History of the Royal Sappers and Miners, Volume 2 (of 2) / From the Formation of the Corps in March 1712 to the date when its designation was changed to that of Royal Engineers

by T. W. J. Connolly

APPENDIX X.

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Names of Men who have been Killed or Drowned while on Duty or otherwise, by Accident, but not in Action, as far as the same can be now ascertained.

Date.	Rank.		Names.	Where.			Under what circumstances.
July 13, 1772	Private		John Dobbs	Gibraltar			Killed	blown up whilst blasting rock.
	Sergeant		George Sherriff
			Michael Gib
			George Shearer
			Robert Taylor
			William Robertson
			John Mair
			William Scott
			Andrew Lindsay
			Edward Fryer
			David Buney
			Francis Hardie
			William Cleghorn
			Henry Lyall
			William McLean
			William Duguid
			John Brown
			George Henry
			John Steedman
			John Burns
			Robert Garrow
			Thomas Peacock
Sept. 24, 1786	Recruits		David Bain		Near Dunkirk, on passage from Leight to Gibraltar		Perished.		In the wreck of the brig ‘Mercury’, with all their wives and children, numbering 28 of the former, and 14 of the latter.
			John Stuppert
			George Burn
			John Napier
			Charles Comb
			Archibald Fullerton
			William Muir
			Peter Anderson
			Thomas Hastie
			John Hutton
			James Ore
			Robert Young
			John Brander
			James Douglas
			Henry Lawson
			Charles Ross
			Gustavus Ross
			James Tosh
			Alexander Gray
			George Duguid
			John Macdonald
			Simon Fraser
			William Ross
			Timothy Clark
			Charles Crosbe
			Joseph Abdy
			James Burnton
			David Hunter
			James Comb
			Alexander Forbes
			James Burgoes
			John Westwaters
			Alexander White
			Andrew White
			William Ramage
25 or 26 Sept.	Recruit		Daniel Thomson	Mardyck near Dunkirk			Perished	After gaining the shore from the ‘Mercury,’ from cold, wounds, and exhaustion.
June 4,1789	Private		Francis Pearce	Plymouth			Killed	In a riot.
June 26,	Drummer		Thomas Mitchell	Chatham			Killed	By a wooden pipe 14 feet long, falling from a pump on his head.
1791	Sergeant		John Fraser	Gibraltar, at Ragged Staff			Drowned
Dec. 18, 1794	Private		John Vernon	Woolwich			Drowned
	Private		Miles Ratcliff	Barbadoes			Drowned
Aug. 1797	”		Alexander Wright	On passage from England to West Indies.			Drowned
Aug. 1, 1798	”		John Nancarrow	On expedition to Surinam			Drowned
April 19, 1799	”		Philip Patterson	On passage from England to Turkey			Drowned	Washed overboard.
May 27,1800	”		George Laken	Off Turkey			Drowned
Aug. 21, ”	”		James Strang	Chatham			Drowned	When mooring a boat opposite Cockham Wood.
Oct. ”	”		Walter Allen	Halifax, Nova Scotia			Drowned	Fell overboard in the harbour.
June 2, ”	”		John Rogers	River Nile, near Rahmanieh,Egypt			Drowned	While assisting in the construction of a temporary bridge across the Nile.
Aug. 15, ”	”		John Bain	From St. Thomas to Martinique			Drowned
April 4, ”	”		Daniel Brown	Jersey			Killed	By falling from the top of a tower while mounting guns.
Feb. 1806	”		John Marley	From England to Gibraltar			Drowned
June 22, ”	”		James Dane	Spike Island			Drowned	By the upsetting of a boat.
Jan. 9, 1808	”		Thomas Mitchelson	Gibraltar			Killed		By blocks of stone falling on them from the quarry at the Devil’s Tower.
Jan. 26, ”	”		Charles Cranham	Gibraltar			Killed
Sept. 15, ”	”		George Spratt	Merida, Spain			Killed.	By private Robert Costello in a quarrel; stabbed with a sword.
