Thursday, June 1, 2023

Disbanded Soldiers on the Lovat Estates, 1764

Listed as 'King's Cottagers,' the following men who served in Colonel Fraser's 78th Regiment of Foot in North America, 1757-1763, returned home at the end of the war and settled on the fortified Lovat Estates. Typically, their post-military roles included the occupations of  tradesmen and day laborers who worked on the local farms and in the small villages nearby.

There were 58 houses built upon this Estate, of which 54 were occupied by men from both Colonel Fraser's Regiment, and other various military regiments, including Campbell's, Johnston's, Sutherlands, McLean's, Petitot's, Leighton's, Oughton's, Carr's, Murray's, Brudnell's, and Keith's Regiment. The local Factor found it necessary to give two of the houses built at Chrochell's as a school and schoolhouse for the accommodation of a schoolmaster settled there, and was also been obliged to give two houses built at Castle Dunie [Dounie or Downie - presently Beaufort Castle] to a flax dresser and spinning mistriss.

Total expenses included:
Erect buildings: £10.12.2
Money loaned for aids to prosecute men's trades: £5.0.0
Travel charges; purchasing household furniture: £3.8.0

Cover sheet:
List of disbanded Soldiers settled on the annext Estate of Lovat as Tradesmen and Day Labourers under the denomination of King's Cottagers, 1764

Donald Fraser
Regiment: Frasers
Time of Service yrs.: 7
Place of Birth: Kilmorack Parish, County Inverness
Years of age: 30
Profession: Day Labourer
Village or Farm where settled: Barnyards
When settled: April 28th, 1764

Findlay McKearick
Regiment: Fraser's
Time of Service yrs.: 7
Place of Birth: Kilmorack Parish, County Inverness
Years of age: 40
Profession: Day Labourer
Village or Farm where settled: Ardnacrask
When settled: Sepr. 28, 1764

Thomas Campbell
Regiment: Fraser's
Time of Service yrs.: 7
Place of Birth: Kilmorack Parish, County Inverness
Years of age: 31
Profession: Day Labourer
Village or Farm where settled: Relig
When settled: Aprl. 28th, 1764

Dougall McDonald
Regiment: Fraser's
Time of Service yrs.: 7
Place of Birth: Kilmorack Parish, County Inverness
Years of age: 50
Profession: Day Labourer
Village or Farm where settled: Chrochell
When settled: July 7th, 1764

Alexander Macra
Regiment: Fraser's
Time of Service yrs.: 7
Place of Birth: Kilmorack Parish, County Inverness
Years of age: 29
Profession: Day Labourer
Village or Farm where settled: Chrochell
When settled: Sepr. 5th, 1764

Donald Kennedy Junr.
Regiment: Fraser's
Time of Service yrs.: 7
Place of Birth: Kilmorack Parish, County Inverness
Years of age: 40
Profession: Day Labourer
Village or Farm where settled: Chrochell
When settled: Augt. 28th, 1764

Unmarried Men
John Chisholm
Regiment: Fraser's
Time of Service yrs.: 7
Place of Birth: Kilmorack Parish, County Inverness
Years of age: 27
Profession: Day Labourer
Village or Farm where settled: Lovat Estate
When settled: July 7th, 1764

Beaufort 10th Novr. 1764 [signed] John Forbes

Notes: It is presumed initial building and living expenses were laid of by the local Factor, then reimbursed by the Scottish Government.

While the list does not constitute an official roster of men who returned to Scotland, it can be consulted in concert with the men admitted to Royal Chelsea Hospital as pensioners as an unofficial list.

Source:
NRS, E787/28, p.1-4.

©  Jeffrey Campbell, Fraser's 78th Regiment of Foot, 2023.

Share:
Continue Reading →