SUCCESSION OF COLONELS
OF
THE SEVENTY-SECOND,
OR THE
DUKE OF ALBANY’S OWN HIGHLANDERS.
Kenneth, Earl of Seaforth.
Appointed Lieut.-Colonel Commandant 29th Dec. 1777.
Kenneth Mackenzie, grandson of William fifth Earl of Seaforth, who was deprived of his title and estates by act of attainder, for joining the rebellion headed by the Earl of Mar in 1715, adopted a line of conduct more consistent with the best interests of his country, than that pursued by his ancestors, and was a zealous supporter of the house of Hanover. He was created Baron of Ardelve in the county of Wicklow, and Viscount of Fortrose, in Scotland, in 1766, and advanced to the dignity of Earl of Seaforth, in Ireland, in 1771. Grateful for these marks of royal favour, and anxious to promote the well-being of the kingdom, when Great Britain was engaged in war with the United States, and menaced by France, Spain, and Holland, he tendered his services to raise a regiment of Highlanders, now the SEVENTY-SECOND, of which he was appointed lieut.-colonel commandant by commission dated the 29th of December, 1777. His corps was soon fit for active service, and was admired for its warlike appearance. He embarked with it for the East Indies, and died on the passage in August, 1781, when his titles became extinct.
Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston.
Appointed Lieut.-Colonel Commandant, 13th Feb. 1782.
Thomas Frederick Mackenzie Humberston, grandson of Colonel the Honorable Alexander Mackenzie, second son of Kenneth fourth Earl of Seaforth, was appointed Cornet in the first dragoon guards in June, 1771; in 1775 he was promoted to a Lieutenancy, and in 1777 to Captain of a troop in the same corps. He took great interest in the formation of the Highland corps raised by his cousin, the Earl of Seaforth, now the SEVENTY-SECOND, or the Duke of Albany’s Own Highlanders, in which regiment he was appointed Captain in January, 1778, and Major in March, 1779. He was quartered with his regiment at Jersey, and took an active share in repulsing the attempt made by a body of French troops to land on that island on the 1st of May, 1779. He afterwards took an active part in the formation of another corps of Highlanders, which was numbered the 100th regiment, of which he was appointed Lieut.-Colonel Commandant on the 5th of August, 1780. Soon after its formation, the 100th regiment was selected to form part of an expedition against the Cape of Good Hope, and its commandant had the local rank of Colonel in the expedition; the naval part of the enterprise was under the direction of Commodore Johnstone. While the fleet was at Praya Bay, in St. Jago, one of the Cape de Verd Islands, it was suddenly attacked by a French squadron; Colonel Humberston happened to be on shore at the time; but so great was his ardour to share in the enterprise, that he swam to one of the ships that was engaged with the enemy, who was repulsed. In the meantime the Dutch garrison at the Cape had been reinforced, the project of attacking that colony was laid aside, and Colonel Humberston proceeded with the land force to Bombay, where he arrived on the 22nd of January, 1782.
In the meantime the Earl of Seaforth had died on the passage, without male issue, and Colonel Humberston purchased his estates, and succeeded him in the command of the regiment, now SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders.
After a short stay at Bombay, Colonel Humberston sailed for Madras, but receiving alarming news on the voyage, of the success of Hyder Ali, he called a council of war, which decided, that a diversion on the Malabar side of Hyder’s dominions would be likely to prove of great advantage to the British interest; he accordingly landed at Calicut on the 18th of February, with a thousand men, and joining Major Abington’s Sepoys, assumed the command of the united force. He took the field, drove Hyder’s troops before him, and captured several forts. The monsoon approaching, he returned to Calicut, and placed the troops in quarters; he afterwards concluded a treaty with the sovereign of Travancore, who reinforced him with twelve hundred men. In September he again advanced—obtained possession of Ramjarree, and approached Palacatcherry, and had the misfortune to lose a portion of his baggage, when an attack was made on his rear. Hyder Ali detached his son Tippoo Saib against Colonel Humberston, with twenty thousand men; this force approached the British division and attacked its rear. After fighting every step of a long march, the colonel arrived at the river Paniané, which appeared impassable, but, after a painful search of two hours, a deep ford was found, and the soldiers passed the river, up to the chin in water, and only lost two black camp followers; they afterwards gained the fort of Paniané. Tippoo expected to find Colonel Humberston’s force an easy prey, and neglected to keep strict watch; he was surprised to find the British had passed the river. He afterwards attempted to carry the lines at Paniané by assault; but was repulsed with severe loss on the 28th of November. He blockaded the fort until he heard of his father’s death, when he withdrew.
