Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Halifax Pay Records of May 1758

A collection of pay records from Major James Clephane's Company of the 78th Regiment of Foot dated May 1758 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Although 111 names appear on the original records cover sheet, only the following 90 archival records were made available. It is presumed the remaining 21 records did not survive. 

Please note soldiers' numbering is for our internal records and should be referenced for identification when contacting us. Additional links to transcriptions will be made available as time permits, so please check back.

Major James Clephane's Company
Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 1758
9. Private John Anderson
10. Private Roderick Bain
11. Private John Buchanan
12. Private Evan Cameron
13. Private John Cameron [1]
14. Private John Cameron [2]
15. Private John Cameron [3]
16. Private John Cameron [4]
17. Private Angus Campbell
18. Private Donald Campbell
19. Private Hugh Campbell
20. Private James Campbell
21. Private John Campbell [1]
22. Private John Campbell [2]
23. Private John Chisholm
24. Private William Conison
25. Private Donald Culbert
26. Private Duncan Duff
27. Private Charles Falconer
28. Private Angus Fletcher
29. Private Alexander Fraser
31. Private John Fraser [2]
32. Private John Fraser [3]
33. Private Petter Halden
34. Private John Innes
35. Private Alexander Johnston
36. Private James Knight
37. Private Donald Livingston
38. Private Alexander McArthur
39. Private John McArthur
40. Private John McAllum
41. Private Donald McColl
42. Private Alexander McDonald
43. Private Donald McDonald
44. Private Evan McDonald
45. Private John McDonald
46. Private John McDougall
47. Private David McDugall
48. Private Donald McGibban
50. Private Petter McGrigor [1]
51. Private Petter McGrigor [2]
52. Private Donald McIntosh
53. Private John McIntosh [1]
54. Private John McIntosh [2]
55. Private Lachlan McIntosh
56. Private David McKinzie
58. Private John McKinzie [1]
59. Private John McKinzie [2]
60. Private Rodrick McKinzie
61. Private Duncan McLean
62. Private Donald McLeod
63. Private John McLeod
64. Private William McNabb
65. Private Archibald McNaughton
66. Private Duncan McNickell
67. Private John McPherson
68. Private John McVain
69. Private Hugh Miller
70. Private Roderick Morison
71. Private Hugh Munro
72. Private George Noble
73. Private John Robertson
74. Private Thomas Robertson
75. Private Alexander Rose
76. Private Arthur Rose
78. Private David Rose
80. Private Donald Ross
81. Private John Ross
82. Private Malcolm Ross
84. Private John Sherrar
85. Private Alexander Smith
86. Private Angus Stewart
87. Private John Sutherland
88. Private William Sutherland
89. Private James Tolmie
90. Private James Tolnie

Records presumed not to have survived.
91. Private Murdoch Cameron
92. Private Donald Campbell
93. Private Duncan Campbell
94. Private William Campbell
95. Private William Copelan
96. Private James Forbes
97. Private James Fraser
98. Private John Fraser
99. Private John Gordon
100. Private Duncan McDugall
101. Private Alexander McKay
102. Private Murdoch McKenzie
103. Private Duncan McNickle
104. Private Robert McPharlin
105. Private Alexander McPherson
106. Private Duncan McPherson
107. Private Hugh McRae
108. Private Donald Morrison
109. Private Finlay Munro
110. Private William Ross
111. Private James Wright

Source
Military account book at Halifax [Clephane], 1758. NAS GD125/Box 34.

©  Jeffrey Campbell, Fraser's 78th Regiment of Foot, 2022.

Share:
Continue Reading →

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Captain Hugh Montomerie's Music Book of 1763

Captain Hugh Montgomerie (1739-1819), later 12th Earl of Eglington - s/o Alexander Montgomerie 4th of Coilsfield & Lillias Montgomery of Skelmorlie, was initially gazetted a lieutenant on July 21, 1757, in one of the three Additional Companies of the 77th Foot, the sister battalion of Fraser's Highlanders. Hugh fought at Fort Duquesne [Pittsburgh] in 1758, participated in the capture of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1759, and distinguished himself as a light infantry officer during the 1760 Cherokee campaign in South Carolina.  

