# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Macdonald, Flora

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MACDONALD, FLORA,
Was the daughter of Mr. Macdonald, of Milton, in South Uist, one of the Hebrides. She was born in 1720, and, after her father's death, resided in the Isle of Skye with her mother and stepfather, Hugh Macdonel, of Amadale. After the disastrous defeat of Culloden, when Prince Charles Edward, a hunted fugitive, was seeking concealment in the Western Isles, Flora was on a visit to her brother, in South Uist, where, as it happened, the prince lay hid. The circumstances which induced this young and beautiful girl to ​become the companion of the prince's wanderings, and the sharer of his dangers and almost unexampled hardships, have never been clearly explained. The most probable account, and no doubt" the true, is, that her stepfather, Hugh Macdonel, though in command of a company of royal militia, was in secret so well disposed towards the cause of the Stuarts, that he was induced to allow his stepdaughter to aid in the prince's escape, and to write privately to him by a trusty messenger, making him the offer. Flora was conducted to the prince at midnight, where in a lonely hut they concerted measures for his escape. The isles were overrun with soldiers; the prince's pursuers had traced him to South Uist, and thirty thousand pounds were offered for his apprehension. It was therefore necessary to be prompt, wary, and courageous in the attempt, all of which qualities Flora brought to the undertaking. After passing through numerous adventures, concealed in rocks and caves, and exposed to imminent danger, they succeeded in leaving the isle; the prince dressed as a female, and personating the character of Betty Burke, an Irish woman in attendance upon Miss Macdonald. On approaching Syke, the boat was fired upon by the soldiers on shore, and Flora, though the bullets fell thick around her, positively refused the prince's request to lie down in the boat for shelter, unless he would consent to do so also, and he was obliged to yield to her importunities to ensure her safety. They succeeded in effecting a landing in Skye. Here, Flora was called upon to exercise all her skill, fortitude, and courage, in behalf of the prince; and many interesting anecdotes of the romantic incidents connected with her efforts to conceal and aid him in his escape, are on record. She conducted him in safety to Portaree, where arrangements were made to convey him to a neighbouring island, and parted from him after receiving his warmest assurances of gratitude and regard. Twenty days after they parted the prince escaped to France, but before half that period had elapsed Flora was arrested, and carried on board a vessel of war, where she was confined five months. She was then conveyed to London, and detained under surveillance for eight months. In July, 1747, she was finally set at liberty, by the provisions of the Act of Indemnity. While in London Flora was visited by persons of the highest distinction, and on her departure she was presented with fifteen hundred pounds, which had been subscribed by the Jacobite ladies of the metropolis. In 1750, Flora became the wife of Alexander Macdonald, of Kingsburgh. A few years after, in consequence of the embarrassment of their affairs, they were compelled to emigrate to America, where they settled upon an estate which they purchased in North Carolina. On the breaking out of the revolutionary war, Macdonald sided with the royalist party, and after the independence was secured, they returned to Skye. Here Flora died, at the advanced age of seventy. By her particular request her body was enclosed and buried in one of the sheets that had been used by the unfortunate prince during the night he rested at Kingsburgh, and which she had preserved, unwashed, for that purpose. Flora Macdonald was the mother of seven children, all of whom were an honour to her name. Dr. Johnson, in his "Tour to the Hebrides," gives an interesting account of his interview with this heroine of Scottish history, whose name will ever be closely associated with that of "Prince Charley."