Oct. 7, ”	”		Thomas Lane	Madeira			Killed	By an explosion when reloading the evening gun at Ilches Rock.
Mar. 21, 1810	”		Thomas Hughes	Tarifa, near to			Killed	By the springing of a mine.
June 15, ”	”		John Screech	Newfoundland, Signal Hill			Killed	By being blown up in blasting a well.
Oct. 22, ”	”		William Cock	Newfoundland			Drowned
Dec. 3, ”	”		Benjamin Hall	Puntales, Cadiz			Killed	By the fall of a wall under which he was mining.
May 26,	Corporal		James Roope	Newfoundland			Killed	By suffocation in a lime-kiln while on duty.
Oct. 4, ”	”		William Brown	Cadiz, near Isla de Leon			Murdered	Supposed by a private of the corps, who was tried, but escaped for want of evidence.
June 24, 1812	Private		Thomas Grewer	Carthagena			Killed	By being blown up whilst mining.
Nov. 28, ”	”		Paul Harvey	Tarifa			Killed
April 21, 1813	”		William Liddle	Gibraltar			Drowned	By being carried down the main drain during a storm, into the sea.
June 21, ”	”		William Dunstan	Gibraltar			Killed	By the springing of a mine.
July 6, ”	”		James Ashcroft	Woolwich			Drowned
Dec. 27, ”	Sergeant		Patrick O'Brien	Dublin			Drowned	By losing his way in a dense fog, and falling into the Ring’s End Docks.,
Dec. 31, ”	Private		Edward Mooney	Nive, near Ustaritz			Drowned
Nov. 22, ”	”		Michael Fitzgerald	From England to Peninsula			Drowned
Jan. 1, 1814	”		James Duffy	York, Canada			Burned to death	By the conflagration of the barracks.
Jan. 14, ”	Corporal		George Mulrean	Falmouth			Perished		In the wreck of the ‘Queen Charlotte.’
Jan. 14, ”	Private		James McCartney	Falmouth			Perished
Jan. 28, ”	”		John Stewart	From Plymouth to Portsm.			Drowned	Fell overboard.
Feb. 24, ”	”		John McNight	Adour, near Bayonne			Perished		In the foundering of a chasse-maréein crossing the dangerous bar of the river.
Feb. 24, ”	2nd Corpl.		Patrick Power	Adour, near Bayonne			Perished
Sept. 18, ”	Private		John Benoy	Chatham, St. Mary’s Creek			Drowned	Whilst bathing.
Feb. 19, 1815	”		Daniel Dougherty	Newfoundland			Frozen to death	Was benighted, and falling from exhaustion in the snow,was smothered, and thus died. He was discovered by a Newfoundland dog.
March 6, ”	”		Edward Miah	Off Dauphine Island, Amer.			Drowned
April 7, ”	”		Robert Hoston	Bermuda			Drowned
July 13, ”	”		Thomas Williams	Newfoundland			Drowned	He was pursued by a party sent in quest of him, and jumping intothe Great Pond at Signal Hill to effect his escape, was lost in the attempt.
July 20, ”	”		James White	Seine, near Paris			Drowned	By falling off the bridge on arousing from sleep.
July 31, ”	”		David Morgan	St. Denis, France			Killed	By falling from a window, supposed in a state of somnambulism.
Nov. 1, ”	Sergeant		William Ritchie	Epinay, France			Murdered	By private David Smith of the corps, who was executed 12 Dec., 1815.
May 1, 1816	Corporal		Morgan Williams	Plymouth			Killed	By a stone of 2 tons weight falling on him in a quarry when mining.
Aug. 8, ”	”		James Miller	Gibraltar			Drowned
June 22, ”	”		ohn Tretheway	Chatham			Drowned	Whilst bathing.
Aug. 16, ”	”		James Verner	Barbadoes			Killed	By the explosion of a mine.
June 19, 1818	”		Alexander Milne	Rheims, France			Murdered		Perpetrators were never discovered.
