GORDON, Catharine ^{1 2}

   Other names for Catharine were GORDON, Catherine and INNES, , Mrs.

   User ID: J351.

  General Notes:

"Just over a month after Culloden, Government troops swept into Deeside to begin the campaign of retribution, plundering and burning the homes of all those believed to have participated in the rising. Among the many places subsequently destroyed were the mansion houses of Auchindryne, Auchinhove, Blelack, Campfield, Mill of Kincardine, and Monaltrie. A reprehensible feature of these burnings is the Order to execute them was given before their owners had stood trial. How many humble dwellings suffered a like disaster is not known. Only two Deeside houses visited by Government troops appear to have escaped destruction - Balmoral Castle, the home of James Farquharson, 'Balmoral the Brave', which is described in records as very bad and was apparently unworthy of their attentions, and Balnacraig, saved from ruin by a clever piece of subterfuge by it's lady, Catherine Gordon, wife of James Innes of Balnacraig (a Jacobite) [....]

On a very warm afternoon in August, 1746, a party of Hanoverian troops under Captain MacHardy - the officer responsible for the burning of several Deeside mansions - arrived at Balnacraig (Balnacraig stands on an elevated site within a picturesque loop of the River Dee opposite the village of Kincardine o' Neill). It seems certain the lady of the house - Catherine Innes - was forewarned of the soldiers approach and appreciating that an army marches on it's stomach, she prepared a great reception for the visitors, unwelcome as they were. Exhausted by the heat and thirsty after their march, the Red Coats halted before the house. Captain MacHardy then addressed himself to Catherine Innes saying he had come for her husband, reported to be disaffected against His Majesty King George II. He demanded to see Innes and being told he was from home, searched the house. MacHardy then read the Indictment against Innes and the Order for burning Balnacraig. In reply, Catherine Innes pointed out that her son Lewis was the owner of the property, not her husband, and if the house was burnt, the Government would be held responsible as no Indictment stood against the owner of Balnacraig. This created a problem for MacHardy and Catherine Innes suggested they have some refreshment. The Captain and his men were royally feasted and before long the cellars were emptied of their whisky, wine and beer, and when the Red Coats eventually took their leave, they staggered off, as one eye witness records - 'dredfa fu' -the rear being brought up by a very intoxicated sergeant wearing a clay pig on his head. One of the most interesting spectators of this unorthodox military display was James Innes himself. He had quietly emerged from his hide out to watch the fun. Thus Balnacraig was saved from destruction and the old house still stands although it no longer serves as a mansion house."

from The Story of the Aberdeenshire Dee ⁴

Catharine married James INNES of Drumgask, then 1st of Balnacraig, Jacobite 1745, son of Charles INNES of Drumgask and Claudia IRVINE.¹ (James INNES of Drumgask, then 1st of Balnacraig, Jacobite 1745 was born about 1692.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Dr (Alexander) Gordon, of whom mention has been made more than once in the foregoing pages, had at one time owned the estate of Balnacraig, on Deeside. This he gave, in default of male heirs, during his lifetime to the eldest of his three daughters, who had married James Innes, of Drumgask, near Aboyne."

from Catholics of Scotland




Only two Deeside houses visited by Government troops appear to have escaped destruction - Balmoral Castle, the home of James Farquharson, 'Balmoral the Brave', which is described in records as very bad and was apparently unworthy of their attentions, and Balnacraig, saved from ruin by a clever piece of subterfuge by it's lady, Catherine Gordon, wife of James Innes of Balnacraig (a Jacobite)"

from The Story of the Aberdeenshire Dee ^{1 4}