Donald McBane (1664 – 12 April 1732) was a notedScottishswordsman, career soldier, andfencing master, who is widely regarded as one of the most prolific and finest duelists of all time.[1]
Donald McBane was born in the Highland town ofInverness during the late seventeenth century.[2] In 1687 McBane ran away from hisapprenticeship as atobacco spinner to enlist in the British army under theDuke of Marlborough.[2] He indulged in some fighting between the clans of Macdonald and Macintosh, who used sword and targe,Lochaber axes, and wooden-handledbayonets in the muzzle of the guns.[2] When his company was disbanded in 1688, McBane took service in ColonelAlexander Grant's Regiment in the pay of KingWilliam III of England, who had to oppose the Highland clans fighting for KingJames II of England at thePass of Killiecrankie in what became known as theBattle of Killiecrankie (1689).[2]
In 1691, Grant's unit was disbanded, and McBane joined ColonelJames Forbes's Regiment, where an old soldier was ordered to take care of Donald and "manage his pay" for him, with the result that Donald saw little of it. When he complained to an officer he was told to fight out the dispute, as was the custom at that time.[2] McBane thereupon paid asergeant for private instruction in swordsmanship, borrowed a sword, and then fought his "govenor", who beat him, took his sword and pawned it. This did not discourage him, however, and McBane took more lessons in small sword versus broad sword, and a second bout (rematch) ended in McBane's victory, and his first sword was returned to him. His autobiography mentions that he "then became master of his own pay".[2]
By 1692 McBane owned his own sword and practised at the fencing schools, publicly beating the other fencing scholars. Then, on a mission to escort a draft of soldiers bound forFlanders inBelgium, he got carried off fromLeith (atEdinburgh) toHaveluy by mischance. Despite this setback, he marched from there toMaestricht and then toBrussels, where theBritish Army was camped.[2] In Brussels, McBane attached himself toLord Orkney's Royal Regiment, and he fought with that regiment at theBattle of Steenkerque in August 1692 in theLow Countries during theNine Years' War.[citation needed] In 1695 as aRoyal Scot hestormed Namur with the other British regiments and recovered from his wounds at Brussels. Next year, atRotterdam, he was discovered by his former Captain, who exchanged McBane for two other men and took him back toFort William.[2]
In 1697 at thePeace of Ryswick his company was disbanded again so he went home to Inverness. McBane still did not want to carry on with his apprenticeship, and so with his mother's blessing, twentyshillings and a new suit of clothes, he set out to seek his fortune.[2] He got no further thanPerth before he enlisted in theEarl of Angus's Regiment to serve as apikeman. Shortly afterwards hiscorporal accused him of absence off guard, and punished him with a beating.[2] With his honour as a soldier at stake, McBane challenged the corporal to a duel. During the fight he gave the corporal a mortal wound, and because duelling was illegal, he had to flee for his life. But such was the code of honour at the time that his captain, and the dying corporal himself, aided his escape with money for a journey toGlasgow.[2]
At Glasgow he enlisted in theRoyal Regiment of Scotland, then stationed atDublin. McBane became an assiduous student at aFrench school (in Dublin) where sword andfoil often clashed untilblood was drawn, and then a drink or two re-sealed friendship.[2] At his next school, McBane fell out with his master about his sister, and the usual duel ensued, which he won. He became such a proficient swordsman that he set up his own school atLimerick.[2] Then the regiment marched toCork in order to embark for theNetherlands. On the way it seems that McBane was seen as something of a liability by his captain who detailed a sergeant and four men to guard him in case he deserted, but the captain had misjudged him since it was the escort and not McBane that deserted.[2]
The voyage from Cork to the Netherlands took five weeks, and when he landed atBaslo in DutchBrabant, he found there eight battalions of English, eight battalions of Dutch and Scots, and eight regiments of horse anddragoons. McBane was quick to sense the opportunity of setting up a school for teaching the art of swordsmanship, and he established a good business after beating a score of duels with rival fencing masters, as well as a few murders "tolerated by their officers".[2] He took aSwiss soldier as a servant and gotpupils among both Swiss and Dutch officers.[2]
While managing the school, McBane came to know that there was four good swordsmen in the Town that kept all the women,Rota Fortunae, andLedgerdemain (card tricks) by which they got a lot of money. Mcbane decided to have a share of that gain, and thus, he fought all four of them, one by one.[2] While fighting the last one, who was lefthanded, his opponent took apistol from hiscockade, and fired at him, with one of the bullets going through hiscravat.[2] The fight then went into astalemate that lasted until the night, when they agreed to give him a "Brace of Whoors and Two Petty Couns a week". With that and his school, McBane lived very well for thatwinter.[2]
As a career soldier, he served throughout much of Europe, fighting inThe War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), and taking part in fifteen skirmishes and sixteen battles, includingBlenheim (1704) andMalplaquet (1709).[3] McBane served in the Royal Regiment till the end of the war in 1712, and was recommended by his Colonel for the Chelsea Hospital).[2] By the time of theJacobite Rising of 1715, he was serving as a sergeant in General Honeywood’s Regiment of Dragoons and guarded the Colours at theBattle of Preston.[2] Again he was recommended for Chelsea, but preferred another job as a gunner at Fort William.[2] His autobiography mentions that at one point he had the command responsibility equivalent to a Colonel of Artillery, but it is unlikely he ever received an officer's commission. His Colonel made several recommendations for McBane to 'Chailcie College' (The Royal Hospital Chelsea), something only open to senior non-commissioned orwarrant officers.[4]
McBane also worked as a fencing master, and claimed to have participated in nearly one hundredduels. He fought as a gladiator at the Bear Gardens inHockley-in-the-Hole and Marybone Fields, London, where he reportedly fought thirty-seven prizes. Among his opponents were some of the most celebrated swordsmen and fencing masters of the century, such as James Miller, Timothy Buck, andJames Figg.[5]
In 1726, in a duel at Edinburgh, McBane gave his opponent seven wounds and broke his arm with afalchion. He said that he did it "at the request of several noblemen and gentlemen". Donald was now 63 and resolved to retire.[2] He died on 12 April 1732.
McBane is best known for his book,The Expert Sword-Man's Companion (1728).[6] The book includes McBane's memoirs as well as his extensive treatise on the art of fencing, and is a major source for the study ofScottish swordsmanship. McBane's life and writings are featured in a number of classic works on fencing, includingEgerton Castle'sSchools and Masters of Fence (1892)[7] and CaptainAlfred Hutton'sThe Sword and the Centuries (1901). Hutton describes McBane as a "first class swordsman," and,
Unlike the majority of his class, he was something of a scholar, for he left behind him a work, “The Expert Swordman’s Companion,” which contains a number of wise lessons for both the small and back sword; but perhaps the most interesting part of it is the account he gives of his life when serving inFlanders under the great Duke of Marlborough. There is a rough quaintness in the style of his narrative that adds flavour to the curious anecdotes of fights in which he was engaged.[8]
The British historian J. D. Aylward called McBane's memoir "possibly, the most ingenuous autobiography in the English language."[9]
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