John MacRae-Gilstrap

Lieutenant Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap (31 December 1861 – January 1937) was a British army officer and a senior figure of the Clan Macrae. He contested a rival claim to the chiefship of the clan, and in 1912 he purchased and subsequently restored the Macrae stronghold of Eilean Donan Castle on Loch Duich in the west of Scotland.

John MacRae was the second son of Duncan MacRae and Grace Stewart. He was born in the Punjab where his father had served with the East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The family later returned to Scotland, where Duncan MacRae took up residence at Kames Castle in Bute, becoming Deputy Lieutenant of Buteshire. His grandfather, Major Colin MacRae, also served in India with the 75th Highlanders. John's great-great-grandfather was John MacRae of Conchra, one of the "Four Johns of Scotland" who were killed fighting for the Jacobites at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715.

In 1883 MacRae joined the 1st battalion The Royal Highland Regiment (The Black Watch) as a lieutenant. The following year he was posted to Egypt where the regiment was engaged in the Mahdist War, and took part in the battle of Tamai (13 March 1884). In September he was placed in charge of a division of boats as part of the Nile Expedition under General Earle. The expedition was unsuccessful in its aim of relieving the Siege of Khartoum, and was attacked at Kirbekan in February 1885. MacRae was mentioned in despatches after the engagement, in which the Mahdists were defeated. He also received the Egypt Medal and a bronze Khedive's Star. The British subsequently withdrew from Sudan, and MacRae was sent with his regiment to Malta, returning to Perth in 1889. The following year he was promoted to Captain, and in 1901 he was appointed to the Royal Company of Archers, the sovereign's ceremonial bodyguard in Scotland.

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