He served in one of the 77th composite companies at the recapture of St John's, Newfoundland, under Colonel William Amherst in August 1762.  He appears to have been promoted captain in the 78th Foot retroactive to June 2, 1762 [Army lists], for he was still listed as a lieutenant in the 77th Foot on William Amherst's list of officers who participated in the recapture of St John's two months later.  

Hugh was in command of a company when the regiment was disbanded in 1763; went on half-pay as Captain in the 78th until 1767, when he returned to active service as a captain in the 2nd/1st Foot (Royal Scots), his new commission dated February 3, 1767 [NAS GD3/9/111].  He retired on January 27, 1776.  

During the American Revolution, he returned to military service on the home front as first major to the Argyll (Western) Fencibles and was painted in that regiment's uniform in 1780 by John Singleton Copley.  Hugh was MP for Ayrshire from 1784 to 1789 and again in 1795.  In 1796, at the age of 57, he succeeded his cousin Archie to become the 12th Earl of Eglinton and moved from the House of Commons to the House of Lords.  He died in 1819. [Clan Fraser Society, Toronto].

Eglington had cultivated tastes, being specifically fond of music, and, as an amateur cellist performing on the violoncello, he was the composer of several popular airs, including 'Lady Montgomerie's Lament' and 'Ayrshire Lasses,' both likely tributes to his mother. [Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22 for Hugh Montgomerie, pp. 754-55].

Music Book Description
Purchased in 1978 by the National Library of Scotland, the book contains mid-eighteenth century handwritten airs on sheet music, with the cover page dated Quebec, 26 March 1763. Original cover and binding; oblong [12" x 9"?]; contains 24 + 44 inverted folios. Leaves have been torn out after folios 21, 22, 23, 28 (inverted), 37 (inverted), and 41 (inverted). 

Some of the book's airs appear in A Collection of Airs and Marches for Two Violins and German Flutes, Some Which Have Basses [London: Printed for and sold by R. Bremner, 1765?], which is part of the Glen Collection, a special collection at the National Library of Scotland containing over 400 volumes of printed music of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

The cover page contains random jottings, both legible and illegible, in various places across the sheet. While some were written in period ink, others appear to be pencil. Coilsfield, a reference to the birthplace of the author's father, is legible in period ink, while faintly jotted adjacent reads, Capt Hugh Montgomerie, and Capt Reed. Penciled and stricken-through is ACC. 5441, probably representing an outdated archival reference, and Mauchline, a reference to a town and civil parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland, is also inscribed.

[Cover page]
Captain Hugh Montgumries
of the 78th Regt. 
his Book of Music

Collection of Scots Tunes
wt. Varriations the Slowest & Best Setts by AMar

Quebec the 26 March 
1763
 
Due to inaccurate spellings of many titles throughout the music book, the following corrected titles are provided. While some tunes are composed utilizing only the treble clef, others are composed with the treble and bass clefs, with specific notations for the piano and violin spread throughout various airs.

We wish to extend our sincerest appreciation and gratitude to Mr. Munro Gauld for his contributions to deciphering the handwriting in some of these early Scottish titles. His assistance has proven most valuable.

