View source for MacDonnell, Alasdair Ruadh

{{Template2
|Dates=1745-47, 1749-61
|Location=London
|Place of Birth=Scotland
|Source=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
}}
Chief of clan MacDonnell of Glengarry. 
Sent as a boy to France but returned to Scotland. Sailed with the Scots Royal to reinforce the Jacobites but ship captured off Deal. MacDonnell was imprisoned in the Tower of London until 1747.
Returned to Paris in dire poverty, with help from neither Prince Charles or the Pretender. 
Living in London by the end of 1749, secretly trying to obtain permission to settle and still living in poverty. Situation improved in c.1750 though he was accused of forgery to obtain the money. Equally caught up in clan quarrels and had to travel to Rome.
Became a spy for the British government under the alias of Pickle the Spy. Treachery culminated in exposure of the Elibank plot. Continued espionage activities until 1754. 
At some point returned to Scotland where he died at Glengarry in 1761.