Francis Mackenzie , 1st Baron Seaforth Francis Humberston Mackenzie , 1st Baron Seaforth FRS ( 9 June 1754 – 11 January 1815 ) was a British politician , ( by right of his ancestry ) Chief of the Highland Clan Mackenzie and raised the renowned 78th ( Highlanders ) Regiment of Foot . When he was about twelve he suffered from scarlet fever which resulted in his losing his hearing and almost all speech , from this he was known as MacCoinnich Bodhar ( Deaf Mackenzie ) in Gaelic . He nearly recovered the use of his tongue but during the last two years of his life , mourning the deaths of his four sons , he never made the attempt to articulate . Origins . Mackenzie was the second son of Major William Mackenzie ( died 12 March 1770 ) , by Mary , daughter and heiress of Matthew Humberston of Humberston , in Lincolnshire . His father was the son of the Hon . Alexander Mackenzie and grandson of Kenneth Mackenzie , 4th Earl of Seaforth . On the death of his elder brother Colonel Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston in 1783 , Mackenzie became the last male heir of the attainted Earls of Seaforth . Military career . In 1784 and again in 1790 he was elected Member of Parliament for the County of Ross . In 1787 he offered to raise a regiment on his own estates to be commanded by himself . The government declined his patriotic offer but accepted his services in procuring recruits for the 74th and 75th . On 19 May 1790 he renewed his offer but the government again declined his services . When war broke out in 1793 he offered for a third time and a letter of service was granted in his favour dated 7 March 1793 empowering him as Lieutenant - Colonel - Commandant to raise a Highland Battalion to be called 78th ( Highlanders ) Regiment of Foot , known as " Seaforth ' s Highlanders " . The original Mackenzie regiment had had its number previously reduced to 72nd Regiment of Foot . On 10 February 1794 the government agreed to his proposal to raise a second battalion , the Ross - shire Buffs . The two battalions were amalgamated in 1796 . Another battalion was raised in 1804 ( letter of service dated 17 April ) and these were again amalgamated July 1817 . In 1798 he was appointed Colonel of the Ross - shire Regiment of Militia . In 1808 he was made a Lieutenant - General . Non - military appointments . In 1794 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ross and was raised to the peerage of the United Kingdom as Lord Seaforth and Baron Mackenzie of Kintail on 26 October 1797 . He was Governor of Barbados from 1800 – 06 , during which period he reformed slavery on the island , prohibiting the killing of slaves and easing discrimination against free blacks . Subsequently , he held high office in Demerara and Berbice . In 1801 , Lord Seaforth was appointed Grand Master of the Freemasons in Barbados . Mackenzie was known as Seaforth when he held office in the West Indies . Research shows that he probably sought to avoid the curse of Brahan Seer by choosing to use the surname Seaforth . As a result , his descendants from Guyana are known by the name of Seaforth . Records in Demerara identify Francis Mackenzie as Francis Seaforth . Art supporter . In 1796 , he gave £1 , 000 to Sir Thomas Lawrence to relieve him from his financial difficulties . Lawrence later painted a full - length portrait of Seaforth ' s daughter , Mary . Lord Seaforth commissioned Benjamin West ' s painting " King Alexander III of Scotland being rescued from the fury of a stag by the intrepidity of Colin Fitzgerald . " Quote . ‘ The last Baron of Kintail , Francis , Lord Seaforth was a nobleman of extraordinary talents , who must have made for himself a lasting reputation had not his political exertions been checked by painful natural infirmities . ’ Walter Scott Family . Mackenzie married , 1782 , Mary Proby , daughter of The Very Rev Baptist Proby , 7th Dean of Lichfield and Mary Russell . Mary was sister of John Proby , 1st Baron Carysfort . Francis ' s four legitimate sons all predeceased him as predicted by the Brahan Seer . However , he had an illegitimate child with a local woman in Demerara ( now known as Guyana ) . Mackenzie has several surviving descendants from that union . His legitimate children were :