Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair | Alexander MacDonald
(1698–1770)

Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, also known as Alexander MacDonald, is the best-known Gaelic bard of the 18th century. He was related to the MacDonalds of Clanranald and the MacDonalds of the Isles. He and Flora MacDonald, his cousin, aided Prince Charles Edward Stuart. He wrote poems on a variety of subjects – nature, love, women, revolution, politics, satire – and he composed the first great poem, or epic, in Gaelic. His songs are still sung to this day.

He was born between 1690 and 1700 in Dalilea, Moidart. His father was the minister and an astute scholar, and tutored Alasdair when he was young. Alasdair studied at the University of Glasgow, and although he was very able, he never completed his degree. He married Sìne MacDonald from Glen Etive. Around the year 1729, he taught at one of the Scottish Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (S.S.P.C.K.) schools on St Finan's Isle, where he was also a catechist for the organisation. He moved from there to Kilchoan in 1738, and the following year to Coiremhuillin where he wrote the song Allt an t-Siùcair. He was here in 1741 when he compiled a Gaelic dictionary, the first newly-published book in Gaelic.

In 1745, Alasdair gave up teaching and became involved in the Jacobite Rising. He was in the Prince's army from the day the banner was raised in Glenfinnan until the struggle came to an end. Because of his fluency and eloquence in Gaelic, he was employed to teach the language to Prince Charles. After the Battle of Culloden, he and his wife fled into exile. When things settled after the Jacobite Rising, Alasdair received a farm called Eignaig on the Clanranald Estate, and in 1751 he became the factor of the Isle of Canna. This was also the year he published the first edition of his poetry in Ais-eiridh na Sean Chànain Albannaich. Alasdair was a Jacobite through and through, and in many of his poems he expresses the great contempt he had for the government. Although he himself was never arrested, in 1752 the unsold copies of his book were seized and burned by the hangman of Edinburgh. Only about twelve copies survive today.

After this he lived for periods in Glenuig, Knoydart, Moidart and Arisaig. He often travelled to South Uist, where his brother Lachlan was a tacksman. Alasdair passed away around 1770, and was laid to rest in Kilmory Old Churchyard, Arisaig.

List of compositions:
A Bhanarach Dhonn a' Chruidh
Ailein, Ailein 's Fhad' an Cadal
Allt an t-Siùcar
O Hì Ri Ri, Tha E Tighinn
Òran Eile Don Phrionnsa

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