The Mackenzies trace their descent to Colin of
Kintail (died 1278), and their name is a variant of Mackenneth. Kenneth, the twelfth head of the clan, was made
Lord Mackenzie of Kintail in 1609, and his son
Colin, who succeeded his father as 2nd Lord Mackenzie in March 1611, was created earl of Seaforth in 1623. Colin's successor was his half-brother
George (died 1651), who became the 2nd earl in 1633. George was alternately a royalist and a
covenanter between 1636 and 1646, and was afterwards in Holland with
Charles II, who made him
Secretary of State for Scotland. His grandson,
Kenneth, the 4th earl, followed
James VII to France and was with the dethroned king in Ireland. Elevated by James in 1690, to Marquess of Seaforth and Viscount Fortrose (in the
Jacobite peerage), he was sent to head the 1689 rising in Scotland. He was soon captured and imprisoned. He was released in 1697 and died in Paris in January 1701. His successor was his son
William, who rallied under the
Jacobite standard at
Braemar, during the
rising of 1715, and then, having raised 3000 men, was present at the
battle of Sheriffmuir and was appointed lieutenant-general of the northern counties. He also took part in the Jacobite enterprise of 1719, being wounded at
Glenshiel. In 1716 he was
attainted and his titles and estates forfeited; before his death in January 1740, he had been relieved of some of the penalties of his
treason, although his titles were not restored. His son
Kenneth (c. 1718–1761), who but for the attainder would have been the 6th earl, helped the British government during the
rising of 1745, and was a
member of parliament for some years. His son
Kenneth Mackenzie was created
Baron of Ardelve and
Viscount Fortrose in the
Peerage of Ireland in 1766 and
Earl of Seaforth in 1771, also in the Peerage of Ireland. However, these peerages became extinct when he died in August 1781. Although there were still heirs to the older earldom, this remained under attainder. Kenneth raised a regiment of Highlanders, the
78th (later known as 72nd) in 1778, known later as the 1st battalion of the
Seaforth Highlanders. The Seaforth title has twice been revived after the extinction of the second creation of the earldom in 1781. In 1797 the soldier and politician
Francis Mackenzie was raised to the Peerage of Great Britain as
Lord Seaforth, Baron Mackenzie, of Kintail in the County of Ross. He was the grandson of Colonel the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, younger son of the fourth Earl of Seaforth of the 1623 creation and brother of the fifth Earl. All four of Lord Seaforth's sons predeceased him and on his death in 1815 the title became extinct. His daughter the Hon.
Mary Elizabeth Frederica Mackenzie married as her second husband
James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie, son of Admiral
Keith Stewart, third son of the sixth
Earl of Galloway. Their grandson
James Stewart-Mackenzie was a soldier, politician and philanthropist. In 1921 the barony of Seaforth held by his great-great-grandfather was revived when he was raised to the
Peerage of the United Kingdom as
Baron Seaforth, of Brahan, in Urray in the County of Ross and Cromarty. He was childless and the title became extinct on his death in 1923. ==List of titleholders==