ADMIRAL SIR REGINALD MACDONALD (1820-1899)

There is a striking absence of campaign medals on the otherwise imposing chest of Admiral Sir Reginald Macdonald, the seventh titular Baron Clanranald, who from 1873 until his death 26 years later was the 21st chief of the Macdonalds of Clanranald.

Nicknamed 'Rim', he served for some years on the African coast. In a pen-portrait in February 1880, the magazine Vanity Fair recorded: "In 1852 Rim got up an Ashanti war of his own and for three years he was fighting on the West Coast of Africa with a diminished squadron and such allies as he could muster among the natives. His difficulties were enormous for he had to face not only the enemy, but the fevers, the swamps, and the climate of the country; yet his deeds were of the most valiant and brilliant kind. But this was before African warfare had become fashionable, and from that day to this he and his sailors have gone without even the meanest rewards which were subsequently so plentifully showered upon the soldiers who had the next brush on the same coast."

Norman H Macdonald provides an excellent account of the admiral's life in his 2008 book The Clan Ranald of Garmoran - A History of the MacDonalds of Clanranald. Reginald obviously had some powerful patrons because he entered the Royal Navy as a 12-year-old volunteer first class on 11 May 1833 after being nominated by King William. He first joined the 26-gun VESTAL, which had recently been launched and named in honour of Princess Victoria.

Norman Macdonald writes: "His ship was sent to the Isle of Wight and had the honour of taking the Princess and her mother, the Duchess of Kent, for the former's first sail. On that occasion the Young Clanranald was ordered to be in attendance on the Princess for the day, which services were never forgotten by the future Queen Victoria."

Soon after this the fast-sailing VESTAL was sent to the West Indies where she captured more slave ships than any other British warship on the station. The officers and crew suffered badly from disease but Reginald escaped serious sickness. For his services the commander-in-chief, Sir George Cockburn, chose him to be his midshipman. Not long after this Reginald was ordered home to join the 92-gun RODNEY which for two years (1837-38) served on the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean. When the RODNEY's captain, Hyde Parker, was appointed commodore, Reginald served as a staff officer.

After serving the Mediterranean as mate in the 120-gun HOWE under Captains Sir Watkin Owen Pell and Robert Smart, he was promoted to lieutenant on 14 December 1842. He was appointed again to the HOWE in February 1843, commanded at this time by Capt Thomas Forrest. In November that year he was posted to the 90-gun ALBION (Capt Nicholas Lockyer), then off Lisbon. Just over six months later, on 30 May 1844, he was sent to the 80-gun COLLINGWOOD (Capt R Smart), the Pacific flagship of Sir George Seymore, to whom Reginald became signal lieutenant on 20 January 1847.

Norman Macdonald continues: "After some exciting experiences in the South Seas and on the coast of Mexico, Clanranald was given the command of the MODESTE, which he had to bring home in the winter season in a very damaged condition. This he successfully accomplished and was thereupon promoted by the Admiralty over the heads of many of his seniors." This was in January 1848.

In June 1852 he was placed in command of the sloop FERRET on the west coast of Africa. When the Crimean War broke out, all the large warships were withdrawn from Africa and Reginald became senior officer with nine small ships instead of 22 - but he was still expected to police 3,000 miles of coast. He was promoted to captain on 19 October 1854 after some successful engagements in the rivers at Lagos and the Gold Coast - and the capture of two big slavers at Longa and New Calabar.

In 1859 he was appointed to the HOGUE in the Clyde where he was under orders to raise a regiment of Royal Navy Coast Volunteers. Within only three months he had enrolled a thousand men. Norman Macdonald adds: "The RNC Volunteers were a splendid body of picked men who became an enormous success. Clanranald considered them wonderful artillery men, the best shots he ever saw and smart at rifle and cutlass drill. Their conduct was admirable and Clanranald was specially complimented by the Admiralty for his success."

In June 1865 he was appointed to command of the steam frigate ARETHUSA in the Mediterranean, where he was senior captain. He fell in love with the ARETHUSA so it was much against his will when he was placed in command of the new ironclad, BELLEROPHON. Appointed rear-admiral on 1 April 1870, he served as commander-in-chief on the East Indies station 1875-77, flying his flag in the UNDAUNTED. Here his services led to him being created a Knight Commander of the Star of India (KSCI), the only naval officer on whom this distinction had been conferred. Later he was also made Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB)

He was C-in-C at the Nore from 1879. On 9 June 1880 his daughter launched a corvette at Chatham Dockyard, naming her the CONSTANT, and two years later he was promoted to full admiral. He retired from the service in July 1884 and in 1888 was awarded a good service pension of £300 a year. He died at his home in Ovington Square, London, on 15 December 1899.
 

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