Lord Robert Kerr

Who was Lord Robert Kerr?

Lord Robert Kerr was a Scottish nobleman of the Clan Kerr and a son of William Kerr, 3rd Marquess of Lothian.

He is thought to have gone on a grand tour of Europe between 1732 and 1739, on which he acquired the only surviving score of the Il Gran Mogul concerto by Vivaldi - he played the flute himself. He was commissioned into the army in 1739 and fought at the Battle of Culloden as captain of the grenadiers in Barrel's regiment. He received the first charging Cameron on the point of his spontoon, but then a second cut him through the head to chin, making him the only high-ranking Government soldier to be killed in the battle. Their father was thus succeeded by Robert's younger brother William.