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Lady Anne Mackintosh, also known as "Colonel Anne", lived from 1723 to 2 March 1787. She was the wife of the chief of the Clan Mackintosh who played a prominent role during the 1745 Jacobite uprising. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.
Anne Farquharson was born at Invercauld House near Braemar, and was the daughter of John Farquharson of Invercauld. In 1741, at the age of 19, she married Angus Mackintosh, chief of the Clan Mackintosh. He was a captain in the Black Watch, the Government force raised from loyal clans to police the Highlands in the aftermath of the 1715 Jacobite Uprising. This became a regular army regiment in 1739, and fought against the Jacobites during the 1745 uprising.
Despite this, Lady Anne's loyalties lay with the Jacobite cause. When Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard at Glenfinnan she was highly active in raising over 350 Farquharsons and Mackintoshs to fight with the Clan Chattan Regiment in the Jacobite army. During the uprising Captain Angus Mackintosh fought on the losing Government side at the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745 and was subsequently captured. He was later released into the custody of his wife. When they met, she greeted him with the words, "Your servant, Captain" to which he replied, "your servant, Colonel". Although Anne Mackintosh never actually led Jacobite troops into battle, the nickname "Colonel Anne" has stuck ever since.
After the final Jacobite defeat at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746, Anne Mackintosh was arrested by Government troops and held at Inverness for six weeks. She was then, in an interesting reversal of fortunes, released without charge into her husband's custody. Despite their support for opposing sides during the 1745 uprising, Anne and her husband seem then to have lived contentedly together. There is even a story that she later met the Duke of Cumberland at a social evening in London which she attended with her husband. He is said to have asked her to dance with him to a tune associated with the Hanoverian Government. She agreed, on condition he then dance with her to a Jacobite tune. After her husband's death in 1770, Lady Anne moved to Leith, where she died in 1787.