1.  The Duke of Holstein's March  
2.  Miss Hays Minuet  
3.  Britons, Strike Home  
4.  Felton Minuet with Variations  
5.  The Shetchers March  
6.  Prince Eugene's March  
7.  Miss Munro's Minuet  
8.  March  
9.  The Duchess of Hamilton's Minuet  
10. The Horse Grenadier's March  
11.  A Minuet  
12.  Lord Loudoun's March  
13.  The Swabb Minuet  
14.  The King of Prussia's March  
15.  Miss Gunning's Minuet  
16.  General Keith's March  
17.  Strasbourg Minuet  
18.  Balance of Straus a March  
19.  A March in Rinaldo, by Mr. Handel  
20.  A Minuet  
21.  General George Otway's March  
22.  Colonel Reid's Minuet  
23.  Admiral Vernon's March  
24.  Miss Bowls' Minuet  
25.  Hessian March  
26.  Colonel Reid's Minuet  
27.  Capt. Inches March  
28.  Lady McIntosh's Minuet  
29.  A March  
30.  Minuet  
31.  March  
32.  Minuet  
33.  The Royals March  
34.  Minuet  
35.  Thomas Falconner’s Rant  
36.  Jackson's Mistake  
37.  Follow Her Over the Border  
38.  Red James  
39.  Red James  
40.  Thou art gone away  
41.  Duchess of Devonshire's March  
42.  Canzonell  
43.  How Sweet in the Woodlands  
44.  Pastorale Andantino  
45.  Right Honorable Lord Torphichen's March  
46.  Miss Lillas Montgomerie Skelmories Strathspey, by Capt. Logan  
47.  Allegro Maestroso  
48.  Capt. Baillie's Quick March  
49.  Capt. Baillie's March, South Fencibles  
50.  Lord Banff’s Strathopy  
51.  Miss Montgomerie of Skelmorlies Strathspey, by Niel Gow  
52.  The [illegible]  
53.  Lumps of Puddings  
54.  Cabber Fea  
55.  Barick Jonie 
56.  Illegible  
57.  Captain Montgomerie's Call  
58.  Atholl Braes  
59.  Up in the air
60.  Cammeroning's Rant  
61.  Cameron's Strathspey  
62.  Sir John Cathcart's Reel
63.  Aaron’s Gigg  
64.  Linock love to blanter
65.  Jockey Has Gotten a Wife
66.  If ever I marry I'll marry alright
67.  Miss Christie's Reel
68.  Happy Pair. Sett by W. Handel
69.  Will Come Back Again
70.  Miss Carmichael's Reel
71.  Miss Carmichael's Minuet
72.  The Three Merry Dancers
73.  Lady Nelly Weems Reel
74.  The Crickets
75.  Portobello
76.  Lucy's Delight
77.  The Highlandman Kiss'd his Mother
78.  A Bonney Lass to Merry One 
78.  Sweet Molly
80.  The -orchts Reel
81.  Willie was a Wanton Wag 
82.  Duncan Gray 
83.  The East Nooke O' Fife with Variations 
84.  Doun the burn Davie 
85.  There's Three Good Fellows ayont yon Glen 
86.  Aloway House, by AM Arthur / A. McArthur?
87.  I Love my love in Secret with Variations
88.  Up in the Morning Early
89.  When She Came, ben She bobbed 
90.  The Soldier's Lady

Notes:
Cover page: AMar is possibly an abbreviation for A. McArthur. See tune #86.
39.  Perhaps a continuation of #38.
44.  Probably Andantino Pastorale.
46.  Lillas Montgomerie, the captain's mother.
47.  Probably not the title, but rather a direction of movement within the piece.
52.  Illegible
54.  Caber Fea (Caber Feidh).
55.  Berwick Johnnie.
56.  Illegible
64.  Lennox love to Blantyre.
80.  First letter illegible.
86.  Alloway House; possibly A. McArthur (Allen or Alexander), a soldier in the 78th Foot.


Sources:
Music book, dated Quebec 26 March 1763, of Captain Hugh Montgomerie of the 78th Foot (later 12th Earl of Eglinten), containing various Scottish dance tunes and marches. National Library of Scotland, Library Archives and Manuscripts collection, MS.21750.

Alex. Whitelaw, The Book of Scottish Song; Collected and Illustrated with Historical and Critical Notices. (London, 1843.)

©  Jeffrey Campbell, Fraser's 78th Regiment of Foot, 2022.

Last updated 26 May 2022.

Share:
Continue Reading →