Talk:Flora MacDonald

Untitled
Changed the spelling of MacDoanld from "Macdonald" to the proper "MacDonald", with the 'D' capitalised. --Poorpaddy 01:57, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Why do you think that Macdonald is incorrect ? -- Derek Ross | Talk 23:26, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

MacDonald is the correct spelling. -Colin MacDonald


 * What a shock that "correct" spelling will be to Godfrey James Macdonald of Macdonald, the eighth Lord Macdonald and the thirty-fourth chief of Clan Donald... to say nothing of his good friends, Ranald Alexander Macdonald (24th captain and chief of Clanranald) and Sir Ian Macdonald of Sleat (25th chief of Sleat).


 * The reality is that people with that name spell it both "Macdonald" and "MacDonald," either being as proper as the other. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Flora and many of her contemporaries spelled it both ways at one time or another, as well as leaving out the "a" in "Mac" occasionally.  — OtherDave 18:57, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes it has been spelled both capitalised an uncapitalised but technically it is a patronymic, meaning son of Donald - a proper first name, hence the D should be capitalised in my opinion. Plus most of the sources I've seen on Flora MacDonald spell it this way. --172.141.131.75 20:20, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

First Name?
I thought that her first name ws actually the Gaelic name Fionnghal which was anglicised to Flora. At the minute though I can't find any decent sources to confirm this, but if someone can, I think it should be mentioned. --172.141.131.75 20:30, 15 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I added her Gaelic name as Fionnghal. This is verified in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17432.  I wasn't sure how to put this in as a reference so maybe someone can fix it.  And if you think the name is in the wrong place then feel free to move it. --Reniannen17 23:50, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Skye boat song
There is no mention of the skye boat song. LizzieHarrison 18:14, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

A Scottish Jacobite?
What evidence is there to suggest Flora MacDonald was a Jacobite? She appears not to have taken sides during the the Jacobite movement in Scotland and, as far as I know, agreed to help BPC with a degree of reluctance. As a highlander, does simply aiding BPC instantly turn you into a Jacobite?

We also know that she wasn't Catholic but Presbyterian, Catholicism being one of the main tenets of Scottish Jacobitism. (Although not all Jacobites were Catholic) Furthermore, during the few years she spent in North Carolina both herself and Allan MacDonald participated in Donald MacDonald's loyalist movement. Would a Jacobite have exhorted Highland loyalists against Patriot militiamen? Maybe. After all, over thirty years had elapsed since the defeat at Culloden. I'm not sure. (149.168.27.229 (talk) 14:12, 17 September 2009 (UTC))

Had she been a Jacobite, she would much sooner team up with George Washington, or a close associate. During her court hearings after Colluden, she did maintain she wished to be seen as someone who just rescued someone from a distressing situation, and that Cumberland would have the same oppertunities had he been the victim.

Must add in this: had she been a Jacobite, would she eventualy have travelled to the Colonies? Someone please tell the editor to wake up. He will also need a good cup of coffee.


 * I've amended the Inbox entry on Nationality from Scottish to British because in 1746 there was no such designation; that's different from how she's remembered so I've it as Scottish in the rest of the article.

Robinvp11 (talk) 08:15, 2 August 2018 (UTC)

These tags
She is described both as a scottish jacobite and as an american loyalist. So which one is it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.164.223.52 (talk) 03:07, 15 November 2009 (UTC)


 * The two are not incompatible; the vast majority of Scots in the Americas fought for the British government. Flora's estates in North Carolina were provided as a reward for her husband's military service, so that's one obvious reason but there were many others.

Robinvp11 (talk) 08:12, 2 August 2018 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the proposal was move per request. The existing hatnote takes care of disambiguating the other title. The third listed on the dab page doesn't exist, though I'll do a history swap to preserve the dab's page history.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:01, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Flora MacDonald (Scottish Jacobite) → Flora MacDonald — PatGallacher (talk) 17:25, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

Primary meaning, fairly well known if romanticised figure, as in the Skye Boat Song. There is only one other article, a not very well known Canadian politician. There is also doubt about whether "Scottish Jacobite" is striclty accurate. PatGallacher (talk) 17:29, 27 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Support. Clearly the primary topic. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:22, 28 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Support Seems primary. Johnbod (talk) 15:41, 28 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

FF Walde source is unreliable
One of the sources listed–FF Walde, Autobiography of Flora MacDonald (1870) is apparently highly unreliable. It was apparently sexed-up by the author to include all sorts of detail that isn't actually real. According to a librarian I spoke to, it is not actually true that she was a prisoner in the Tower of London. It'd be helpful if the authors of the article could look into this further. —Tom Morris (talk) 15:11, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Clarification needed
The second paragraph is a little confusing. It uses She/Her too much. It is perfectly fine to use her name more than once in the intro. I marked clarification needed especially for the second sentence of the paragraph. Basically, which "She" is it referring to? Was Flora abused or her mother? Is it supposed to mean "Flora was abused by her father before he died and her mother also hated her."? I don't have access to ODNB to check this. Thank you. -- JoannaSerah (talk) 04:09, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

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Discussion on edit made by User Dilidor
Re the edit on Flora MacDonald, which I have reversed, then expanded.

I'm not clear as to what 'heavy handed' means but that implies a specific POV, not factual disagreement; which is fine, that's what Wikipedia is for but make a specific statement without back-up lacks simple courtesy.

Let me explain why it is not 'extraneous;' a lot of the traditional views on Flora MacDonald do her less than justice because she's often portrayed as doing this for romance or some sort of Stuart loyalty (Skye Boat song for one). In fact, if you take the time (as I did) to read the literature on this, she helped Charles not out of any starry-eyed romantic need but because she thought it was the right thing to do and she wanted him to get gone because of the danger he posed for other members of her family. And if you look at her subsequent career, she was clearly a woman of determination and strength.

I've covered these points in more detail within the body of the article.

Robinvp11 (talk) 16:46, 27 August 2018 (UTC)

Conn O'Neill -
What happened to Captain Conn O'Neill after leaving Skye. Sevenpeas (talk) 22:17, 29 April 2020 (UTC)