Duncan, the only son of Ewan and Janet of Cluny of the '45 was born in late 1747 or early 1748. His birth took place in a kiln -- a rude farm structure -- located not far from the blackened ruins of Cluny House burned by Loudoun's militiamen in June 1746. There his homeless and grief-stricken mother was constrained to take shelter. As a consequence he came to be known in Badenoch as Donnchadh na h-àth, or 'Duncan of the kiln'. When his mother joined his father living in exile in France, he was left in the Highlands under careful guardianship of his Fraser uncles.

     The people of the Highlands were subjected to varying degrees of harassment by the Government in the decade after the defeat of the Jacobite army at Culloden. The leaders of the Rising had their lands confiscated and the Macphersons of Cluny were no exception. Many of those living in Badenoch who had been involved to a lesser extent had to endure the quartering of troops in their homes among other indignities. However, the needs of that Government lit a 'candle' of hope for better days; that 'candle' was military service. It was William Pitt, "the great Commoner," who later became the First Earl of Chatham who boasted that he was "seeking for merit wherever it could be found" and that he "was the first minister who looked for it, and found it, in the mountains of the north. I called it forth," he continued, "and drew into your service a hardy and intrepid race of men, men who, when left by your jealousy, became a prey to the artifices of your enemies, and had gone nigh to have overturned the State in the war before last. These men in the last war were brought to combat on your side; they served with fidelity, as they fought with valour, and conquered for you in every quarter of the world."

      As a result of this policy, Duncan and a host of his Highland contemporaries entered the military service of the United Kingdom. In Duncan's case this service extended for over thirty years as is described in detail elsewhere on this panel.

      During that period the rents from the Cluny estates had been paid initially to the Barons of the Exchequer and applied to the liquidation of any debts on the estates. Subsequently the estates were 'annexed to the Crown' with the rents being devoted to economic change in the form of agricultural improvement (of the kind that was already ongoing in parts of the Cluny estates) and of industrial development, i.e. cottage industry such as spinning and weaving, mining etc. It was a Whig policy of enlightened management, a practical example of the principles of the European Enlightenment which was led by Scottish thinkers and doers. There were exceptions to this policy but on balance it was judiciously applied to the welfare of the Highland population with the aim of weaning them away from support of the House of Stuart.

     As the Government's fear of further risings faded and the threat of global warfare increased, the harsh measures taken immediately following the Rising of '45 were progressively reduced perhaps ameliorated by the sacrifices of the Highland men that served it in distant lands. In 1782 the prohibitions of the Disarming Act of 1746 such as the wearing of Highland dress was repealed. Two years later the Parliament restored the confiscated estates to the attainted Jacobites or their heirs.