in 1705: ‘He has ever been scrupulously loyal [to the Jacobite cause], and since his return to his own country would never take any oath nor meddle with those who now govern’ (the Duke of Perth's ‘Instructions’ in Hooke's Correspondence, p. 228).
With about five hundred of his clan Struan joined the standard of Mar in 1715. Some time before 22 Sept. he was sent forward by Mar with a party of the Robertsons to reinforce Colonel Hay, who then occupied Perth. Mar at the same time wrote to Hay as follows: ‘You must take care to please the Elector of Strowan, as they call him. He is an old colonel, but, as he says himself, understands not much of the trade. So he'll be ready to be advised by Colonel Balfour and Urquhart’ (Chambers, History of the Rebellion in 1715). At Sheriffmuir the Robertsons, with the Atholl men, were stationed on the left wing, which was entirely routed by Argyll's horse. The chief himself was taken prisoner during the battle, but was rescued by his kinsman, Robert Robertson of Invervack. After the battle he was again taken prisoner, but while being conveyed to Edinburgh made his escape by the assistance of his sister Margaret. He again took refuge in France, where he was for some time one of the colonels of the Scots brigade (Chambers, Illustrations of the Author of Waverley, ed. 1884, p. 4). In 1723 the estate of Struan was granted by the government to the chief's sister Margaret, ‘for the subsistence of herself and other poor relations and nieces’ of the chief (Cal. Treasury Papers, 1720–8, p. 221). On his return in 1726 she disponed it in trust for the behoof of her brother, and in the event of his death without lawful heirs to Duncan, son of Alexander Robertson of Drumachune, her father's cousin and the next lawful heir of the family. It is stated also that he forcibly removed her from the house—being unable to abide her imperious disposition—and sent her to the western isles (Ramsay, Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, i. 32). She died in 1727. Struan obtained a remission from the government in 1731.
The Robertsons were not out as a clan in 1745, but about 140 of Struan's tenants in Rannoch joined the highland army. The old chief himself attended as a spectator, and was present at the battle of Prestonpans. After the battle he was persuaded to return home, and the Robertsons, during the remainder of the campaign, were incorporated in the Atholl brigade. As a special mark of respect, and doubtless much to his gratification, he was driven back to his house at Carie in Sir John Cope's carriage, and clad in his fur-lined coat, the most remarkable trophy of the highlanders' spoil. As there was then no road for wheeled conveyances to his residence, the carriage having been driven as far as it could be pulled was carried the remaining distance on the shoulders of the clansmen (Chambers, History of the Rebellion of 1745, ed. 1869, p. 137). On account of his great age, and the fact that he had taken no active part in the rising, his name was omitted in the list of proscriptions. He thus enjoyed the unique distinction of having been ‘out’ in all the three great rebellions, and of having escaped with merely nominal punishment. He died without lawful issue at his house at Carie in Rannoch on 18 April 1749, in his eighty-first year, and was buried in the family tomb at Struan. Although the distance was eighteen miles, the funeral was attended by about two thousand mourners.
Struan, in the leading traits of his character, bore a faint resemblance to Simon Fraser, lord Lovat, his university education, as was the case with Lovat, only serving to bring into prominence the old savage characteristics of the Celtic chief. But his personality was weaker, and he was more trustworthy as well as more amiable. His worst fault was perhaps his disregard of his lawful debts; he was accustomed to have all the passes in his vicinity guarded that he might have timely warning of the arrival of the officers of justice. On one occasion an officer did obtain admission to him, and was received with every mark of courtesy; but the women of the house, having got an inkling of his errand, stripped him naked and soused him under the pump (Ramsay, Scotland and Scotsmen, p. 33). Struan had considerable reputation as a wit, and cultivated poetry, although in a somewhat careless and reckless fashion. Many of his poems are stated to have been copied from his own recitations while in his cups. A volume of them was published surreptitiously shortly after his death, and an abridged edition appeared at Edinburgh in 1785—but without a date on the title-page—under the title ‘The History and Martial Atchievements of the Robertsons of Strowan, and the Poems on Various Subjects and Occasions by Hon. Alex. Robertson of Strowan, Esquire.’ Robertson is credited by some with being the prototype of the Baron Bradwardine in Scott's ‘Waverley,’ and the theory obtains some corroboration from the fact that Scott puts in the mouth of the baron a stanza of Struan's poetry:
For cruel love has garten'd [gartered] low my leg,
And clad my haunches in a philabeg.