Colonel Humherston afterwards joined the troops under Major-General Matthews, and was employed in several operations on the Malabar coast. He subsequently accompanied Colonel Macleod to Bombay, to make some representations to the council, and sailed from thence, on the 5th of April, 1783, in the Ranger, to rejoin the army. Three days afterwards that vessel was attacked by the Mahratta fleet, and after a desperate resistance of five hours, was taken possession of. Every officer on board was either killed or wounded, and among them the gallant Colonel Humberston was shot through the body with a four-pound ball, of which he died at Geriah on the 30th of April, 1783.
James Murray.
Appointed Lieut.-Colonel Commandant, 1st November, 1783, and Colonel in 1786.
James Murray, second son of Lord George Murray, who was lieut.-general of the Pretender’s forces during the rebellion in 1745 and 1746, served many years in the Forty-second Highlanders, in which corps he was appointed Captain on the 20th of July, 1757. He served with his regiment in North America, under General Sir Jeffery (afterwards Lord) Amherst, and after the conquest of Canada in 1760 he returned to Europe, and served under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick in Germany, where he received a musket-ball in the breast, which could never be extracted, and which prevented his being able to lie in a recumbent posture during the remainder of his life. In 1769 he was promoted to captain and lieut.-colonel on the 18th of December, 1777. He took an active part in the formation of the regiment of Highlanders raised by his uncle, John fourth Duke of Athol, which was numbered the 77th regiment, and he was appointed to the colonelcy by commission dated the 25th of December, 1777: in 1782 he was promoted to the rank of major-general. At the peace in 1783, when the Athol Highlanders were disbanded, he was nominated commandant of the Seventy-eighth, now SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders. He was appointed governor of Fort William, in Scotland; was many years a member of parliament for the county of Perth, and was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general in 1793. He died on the 19th of March, 1794. About eight weeks before his death he was stopped by two footpads on Hounslow Heath, when he jumped out of his carriage, drew a dirk, wounded one, and put both to flight.
Adam Williamson.
Appointed 19th March, 1794.
Adam Williamson entered the army in the reign of King George II., and on the 21st of April, 1760, he was promoted captain in the fortieth regiment. He served in North America during the seven years’ war, and in 1770 he was promoted to the majority of the sixty-first foot, with which corps he served at the island of Minorca; on the 9th of December, 1775, he was promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy of the eighteenth regiment, which corps he commanded many years with credit to himself, and advantage to the service. On the 20th of April, 1790, he was rewarded with the rank of major-general, and in July following with the colonelcy of the forty-seventh regiment, from which he was removed in 1794 to the SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders. In January, 1797, he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general; he was also honored with the dignity of Knight of the Order of the Bath, and appointed governor of Jamaica. His death took place on the 21st of October, 1798, and was occasioned by a fall.
James Stuart.
Appointed 23rd October, 1798.
James Stuart commenced his career of brilliant and honorable service, as ensign in the sixty-fourth regiment, in October, 1761; in 1764 he was promoted to a lieutenancy, and in 1768 he accompanied the regiment to North America, where he was advanced to captain of the grenadier company in 1770. He was stationed at Boston when hostilities commenced between Great Britain and the colonies in North America. He shared in the severe duties at Boston during the winter of 1775-6, when that town was blockaded on the land side by the Americans, and subsequently proceeded to Halifax, from whence he sailed with the expedition towards New York, and was employed, under General Sir William Howe, in the reduction of Long Island, in August, 1776, also in the movements by which possession was gained of New York, and the Americans forced from their positions at White Plains, which was followed by the capture of Fort Washington and Fort Lee. In the summer of 1777 he was engaged in operations in the Jerseys, and afterwards in the expedition to Pennsylvania; he was engaged at the battle of Brandywine, and in repulsing the attack of the Americans on the position at Germantown. In the winter he was selected, as an officer of ability and experience, for the commission of major in the regiment of Highlanders, raised by the Earl of Seaforth, now the SEVENTY-SECOND, or Duke of Albany’s Own Highlanders, to which he was appointed by commission dated the 18th of December, 1777; but he did not arrive from America until August, 1778. He accompanied his regiment to the East Indies in 1781, with the local rank of lieut.