ROYAL REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY.
STAFF.
[1] Col. Sir George Adam Wood, Kt., commanding.
[2] Lt.-Col. Sir Augustus Frazer, K.C.B., commanding Royal Horse Artillery.
[3] Lt.-Col. A. Macdonald, commanding six troops of Horse Artillery attached to the Cavalry.
[4] Adjt. Capt. Wm. Pakenham, R.H.A.
[5] Lt.-Col. Sir John May, A.A. General.
[6] Capt. H. Baynes, W., Brigade Major.
[7] Lieuts. John Bloomfield and [8]George Coles, Staff-Adjts. to Sir George Wood.
[9] Lieut. Wm. Bell, Staff-Adjt. to Sir A. Frazer.
[10] Lt.-Cols. S.G. Adye, [11] C. Gold, [12] J.S. Williamson, and [13] J. Hawker, field officers commanding two batteries of Foot Artillery attached to each division of the army.
[14] Major P. Drummond, field officer commanding Reserve Artillery.
[15] Lt.-Col. Sir Alexander Dickson, K.C.B., commanding Battering Train.
[1]. Son of Adam Wood, Lt. of Capt. Coote’s Independent Company of Foot at Landguard Fort, who d. 1773. Commanded the R.A. in Holland during the campaign of 1814, and led one of the attacking columns at Bergen-op-Zoom. Was knighted when proxy to Sir J.C. Sherbrooke at the installation of the Bath. 22nd May, 1812. C.B., K.M.T., K.St.V., and K.W. for Waterloo. A.D.C. to George IV., and K.C.H. D. a maj.-gen., 22nd April, 1831.
[2]. Son of Col. Andrew Frazer, R.E., by Charlotte, dau. of Stillingfleet Durnford, of the Ordnance Office. Bn at Dunkirk, 5th Sept., 1776, and educated at the High School, Edinburgh, where he was a contemporary of Lord Brougham. Joined the Military Academy at Woolwich in August, 1790, and became 2nd lt. R.A., 18th Sept., 1793. Served in Holland in 1794. In 1795 was appointed to the Royal Horse Artillery, and in 1799 again embarked for active service in Holland. Commanded the artillery of the expedition against Buenos Ayres, and was present at the assault of that city in July, 1807. In June 1811, was made bt. maj., and in Nov., 1812, joined the British army in the Pa. Five months later was appointed to command the Horse Artillery of Wellington’s army, and served in this capacity until the conclusion of the war, winning for himself, and his branch of the service, a high reputation. K.C.B. and the gold cross, with one clasp. In the Waterloo campaign, Frazer again commanded the R.H.A., and “his high reputation as an artillery officer, combined with his firmness of character, prevailed on the Duke of Wellington, who was at first not favourable to the exchange, to permit him to substitute 9-pounders for 6-pounders in the troops of Horse Artillery serving with the army. To this exchange, which preceded the battle of Waterloo, may justly be ascribed much of the success of that memorable day.” Another instance of Frazer’s firmness of character is exhibited in the speedy way in which he made the Prussians, two days after Waterloo, surrender all the French guns which had been captured by the British, and which the rapacious Prussians had annexed, and “regularly parked with Prussian sentries.” Frazer’s interesting letters from the Pa. and the Netherlands were published in 1859. These letters stamp the writer as a thorough soldier, a perfect gentleman, a delightful companion, and a modest and unassuming man, possessing a heart that could feel for others’ woes. He m., in 1809, Emma, youngest dau. of James Lynn, of Woodbridge, in Suffolk, and had issue two sons. He d. as col., 11th June, 1835, at Woolwich, whilst holding the appointment of Director of the Royal Laboratory.
[3]. One of the “Macdonalds of Glencoe.” Commanded a troop of R.H.A. in the Pa. C.B. for Waterloo. Was entertained at a public banquet at Edinburgh on 18th June, 1816. Maj.-gen. 1837. D. at Leamington 21st May, 1840.
[4]. Retired on h. p. as 2nd capt., 1st July, 1822. 3rd son of Edward Pakenham, M.P. for co. Donegal, by Catherine, dau. of Chambre Ponsonby-Barker. Bn. 3rd Feb., 1789. D. about 1863.
[5]. Son of John May, Esq., storekeeper of the Ordnance, Fort George, Guernsey; lineally descended from Thos. May, the poet (of the family of Mays, of Mayfield, county Sussex). Bn. 1778. Md. 1819 the only child of Robt. Broff, Esq., formerly governor of Bencoolen, Sumatra. Major-Genl. in the army 1838. Was a colonel in the R.A., in which he served from 1795. Recd. the gold cross and three clasps for his services at Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, San Sebastian, Nivelle, Nive, and Toulouse. Was given the order of St. Anne of Russia, 2nd class, for his services at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, also nominated a knight of the Tower and Sword of Portugal, in 1815, for his services in the Peninsula. K.C.B. 1815. K.C.H. 1822. Sir John was employed afloat in bomb service from 1st Dec., 1797, to the 16th April, 1801. Present at Copenhagen in 1807. He recd. two musket balls through the left thigh when charging the French rearguard on the morning after the battle of Salamanca, and a violent contusion at Vittoria. D., 8th May, 1847, in London. Above information communicated by Mrs. Gibbons, great-niece of Sir John May, K.C.B.
