Great Scot ! Flora MacDonald
Flora Macdonald (1722 - 1790) was the Jacobite heroine who, at the age of 24, bravely helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape capture after the Battle of Culloden.
The island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides was controlled by the Hanoverian government when the defeated Charlie, who was in hiding there, sought a way off the island. Flora obtained a pass to the mainland for herself, a manservant, a spinning maid, and a boat's crew of six men. The prince made his escape dressed as the maid.
The party landed on the island of Skye where Flora found help and arranged that he be taken to Portree, Skye and from there to the island of Raasay, where he escaped Scotland with Jacobite support.
Flora Macdonald, however, was later arrested and brought to London for aiding the prince's escape. She was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a short time but later released. Her courage and loyalty had gained her general sympathy, as well as her good manners and gentle character.
She subsequently married and emigrated to North Carolina but returned to Scotland after the Revolutionary War. During the passage back, the ship she was on fell under attack by a privateer and she was wounded in the arm when she refused to leave the deck during the skirmish.
She died at the age of 68, on Skye, the matriarch of a large family.