-colonel in that country, and on the 2nd of June, 1782, he was at the action with the forces of Hyder Ali near Arnee, under Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote. He commanded his regiment, in which he had been appointed lieut.-colonel in February, 1782, under Major-General Stuart, in the action near Cudalore, on the 13th of June, 1783, and was commended in the general’s public despatch, and in orders. He served at the siege of Cudalore; and subsequently penetrated into the Mysore under Colonel Fullerton, and was at the capture of the fortresses of Palacatcherry and Coimbetore. In 1788 he commanded a detachment sent against the refractory Rajah of the little Murwar country, when he engaged his opponents at Kallengoody, and captured Caliacoil, the capital. When Tippoo Sultan attacked the Rajah of Travancore, a British ally, Lieut.-Colonel Stuart commanded the left wing of the army assembled on Trichinopoly plain under Major-General Medows, and penetrated the Mysore. After the capture of Caroor, Daraporum, and Coimbetore, he was detached on the 23rd of July, 1790, against Palacatcherry, but his progress was impeded by heavy rains and mountain torrents, and his force was too weak for the reduction of the fortress; he therefore returned to Coimbetore. He was again detached, on the 2nd of August, against the fortress of Dindigal, which he took after a short siege. He afterwards traversed the country to Palacatcherry, which he besieged, and, when a practicable breach was made in the works, the garrison surrendered. He subsequently rejoined the army with his detachment, and was commended in general orders; and he took part in the operations of the campaign, evincing great personal bravery and ability on all occasions.
Lieut.-Colonel Stuart commanded the right wing of the army under General Charles Earl Cornwallis, K.G., during the campaign of 1791; and after the capture of Bangalore the commander-in-chief expressed in orders his “most grateful remembrance of the valuable and steady support afforded him by Lieut.-Colonel Stuart.” The lieut.-colonel also evinced personal gallantry and judgment at the battle near Seringapatam on the 15th of May, 1791, and in the other operations of this arduous campaign, including the retreat to Bangalore. On the 9th of December he was detached against Savendroog, which he captured by storm on the 21st of that month; and three days afterwards he took the fortress of Outra-Durgum by a coup de main, for both of which services he was highly commended in general orders. He commanded the centre division, under Earl Cornwallis, at the attack of the fortified lines at Seringapatam on the 6th of February, 1792, when he again distinguished himself, and also in the subsequent operations until the power of Tippoo was subdued, and he solicited terms of peace. On the 8th of August, 1792, he was honored with the appointment of aide-de-camp to the King, with the rank of colonel; and in February, 1795, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General. He commanded the expedition against the Dutch Settlements in the island of Ceylon, captured Trincomalee after a short siege, took the forts and island of Manaar, and completed the conquest of the Dutch colony at Ceylon by the reduction of Colombo in February, 1796. On the 3rd of May following he was promoted to the local rank of lieut.-general in the East Indies, and appointed commander-in-chief of the army under the Bombay presidency. On the 2nd of March, 1797, he was appointed colonel of the eighty-second regiment, and in 1798 he was removed to the SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders.
When Tippoo Sultan sought union with the republican government of France, for the purpose of waging war against the British power in India, Lieut.-General Stuart commanded the forces from Bombay, which co-operated from Malabar, in the invasion of the Mysore. Having passed the eastern frontier, he was met by Tippoo at the head of a numerous force, and he repulsed the attack of the Mysorean army at Seedasere on the 6th of March, 1799. He afterwards advanced to Seringapatam, where he arrived in the early part of May, and took part in the siege of that fortress, which was captured by storm on the 4th of May, 1799, when Tippoo Sultan was killed, which terminated the war.
On the 24th of February, 1801, Lieut.-General Stuart was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces on the coast of Coromandel; in 1802 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general; and in 1805 he returned to England. He was advanced to the rank of general in 1812. The decease of the excellent and highly respected officer occurred in 1815, after a distinguished service of fifty-four years.
Rowland Lord Hill, G.C.B.
Appointed 26th April, 1815.
Removed to the fifty-third foot in 1817, and to the Royal Horse Guards in 1830.
Sir George Murray, G.C.B., G.C.H.
Appointed 24th February, 1817.
Removed to the forty-second, the Royal Highland regiment, in 1823.
Sir John Hope, G.C.H.
Appointed 6th September, 1823.
