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Monument to Flora Macdonald, Castle Hill, Inverness,” by Andrew Davidson (1841-1925). 1896-99. Bronze group, including the collie dog. The monument stands in front of the Sheriff Court, high on Castle Hill, Inverness, so that, as John Gifford says, Flora is shown gazing "down the Great Glen" (197) — the valley of the River Ness. Flora Macdonald was the young woman who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape from Scotland after the Jacobites were routed at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. According to the "Inverness City Trail," the statue of the Jacobite heroine was paid for” by the generosity of "Captain J. Henderson MacDonald of Caskieben, and of the 78th Highlanders."
As well as an inscription of Flora Macdonald's name in the granite pedestal, there is a bronze plaque, in the shape of a shield, with a quotation in both Gaelic and English. Dr Johnson met Flora on the Isle of Skye in 1773, during his tour of the Highlands, and was much taken with her: "The preserver of Prince Charles Edward Stuart will be mentioned in history and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour." She was, says James Boswell when recording the meeting, "a little woman, of a genteel appearance, and uncommonly mild and well bred. To see Dr Samuel Johnson, the great champion of the English Tories, salute Miss Flora Macdonald in the isle of Sky, was a striking sight" (142-43).
Flora Macdonald. Source: Boswell, facing p. 143.
Related Material
Bibliography
"2. Inverness City." www.clandavidson.org.uk. Web. 19 December 2017.
Boswell, James. The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL. D. London: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, 1860. Internet Archive. Contributed” by Harvard University. Web. 19 Decemnber 2017.
"City Centre Trail." Inverness City Heritage Trust. Tourist leaflet widely available in the town.
Gifford, John. Highland and Islands. The Buildings of Scotland. London: Penguin, 1992.
Last modified 28 February 2018