Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth

Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth
Lord Seaforth by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Born	9 June 1754
Died	11 January 1815
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Battles/wars	French Revolutionary Wars

Lieutenant-General Francis Humberston Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth FRS (9 June 1754 – 11 January 1815) was a British politician, (by right of his ancestry) Chief of the Highland Clan Mackenzie and raised the renowned 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot.

Mackenzie was the second son of Major William Mackenzie (died 12 March 1770), by Mary, daughter and heiress of Matthew Humberston of Humberston, in Lincolnshire. His father was the son of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie and grandson of Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth. On the death of his elder brother Colonel Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston in 1783, Mackenzie became the last male heir of the attainted Earls of Seaforth. When he was about twelve he suffered from scarlet fever which resulted in his losing his hearing and almost all speech, from this he was known as MacCoinnich Bodhar (Deaf Mackenzie) in Gaelic.

In 1784 and again in 1790 he was elected Member of Parliament for the County of Ross. In 1787 he offered to raise a regiment on his own estates to be commanded by himself. The government declined his patriotic offer but accepted his services in procuring recruits for the 74th and 75th. On 19 May 1790 he renewed his offer but the government again declined his services. When war broke out in 1793 he offered for a third time and a letter of service was granted in his favour dated 7 March 1793 empowering him as Lieutenant-Colonel-Commandant to raise a Highland Battalion to be called 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot.

In 1798 he was appointed Colonel of the Ross-shire Regiment of Militia. In 1808 he was made a Lieutenant-General.

In 1794 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ross-shire and was raised to the peerage of Great Britain as Lord Seaforth and Baron Mackenzie of Kintail on 26 October 1797. He was Governor of Barbados from 1800 to 1806, during which period he reformed slavery on the island, prohibiting the killing of slaves and easing discrimination against free blacks.