novel based on Mackintosh's exploits, "Midnight Honor"; book three of a trilogy regarding the Jacobite rising preceded by "The Blood of Roses" and "The Pride of Lions." Portuguese author Hélia Correia has written the historical novel "Lillias Fraser", set in Scotland and Portugal between 1746 and 1762, in which Mackintosh is a secondary character.