He was born in Auchanbalrige in Banffshire, the son of William Cowie and Elizabeth Milne, and came to Halifax in 1816, settling in Liverpool two years later.
He incurred the wrath of his father when on November 18, 1902, he married Annabelle Angus, the daughter of an innkeeper in Banffshire and the divorced wife of a brother officer, one Captain Alexander, and was cut off.
In 1975 its Local Government council administration was superseded and divided between Moray council and Aberdeenshire councils.
After receiving the Victoria Cross, Findlater supplemented his Army pension by performing at music halls, much to the outrage of the military establishment, but after growing scandal he retired to take up farming in Banffshire in 1899.
He was born at Raggal, Banffshire, where his father was a farmer, and educated at the University of Aberdeen.
Sir Alexander Abercromby, 1st Baronet (c. 1603–1684), Scottish politician, Commissioner for Banffshire 1640–1641, 1643, 1646–1648 and 1661–1663
Invalided out of the Army he did not resume his architectural career, but retired to the house in Craigellachie, Banffshire, that he had built for himself and his family.
A church in Dufftown in Banffshire, Scotland with origins dating back to 525 AD, bears the Mortlach name.
Holden developed heart disease in his final year, and died suddenly at Duff House Sanatorium in Banff, Banffshire (now Aberdeenshire) of cerebral thrombosis and heart failure.
Tarlair Swimming Pool opened in 1931 at the base of a sea cliff just outside Macduff in Banffshire (now Aberdeenshire) in Scotland.
He was Member of Parliament for Banffshire from 1727–34, and was created Lord Braco of Kilbryde in the Peerage of Ireland on 28 July 1735, and Earl Fife and Viscount Macduff, also in the peerage of Ireland, by letters patent dated 26 April 1759, after proving his descent from Macduff, Earl of Fife.