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| Siege of Burgos, 1812, Francois Joseph Heim (Public domain) |
In search of my several-greats grandfather
who fought at Waterloo – and who carried his wounded brother on his back on the
retreat from the siege of Burgos in the Peninsular War, only to discover when
they got to safety that his brother had died – I recently contacted the Black
Watch Museum Archives in Perth (the Scottish one) to find out if they had any
regimental records that might help identify said brother. I had previously been
unaware of any siblings that great-grandpa Hugh had.
Hugh was born in either Avoch (pronounced “Auch”)
or Rosemarkie, depending on whether you believe the census or the military
records. As they’re only a few miles apart it doesn’t really matter; both are
in the area of Easter Ross known as the Black Isle, and neither of their parish
churches’ records include a birth record for Hugh. There are over 50 individuals with the
surname McIntosh in the 1841 census taken in Avoch. Hugh isn’t one of them,
however, as by that time he had retired from his military career and set up home in
Nairn, on the other side of the Moray Firth, where seven of his nine children were
born to him and his wife Elizabeth Sinclair.
He had more than likely been stationed at
nearby Fort George during his service, as it was there, in the parish of
Ardersier, that he and Elizabeth were married. Perhaps that was part of the
reason for choosing Nairn as their home, after a life in the army.
I was delighted, then, to receive an email last week from
the Black Watch archivist, Jennifer, who had made a search of the records they
held and had not only found records that mentioned Hugh, but had managed to
narrow down the identity of his brother, using a casualty list and other
regimental records. The only McIntosh who
was in the same unit as Hugh and who died in the retreat from Burgos was named
Donald. As he didn’t survive there won’t be any discharge or pension records at
Kew, unfortunately. But now that I know his name, it won’t be quite as much of a needle in a haystack task to find
out more about him; perhaps in newspapers, or a local war memorial of some
kind.
I don’t know whether the McIntoshes moved en
masse from the Black Isle to Nairn, or if it was only Hugh who settled
there. It’s possible that Donald was
born elsewhere in Scotland. Hugh’s first
two children were born in, respectively, France and Dublin, Elizabeth accompanying him both on campaign
and in his postings.
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| Both Hugh and Donald are listed in this roll of Capt. James Stirling's Company |
My next goal is to identify which of Hugh and
Elizabeth’s five sons were also in the army.
His obituary mentions two, and gives their regiment and the places around
the world in which they served. So far I've found one described as a “pensioner” in his own newspaper death
announcement. Sadly, he also appears to have had a lengthy and varied criminal record, with his
name popping up regularly in the
burgh police records and the court reports of the local Gazette. One can only imagine the possible PTSD that led him into
such a life. It's his pension record that I'm going to try and find next. Stay tuned for (hopefully) more finds!
Oh, and here's the newspaper obituary for Hugh which set me off on this chase. He was a bit of a character.
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| Nairnshire Telegraph, 4 February 1863 (courtesy of BNA) |