Oct. 22, ”	”		James Scott	France			Murdered
Jan. 11, 1819	”		William Liddle	Kingston, Upper Canada			Drowned	While endeavouring to cross the ice on Lake Ontario.
Jan. 19, 1821	”		Gamaliel Ashton	Corfu			Killed	By falling from a scaffold.
Jan. 11, 1822	”		Walter Urie	Chatham			Killed	By falling into the ditch of the fortifications.
April 1, ”	”		Michael Connolly	At sea, on board H.M.S.‘Salisbury.’			Killed	By falling down the hatchway.
Sept. 8, ”	Corporal		Michael Harle	From Gibraltar to England			Drowned
April 5, 1823	Private		James Blake	Bermuda			Drowned
Nov. 14, ”	Corporal		William Williams	Gibraltar			Killed	By a fall. He had given orders to fire a mine, and was springing by means of a rope across a chasm, to takecover from the explosion behind a bold rock, when the rope was cut through by a projecting ledge, andfalling many hundred feet down the eastern precipice, he was dashed to pieces.
July 29, 1824	Private		James Ross	Chatham			Drowned	Fell overboard from a pontoon raft.
Sept. 26, 1825			William Berry	Chatham			Drowned	Fell overboard from a pontoon raft.
Dec. 23, ”	”		William Widders	Bermuda			Drowned
July 14, 1826	”		David Marshall	Corfu			Killed	Whilst blasting rock.
March 17, 1827	”		Richard Rosevere	Bermuda			Killed	By being blown up when blasting rock.
July 24, ”	”		Andrew Mathieson	Chatham			Drowned	Whilst bathing.
Sept. 3, ”	”		Henry Bennett	Gibraltar			Killed	By falling from the rock when at work.
Dec. 1,, ”	”		James Masters	Rideau Canal, Canada			Killed	By being blown up whilst blasting rock.
Feb. 16, 1829	”		Walter Sim	At sea, on passage to Bermuda.			Drowned		Fell overboard from the ‘Weymouth.’
March 4, ”	”		Peter Bamford	Bermuda			Drowned
Aug. 24, ”	”		Thomas Duffy	Rideau Canal, Canada			Killed	By blasting in a quarry.
May 29, 1830	”		James Simmons	Rideau Canal, Canada			Killed	By being blown up in a quarry.
June 18, ”	”		John Kerr	Halifax, Nova Scotia			Killed	By a stone falling on him on the works.
July 6, ”	”		Alexander McMicken	Bermuda			Killed	By the explosion of a box of gunpowder when blasting rock.
Jan. 28, 1831	”		Leonard Jasper	Rideau Canal, Canada			Killed	By being blown up in a quarry.
March 9, ”	”		John Higford	Rideau Canal, Canada			Killed	By an explosion in the canal.
May 31, ” ” ”	” ”		Gumple Nathan William Street	Gibraltar Gibraltar			Killed Killed		By the falling of large pieces of rock upon them,which crushed them to death.
Aug. 11, ”	”		Charles Shambrook	Barbadoes			Killed	By the falling of the hospital during ahurricane, which crushed him to death.
Nov. 10, ”	”		William Gunn	Rideau Canal, Canada			Drowned
July 22, 1832	”		Nathaniel Fulcher	Halifax, Nova Scotia			Killed	By falling over the works at Fort George.
Nov. 6, 1834	”		John Strachan	Bermuda, Morris' Island			Drowned
Feb. 6, 1835	”		James Bennie	Lough Strangford, Ireland			Drowned	By the upsetting of a boat while surveyingthe islands in the Lough.
Feb. 22, 1836	”		Matthew Rosevere	Bermuda			Killed	By the explosion of a box of gunpowder when blasting rock.
May 21, ”	”		Archibald McDonald	River Euphrates			Drowned	By the upsetting of the ‘Tigris’ steamer, during a hurricane.
July 3, ”	”		John Crossett	Leixlip to Chapelizod			Killed	By a fall from a car.