[6]. Afterwards bt. maj. and K.H. Maj., unattached list, 12th Dec., 1826. D. in Guernsey, 15th July, 1844.
[7]. A scion of the Tipperary family, and cousin of the late Baron Bloomfield, the diplomatist. Was attaché at Stockholm for some years. G.C.B. Gen. and col.-commandant R.H.A. D. 1st Aug., 1880, in London, unm.
[8]. Retired by sale of his commission, as 2nd capt., 9th April, 1825, after being some years on temporary h. p.
[9]. Afterwards Gen. Sir Wm. Bell, K.C.B. Col.-comdt. R.H.A. His father was Wm. Bell, a native of Tanfield, Yorkshire, a cornet in the Yeomanry, but a surgeon by profession, who had a good practice in Ripon, and was twice mayor of that town. His mother was Ann Atkinson, one of the daughters of Henry Atkinson, town clerk of Ripon. The way W. Bell became an artilleryman was as follows:—“Old Col. Quist of the R.A., head of the riding establishment (who belonged to a Dutch family), came to Ripon to buy horses when Bell was a boy in his teens, and happening to meet the youth in Ripon society, he took a fancy to him.” Col. Quist used his interest in obtaining for Bell a nomination to a cadetship at Woolwich Academy. In due course Bell obtained a commission in the R.A., and soon evinced that he had a talent for “the music of war.” He served in the West Indies from 1807–1810, and was present at the capture of several of the West Indian islands. Served in the Pa. from July, 1813, to 1814, and was present at five general actions. Slightly wounded at Toulouse. His duties were very onerous both at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, where he was employed in conveying instructions and orders to officers commanding batteries in all parts of the field. He had the narrowest escape of being crushed to death, in after life, that ever befell anyone. “He fell from his horse in front of a battery of R.H.A. at Norwich (or Ipswich), and the battery going over him at a gallop, the drag-shoe of one of the guns knocked his ear off!” Sir W. Bell resided during the latter part of his life at Ripon, and d. there, unm., 28th March, 1873. Buried at Tanfield. M.I. (The above is from information supplied by the late Gen. W.H. Askwith, R.A.)
[10]. Afterwards Maj.-Gen. Stephen Galway Adye, C.B. Superintendent of the Rl. Laboratory. 2nd son of Maj. Stephen P. Adye, R.A. Served under Abercromby in Egypt, and took part in the Walcheren Expedition. Served also in the Pa. D. 13th Sept., 1838.
[11]. Afterwards Col. Charles Gold, C.B. Sold his commission 31st Dec., 1827. D. at Leamington, 17th April, 1842.
[12]. C.B. for Waterloo. M., 30th April, 1817, Miss Maclean, of Giese, co. Caithness. Was an officer of considerable ability, and his scientific knowledge of gunnery was most beneficial to his corps. D. at Woolwich, 26th April, 1836.
[13]. Afterwards Col. James Hawker, C.B., Lt.-Gov. of Tilbury Fort. Brother to Capt. Edward Hawker, of the Britannia, and to John Hawker, of Plymouth. D. at Woolwich, 12th Oct., 1827, leaving a widow and three daughters.
[14]. Afterwards Maj.-Gen. Percy Drummond, C.B. Son of Duncan Drummond, R.A., Director-Gen. of the Field Train. Lt.-Gov. of the R.M. Academy, 1829. Director-Gen. of Artillery, 1840. D. at Woolwich, 1st Jan., 1843.
[15]. Afterwards Maj.-Gen. Sir A. Dickson, G.C.B. and K.C.H., &c. 3rd son of Adm. Wm. Dickson, by his 1st wife, Jane, dau. of Alexander Collingwood, of Unthank, in Northumberland. The eminent war services of this distinguished soldier are too well known to need recapitulation. From 1798 to 1815 Sir A. Dickson was “on the war-path,” in Europe, North and South America. He commanded the allied artillery at Vittoria, San Sebastian, the passage of Bidassoa, Nivelle, Nive, and Toulouse. Recd. the gold cross and six clasps. K.T.S. The Portuguese medal, and Spanish gold cross for Albuera. Good service pens. of £365 per ann. M. Miss Briones, and had issue. D. 22nd April, 1840, and was bd. at Plumstead.