The Appin Murder was the assassination of Colin Roy Campbell, the Clan Campbell tacksman of Glenure, on 14 May 1752 near Appin in the west of Scotland. The murder occurred in the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and led to the execution of James Stewart of the Glens, often characterized as a notorious miscarriage of justice. The murder inspired events in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel Kidnapped and its sequel Catriona.
Memorial to James Stewart of the Glens who was wrongly convicted and executed for the Appin murder
Statue of Allan Stewart (left) and the fictional David Balfour (right), from Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, on Corstorphine Rd in Edinburgh
James Stewart of the Glen
James Stewart of the Glen, also known as James of the Glens, was a leader of the Scottish Clan Stewart of Appin. He was wrongfully accused and hanged as an accessory to the Appin Murder, the assassination of Colin Roy Campbell.
Seamus a'Ghlinne memorial cairn