: The
first was a member of the family of Struan, Perthshire, and was a
merchant in Inverness in 1420. In the battle of _Blair-na-leine_, fought
at the west end of Loch-Lochy in 1544, John Robertson, a descendant of
the above, acted as standard-bearer to Lord Lovat. This battle was
fought between the Frasers and Macdonalds of Clanranald, and derived its
appellation from the circumstance of the combatants fighting only in
their shirts. The contest was carried on with such bloody determination,
foot to foot and claymore to claymore, that only _four_ of the Frasers
and _ten_ of the Macdonalds returned to tell the tale. The former family
was well nigh extirpated; tradition, however, states that sixteen widows
of the Frasers who had been slain, shortly afterwards, as a providential
succour, gave birth to sixteen sons! From the bloody onslaught at
Loch-Lochy young Robertson returned home scaithless, and his brave and
gallant conduct was the theme of praise with all. Some time thereafter
he married the second daughter of Paterson of Wester and Easter Inshes,
the eldest being married to Cuthbert of Macbeth's Castlehill, now known
as the Crown lands, possessed by Mr. Fraser of Abertarff. On the death
of Paterson, his father-in-law, Wester Inshes became the property of
young Robertson, and Easter Inshes that of the Cuthberts, who, for the
sake of distinction, changed the name to Castlehill. The Robertsons, in
regular succession until the present time, possess the fine estate of
Inshes; while that of Castlehill, which belonged to the powerful
Cuthberts for so many generations, knows them no more. The family of
Inshes, in all ages, stood high in respect throughout the highlands, and
many of them had signalised themselves in upholding the rights of their
country; and the worthy Provost Robertson of Dingwall had no less
distinguished himself, who, with other important reforms, had cleared
away the last burdensome relic of feudal times in that ancient burgh.'

[10] The other sons and daughters of this marriage were Thomas, _d._
1889; Robertson, _d._ 1875; John Neilson, _d._ 1863; Anne, _d._ 1829;
Helen Jane, _d._ 1880.

[11] At Dundee, Oct. 29, 1890.

[12] In 1835 formal difficulties arose in connection with the purchase
of a government annuity, and then he seems to have taken out letters
patent authorising the change in the name.

[13] _Memoirs of J. R. Hope-Scott_, ii. p. 290.

[14] The story of John Smith is excellently told i