Flora MacDonald's dress

Jacobite

A framed fragment of cloth decorated with brown sprigged stripes on a cream background. It is mounted on a glazed wooden and silver frame. The piece is said to have been from a dress worn by Flora MacDonald (1722 -1790), heroine of the 1745 Rising. Flora helped the Prince escape while he was on the run from the Hanoverian army in 1746. She obtained permission from her step-father, the head of the local militia, to travel from South Uist to the mainland, accompanied by two servants and a crew of six boatmen. Famously, the Prince was disguised as Betty Burke, her Irish maid. Flora quickly became a celebrated heroine of the Rising and relics associated with her became very collectable.

Material: wood, glass, paper, cotton

Size: L 76 mm x W 51 mm

Sources: West Highland Museum