John Graham
Scottish general
Died when: 41 years 6 days (492 months)Star Sign: Leo
John Graham, 7th of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount Dundee (21 July 1648 – 27 July 1689) was a Scottish soldier and nobleman, a Tory and an Episcopalian.
He was responsible for policing southwest Scotland during and after the religious unrest and rebellion of the late 17th century, and went on to lead the Jacobite rising of 1689.
After his death, Presbyterian historians dubbed him "Bluidy Clavers". Contemporary evidence for the fairness of this soubriquet in the Covenanting tradition is mixed.
Tales of the Covenanters and Covenanter monuments hold Claverhouse directly responsible for the deaths of adherents of that movement. However, Claverhouse's own letters frequently recommended lenient treatment of Covenanters, and in 1684 he married into a prominent Covenanter family.
Later, as a general in the Scottish army, Claverhouse remained loyal to King James VII of Scotland after the Revolution of 1688.
He rallied those Highland clans loyal to the Jacobite cause and, although he lost his life in the battle, led them to victory at Killiecrankie.
This first Jacobite rising was unsuccessful, but Claverhouse became a Jacobite hero, acquiring his second soubriquet "Bonnie Dundee".