July 17, ”	Corporal		John Reid	L'Agulhas Reef, 70 miles S.E. Cape of Good Hope			Perished	With his wife and four children in the wreck of the barque ‘Doncaster.’
Mar. 8, 1837	Private		John Porteous	Passages, Spain			Killed	By a fall.
July 19, ”	”		Robert Steele	Chatham			Drowned	Whilst bathing.
May 21, 1838	2nd Corpl.		Henry Mitchell	Off Tilbury Fort			Drowned	In a diving apparatus, while employed atthe demolition of the brig ‘William.’
Mar. 31, 1840	Private		Thomas Bonds	Bermuda			Killed	By an explosion in blasting rock.
Dec. 10, ”	”		Joseph Maxwell	Coast of Kerry			Drowned	By being washed from a rock into thesea, whilst endeavouring to recover hisnote-book. He was surveying ValentiaIsland.
April 24, 1842	”		Edward Lowe	Kat River, Cape of Good Hope			Drowned
Oct. 15, ”	2nd Corpl.		William Finlay	Moorsunde[Moorsunde], River Murray, South Australia.			Drowned	In endeavouring to recover a wounded duck. When found he was entangledin the reeds at the bottom of the lagoon, with the duck clenched in his fist.
April 27, 1844	Private		John Skelton	Spithead			Drowned	By falling over the gunwale of a boat, during a lurch in a swell of the sea.
July 30, ”	”		Daniel Martin	St. Roque, Spain			Killed	In a quarrel, by a Spaniard striking him on the head with a chair.
Oct. 22, ”	”		George Shanks	Bermuda			Drowned	Whilst trying to swim from the sloop ‘Annawan’ in Grassy Bay to the shore.
May 16, 1845 ” ”	2nd Corpl. Private		Thomas Bone Peter Marshall	Bermuda Bermuda			Drowned Drowned		By the boat in which they were crossing the little sound near Hunt’s Bay,striking against a sunken rock and foundering.
June 12, ”	”		William W. Riddle	Chatham, St. Mary’s Creek			Drowned		Whilst bathing.
July 11, ”	”		John Hamill	Bermuda			Drowned
Nov. 26, ”	”		John Trellevin	Hong Kong, China			Killed	By falling down a steep bank.
June 16, 1846	”		Thomas Kilbride	River Ouse, York			Drowned	Whilst bathing.
Dec. 14, ”	”		Joseph Rawlings	Near Bermuda			Drowned	Fell overboard from the ‘Athol,’ during one of the heavy lurches of the vessel.
Jan. 2, 1848	”		Hugh Arnold	Kowie River, Cape of Good Hope			Drowned	On the tide receding, he was found notfar from the shore, in a hole. He issupposed to have missed his way, andfallen into the river.
June 25, ”	”		Thomas Hudson	Red River, Hudson’s Bay			Drowned	Whilst bathing.
Aug. 3, ”	”		William Miller	Hong Kong to Macao			Drowned	Fell overboard.
April 26, 1849	”		Joseph Cox	Chatham			Drowned	Fell from a raft whilst pontooning.
June 19, ”	Sergeant		John Sutton		Prince Edward’s Island, 12° south of the Cape of Good Hope, on passage to New Zealand.		Perished.		In the wreck of the ‘Richard Dart,’ freight-ship, with their wives andchildren, numbering four of the former and nine of the latter.
” ”	Corporal		Bartholomew Griffiths
” ”	Bugler		William Henderson
” ”	Private		David John
” ”	”		Joseph McLachlan
” ”	”		Robert Martin
” ”	”		James Scott
” ”	”		Charles Quigley
” ”	”		James Baker
” ”	”		William Walsh
” ”	”		Malcolm Nicholson
” ”	”		Samuel Pinch
” ”	”		Alexander Clark
” ”	”		William C. Green
” ”	”		John Mulreany
” ”	”		Robert Alexander
” ”	”		Nathaniel Vicary
” ”	”		Samuel Peters
” ”	”		Paul Orchard
” ”	”		Richard Holt
” ”	”		Robert Bruce
” ”	”		James Ferguson
” ”	”		William Thomas
” ”	”		William Mitchell
Aug. 24, ”	”		William Goldsmith	Prince Edward’s Island, 12° S. of the Cape.			Perished	From frostbite, exposure, and exhaustion.
