Ewen Alan Macpherson of Attadale (died 2024)

 Ewen Alan Macpherson of Attadale, who died 25 October, 2024, at Lochcarron, was laird of the 32,000-acre Attadale estate in the North West Highlands of Scotland, which stretches from the south shore of Loch Carron to Loch Monar, 15 miles away to the east.

The Attadale estate was historically part of the Clan Matheson lands that extended west to the Kyle peninsula. Most of the estate consists of bare hillside with around 200 acres of flat ground covering the floor of the Attadale glen. Attadale House was built in 1755 by Donald Matheson whose father, John, was the factor for the Seaforth estates in Kintail, Lochalsh and Lochcarron. The love stone above the middle first floor window shows their initials DM and E MK and a heart. The estate was bought in 1952 by Mr Macpherson's father, Ian, whose family had left the island of Skye in the early years of the 19th century. 

Mr Macpherson was predeceased by his wife, the former Nicolette Van der Bijl (who died 17 October, 2018). 

Ewen's branch of the Macpherson clan came from Sleat and Orbost in Skye. Great great grandfather Dr Hugh Macpherson acquired the island of Eigg in the nineteenth century. He was Vice Principal of King’s College, Aberdeen.

Ewen Macpherson's wife Nicolette, always Nicky, was born in South Africa, a van der Bijl, whose family moved to the Cape from near Rotterdam in the mid-seventeenth century and become anglicised when the British defeated the Dutch in 1805. Nicky trained as a painter in London and was greatly influenced by childhood memories of gardens such as Kirstenbosch and Vergelegen at the Cape.

Ewen Macpherson is survived by a son, Nicholas and a daughter Joanna, and predeceased by a daughter Sophie. The daughter Joanna featured in a BBC One documentary 'Lady Lairds' in 2016. Joanna left her marketing job in London to take over the running of Attadale Estate from her father Ewen. 

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Gabrielle Genista Fraser (nee Holt-Wilson) 1933-2024

 Gabriella Genista 'Gay' Fraser, died 19 October, 2024, aged 91.

She was born in 1933, daughter of Brigadier-General Sir Eric Edward Boketon Holt-Wilson, CMG, DSO (1875 – 1950) , the Army officer who left the army to join the nascent British Security Service (MI5), which developed in time to deal with espionage during World War I. He became the Service's deputy to Sir Vernon Kell, serving through to the beginning of World War II. Her mother was the former Audrey Stirling (1910-1994).

Gay Fraser was a great-granddaughter of Edward Greene (1815-1891), a brewer and Conservative MP who founded Greene King brewery, and was father of Sir Edward Greene, 1st Baronet (1842-1920).

Gay married in 1963, Colin G. Fraser, by whom she had issue, a son Andrew, and a daughter, Fiona.

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John Ernest Pretyman 1929-2024

 John Ernest Pretyman, who died 28 October, 2024, aged 95, was a scion of that landed gentry family and a grandson of the 4th Earl of Normanton.

He was born 28 September, 1929, son of Lt-Cdr Herbert Ernest Pretyman, RN (1900-1987), and his wife Lady Mary Karen Agar (1901-1975), daughter of the 4th Earl of Normanton (1865-1933.

His father was a first cousin of the late Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (1901-2004).

John Pretyman was a grandson of the Rt Hon Ernest George Pretyman, MP, PC (1859-1931), who served as Member of Parliament for Woodbridge, Suffolk from 1895 to 1906 and for Chelmsford from 1908 to 1923. He defeated the Liberal MP Robert Lacey Everett in 1895 and lost his seat to Everett in 1906. He was Civil Lord of the Admiralty from 1900 to 1903, Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty from 1903 to 1906, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1915 to 1916 and Civil Lord of the Admiralty again from 1916 to 1919. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1917.

John's paternal grandmother was Lady Beatrice Bridgeman (1870-1952), daughter of the 4th Earl of Bradford (1845-1915). Lady Beatrice's younger sister, Lady Margaret (1872-1954), was wife of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch & Queensberry (1864-1935), parents of Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, who married King George V's third son.

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David Edward Wyndham Tennant 1930-2024

David Edward Wyndham Tennant, who died 19 October, 2024, aged 94, was a scion of the Barons Glenconner and a son of the actress Hermione Baddeley.

He was born 10 May, 1930, the son of the Hon David Francis Tennant (1902-68), and his first wife the former Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley (1906-86). His mother was the great English actress Hermione Baddeley, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Room at the Top (1959) and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore in 1963. She portrayed Mrs Cratchit in the 1951 film Scrooge and Ellen the maid in the 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins. She voiced Madame Adelaide Bonfamille in the 1970 Disney animated film, The Aristocats.

David Tennant's aunt was Angela Baddeley, CBE (1904-76),  the stage and television actress, best-remembered for her role as household cook Mrs. Bridges in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs.

David Tennant was a grandson paternally of the 1st Baron Glenconner (1859-1920).

The Old Etonian was a member of the London Stock Exchange. He married firstly, 3 Dec, 1964 (div 1973), Margaret Rachel Scott (born 23 Nov, 1943), scion of the Earls of Eldon, daughter of the Hon Sir Ernest Stowell Scott, KCMG, MVO (1872-1953), diplomat, by his wife the former Winifred Kathleen Brodrick, by whom he had issue; he married 2ndly, in 2004, as her 3rd husband, Frances Jane Fairey (1937-2017), daughter of Sir Charles Richard Fairey, MBE (1887-1956), the aircraft manufacturer, by his wife the former Esther Sarah Whitmey (1906-78).

David Tennant leaves issue from his first marriage, two sons, Aubone (born 7 May, 1969), and Ivan (born 1970), and a daughter, Laura (born 9 Feb, 1967).

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