Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robertson, Donald
ROBERTSON, DONALD (fl. 1644–1660), tutor of Struan or Strowan, was the second son of Robert Robertson, tenth baron of Strowan, Perthshire, by his wife Agnes, daughter of Macdonald of Keppoch. On the death of his elder brother Alexander in 1636, he became tutor to his nephew Alexander, twelfth baron (father of Alexander, thirteenth baron [q. v.]), during whose long minority he held command of the clan. In April 1644 he joined the Marquis of Huntly in Aberdeenshire, with sixty of his clan (Spalding, Memorialls, ii. 343), and shortly afterwards was sent by him on an expedition into Angus (ib. p. 346). In the attack on the town of Montrose he and ‘some highlandmen’ did ‘brave service with their short guns’ (ib. p. 348). With other anti-covenanting leaders he was in 1645 declared by the Scottish parliament guilty of high treason, and his arms were ordered to be riven at the cross of Edinburgh (Balfour, Annals, iii. 270). On the arrival of Montrose in Scotland in August 1645, Robertson joined him in Atholl (Spalding, ii. 402), and took part in all the principal battles of the campaign, specially distinguishing himself at Inverlochy. On 10 June 1646 he received from Montrose a commission as colonel. At the Restoration his services were rewarded with a pension.
[Spalding's Memorialls of the Trubles (Spalding Club); Balfour's Annals of Scotland; Douglas's Baronage of Scotland, p. 408; Robertson's Brief Account of the Clan Donnachaidh, 1894.]