Sept. 4, ”	”		William Hillman	Fort Brown, Cape of Good Hope.			Killed	By a waggon running over him.
Oct. 10, ” Oct. 23, ”	Sergeant Private		John Cameron Robert Player	Sandhurst Sandhurst			Killed Killed		By an explosion of gunpowder, whilst employedin blowing up an experimental stockade.
Mar. 30, 1850	”		John Burgess	Bermuda			Drowned	By missing his way in the dark and falling into the sea.
Sept. 6, 1851	”		Thomas W. Noon	Bicester, near Oxford			Killed	By the upsetting of a railway train.
Aug. 9, 1852	”		David Jones	Keiskama Hock, Cape of Good Hope.			Killed	By an explosion when blasting rock.
Oct. 31, ”	”		John Callan	Keyhaven, nr Hurst Castle			Drowned	By the upsetting of a boat.
Nov. 9, ”	”		James Hicks	Malta			Killed	By falling from a wall 36 feet high, on the works.
Dec. 27, ”	”		John Harris	Corfu			Killed	By a blow in the face from a comrade, who was tried for the offence, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment.
May 27, 1853	”		John Olivey	River Swale, near Richmond, in Yorkshire.			Drowned	Whilst bathing.
May 14, 1853 ” ”	Private ”		Alfred Hawkins Samuel Parsons		In a lake on the north shore, about 6 miles from Auckland, New Zealand.		Drowned		In a heavy gale of wind, by the swamping of a boat of peculiar construction,known as a “twin-boat,” consisting of two bottoms united by one deck, while out with Lieut.C.T. Hutchinson, R.E. who also perished. The officer had been taking sketches of the shore.
Mar, 11, 1854	”		Henry Clark	Bermuda			Killed	By falling into Barrack-hill quarry.
June 7, ”	Recruit		John Bell	Bangor			Drowned	Whilst bathing.
June 10, ”	Private		Richard Pemble	Elvanfoot, Lanarkshire			Perished	From exhaustion and the inclemency of the weather. After a fatiguing day’swork he lay down to rest by the side of a mountain stream, and died.
June 29, ”	”		Richard Wilkinson	Halifax, Nova Scotia.			Murdered	Was shot through the heart by private William Sime, of the corps.
Nov. 14, ” ” ” ” ” ” ”	Sergeant Private ” ”		William Carne Samuel Lewis Thomas Price Thomas Toohey		Outer Harbour of Balaklava, Crimea		Perished		During a storm in the wreck of the screw steamer ‘Prince.’
” ” ” ”	Corporal Private		John Pendered John Hammond		Outer Harbour of Balaklava, Crimea		Perished		During a storm in the wreck of the ‘Rip Van Winkle.’
Nov. 19, ”	”		Donald McKenzie	Belfast Lough, off Bangor			Drowned	By falling out of a boat while sitting on the gunwale.
Jan. 4, 1855	”		James Deacon	Near the camp in front of Sebastopol.			Perished	Found frozen to death in the snow.
Feb. 23, ”	”		Daniel Law	St. George’s, Bermuda.			Drowned	Whilst bathing.
Feb. 23, 1856	Corporal		John Rowse	On passage from Natal to Cape Town.			Drowned	Fell overboard from the ‘Wanderer’ schooner, during a heavy lurch of the vessel.
Aug. 11, ”	Private		Michael McGreevy	River Tweed, Inverleithin.			Drowned	Went to fish. Was subject to fits, and it is supposed that being seized with one,he fell into the stream. His body was found at Kelso, upwards of forty milesfrom the spot where he perished.