John Hope entered the Dutch service, as a cadet, in one of the Scots regiments (Houston’s) in the service of the United Provinces, in 1778, and served at Bergen-op-zoom and Maestricht, going through the subordinate ranks of corporal and serjeant. In 1779 he was appointed ensign, and in 1782 he was promoted captain of a company; but, being called upon to renounce his allegiance to the British monarch, he quitted the Dutch service, and in 1787 he was appointed captain in the sixtieth foot, but his company was soon afterwards reduced. On the 30th of June, 1788, he was appointed captain in the thirteenth light dragoons, and in 1792 he was nominated aide-de-camp to Lieut.-General Sir William Erskine, in which capacity he served the campaigns of 1793 and 1794, in Holland, and returned to England in 1795, when he was promoted to the majority of the twenty-eighth light dragoons, and in 1796 to the lieut.-colonelcy of the same corps, with which he embarked for the Cape of Good Hope in the same year. He served at the Cape until 1799, when his regiment was incorporated in other corps, and he returned to England. In April, 1799, he was appointed to the thirty-seventh foot, which corps he joined in 1800, in the West Indies, where he remained until 1804, when he returned to England, and exchanged to the sixtieth regiment. In 1805 he was nominated assistant adjutant-general in Scotland, and in 1807 he served as deputy adjutant-general to the expedition to Copenhagen, under Lieut.-General Lord Cathcart. He was appointed brigadier-general on the staff of North Britain in 1808, and subsequently deputy adjutant-general in that part of the United Kingdom. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1810, and appointed to the staff of the Severn district, from whence he was removed to the staff of the Peninsula in 1812, and served with the army under the Duke of Wellington at the battle of Salamanca, for which he received a medal. He subsequently served on the staff of Ireland and North Britain until 1819, when he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general. He was honored with the dignity of Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order. In 1820 he was appointed colonel of the ninety-second regiment, from which he was removed, in 1823, to the SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders. He died in August 1836.
Sir Colin Campbell, K.C.B.
Appointed 15th August, 1836.
This officer commenced his military career, as an ensign in the First West India regiment, his commission being dated 3rd of October, 1799. On the 21st of August, 1801, he was promoted lieutenant in the thirty-fifth regiment, and on the 12th of February, 1802, he exchanged into the seventy-eighth regiment, from which he was promoted to a company in the seventy-fifth foot on the 9th of January, 1805. He obtained the brevet rank of Major on the 2nd of September, 1808, and was promoted to the rank of major in the seventieth regiment on the 15th of December following; he was promoted to the brevet rank of lieut.-colonel in May, 1810, which was subsequently ante-dated to the 15th of December, 1808. On the 13th of August, 1812, he exchanged to the sixty-third regiment; on the 4th of June, 1814, was promoted to the rank of colonel, and on the 25th of July, 1814, was appointed lieut.-colonel in the Coldstream regiment of foot guards. He served during the Peninsular war, and was for a considerable time upon the staff of the army under the Duke of Wellington. The Prince Regent appointed him a Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath on the 2nd of January, 1815, and he also received a cross and six clasps for Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes d’Onor, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, and Toulouse. Sir Colin Campbell also greatly distinguished himself in the field at the ever memorable Battle of Waterloo. He was advanced to the rank of major-general on the 27th of May, 1825, and in March, 1828, was appointed Lieut.-Governor of Portsmouth;—on the 15th of August, 1834, His Majesty King William IV. conferred upon him the colonelcy of the ninety-ninth regiment, from which he was removed to the SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders on the 15th of August, 1836. On the 28th of June, 1838, he obtained the rank of lieut.-general, and Her Majesty, in July, 1839, was graciously pleased to appoint Sir Colin Campbell to serve upon the staff of the army in Nova Scotia and its dependencies; in November, 1840, he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Ceylon, from which island he had returned but a short period, when, after an illness of only two days, he expired at his residence in King Street, St. James’s, on Sunday the 13th of June, 1847.
Lieut.-General Sir Neil Douglas, K.C.B. and K.C.H.
Appointed from the Eighty-first regiment on the 12th of July, 1847.
London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street.
For Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.
Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added, when a predominant preference was found in the original book.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
[Pg xxviii]: Inserted —— and — for the date and page number, in the entry ‘Proceeded to Algoa Bay ...’.
[Pg 34]: Missing Sidenote ‘1797’ inserted at the start of the paragraph ‘As the island ...’.
[Pg 57]: Missing Sidenote ‘1841’ inserted at the start of the paragraph ‘In July, 1841, the ...’.
[Pg 68]: ‘which he besiged’ replaced by ‘which he besieged’.