Today we have an article sent in by Adair Polson-Genge which has been transcribed from an 1899 edition of 'The Celtic Monthly'. It is very interesting, particularly how the orders were issued from Court.
The First Sutherland Fencible Regiment 1759, by Eric Mackay, London
The recent attempt to deprive the Clan Mackay of the hour of having produced the Sutherland lard Rob Donn, has naturally drawn attention to the first Sutherland Regiment of Highlanders of which he was a member, and a few facts regarding the regiment may be of interest at this time.
This regiment was one of two raised in Scotland in 1759 for service in Great Britain. The renowned Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, who in later years so justly boasted tat he had “sought for merit and found it in the mountains of the north” was first to suggest the idea.
Britain had suffered reverses abroad, and large drafts were necessary to retrieve her honour. The militia was raised in England, but owing to the recent disturbances in Scotland it was not thought desirable to extend the system there. Letters of Service were therefore granted for raising a regiment of Fencibles in the county of Argyll and a few weeks later, on the 7th of August similar letters wee granted to the Earl of Sutherland to raise a battalion of volunteers, being Highlanders in any county or part of our kingdom of Great Britain.
This order was superseded by one dated 11th August in similar terms, but restricting the recruiting areas to the counties of Sutherland and Caithness and places adjacent known to be well affected. The reason for this is obvious. About that time the Jacobite agents in this country were very active. An invasion from France was threatened, the expedition was being fitted out at Brest, and manifestations had been prepared for the press, in which, by the use of certain words, Prince Charlie’s presence in the country would be known to his supporters. Thanks to Pickle, and other traitors, the British Government was made aware of these movements, and care was taken to confine recruiting to these parts favourable to the Hanoverian cause.
The Letters of Service for raising the regiment are as follows:-
George R
Order for raising a Battalion of Highlanders
Whereas we have thought fit to order a Battalion of Highlanders, to be forthwith raised under your command, which is to consist of nine Companies of four Sergeants, four Corporals, two Drummers, and one hundred private men in each, besides Commission Officers, with two Pipers to the Grenadier Company; which men are not to be sent out of Great Britain, and to be entitled to their Discharge in three years or at the end of the War; these are to authorise you by beat of Drum or otherwise to raise as many (sic) Voluntiers (being Highlanders) in the counties of Sutherland and Caithness, and in Places adjacent known to be well affected, as shall be wanted to complete the said Battalion to the above mentioned numbers. And all Magistrates, Justices of the Peace, Constables and other of our Civil Officers whom it may concern, are hereby required to be assisting unto you in providing Quarters, Impressing Carriages and otherwise as there shall be occasion.
Given at our Court at Kensington this 11th Day of August 1759 in the thirty-third year of our Reign.
By His Majesty’s Command,
Barrington
To our Right, Treaty, and Welbeloved Cousin, William, Earl of Sutherland, Lieut-Colonel Commandant of a Batt. Of Highlanders, or to the officer appointed to raise men for our said Batt.
Particulars as to the arming of the Battalion exist in the following order, but the first portion being in identical terms to the Letters of Service, above quoted, it is unnecessary to repeat.
George R
Arms, etc., for a Battalion of Highlanders to be forthwith raised.
Whereas…………… Our Will and Pleasure is that out of the Stores remaining within the office of our Ordnance under your charge you cause the Arms, etc., wanting for the use of the said Battalion and mentioned hereunder to be forthwith issued and delivered to the Colonel of the said Battalion or whom he shall appoint to receive them; and you are to take the usual Indents for the same and Insert the charge therof in your next estimate to be laid before the Parliament, and for so doing this shall be as well to you as to all other of our officers concerned herein a sufficient warrant.
Given at our Court at Kensington the Tenth Day of August 1759 in the Thirty-third year of our Reign
By His Majesty’s Command
Holdernesse
To our Right, Treaty, and Welbeloved Cousin and Councillor, John Viscount Ligonier, Master General of our Ordnance.
Iron Ramrods, 936; Firelocks with Bayonets and Scablards, 936; Side Pistols and Straps, 972; Cartouche Boxes and Straps, 936; Halberts, 36; Drums, 18.
The halberts mentioned in the foregoing were for the Sergeants of companies. Within nine days of the Earl’s arrival in Sutherland 1500 men reported to the call to arms, and so great was the military ardour and patriotism that many of the disappointed men followed the regiment to Perth with the result that the authorities granted permission for the tenth company to be added. General Stewart records the impression created by this fine body of men –
“The martial appearance of these men when they marched into Perth in May 1760, with the Earl at their head, was never forgotten by those who saw them, and who never failed to express admiration of their fine military air. Some old friends of mine who often saw these men in Perth spoke of them with a kind of enthusiasm. Considering the abstemious habits or rather the poverty of the Highlanders, the size and muscular strength of the people are remarkable. In this Corps there was no light infantry company; upwards of 260 men being above the five feet eleven inches in height, they were formed into two Grenadier Companies, one on each flank of the Battalion.”
The regiment served for four years, during which time the behaviour was irreproachable, and though its duties were monotonous, being contained to garrison work, not a single man was punished. Had the opportunity occurred we may be sure that these men would have shown themselves worthy successors of the “Old Invincibles” of Gustavus.
It is a matter for regret that there does not appear to be a Muster Roll or Pay Sheet of the regiment in existence, unless it be in the possession of the Ducal family, but whether the poet was really an enlisted member if the regiment if open to doubt. Certain it is that Rob Donn occupied a more or less privileged position in the corps, probably akin to that of bard, an interesting survival of ancient times. The story is well known how at Inverness, a Major Ross, who had recently joined and was a strict disciplinarian, encountered the poet roaming about when the regiment was drilling. Nor knowing Rob, he demanded to know to which company he belonged, and was considerably astonished to get the reply “to every company”, an answer which enquiries fully explained.
That Rob should join the regiment was not surprising, as among the officers were the following Mackays, viz. :- Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh MacKay of Bighouse, Captain John MacKay of Strathy, and Lieutenants Donald Williamson (Mackay) of Banniskirk, Alexander Mackay, younger of Strathy, and James Mackay of Skerry. It was in the family of the last named that the poet’s early years of service were spent.
In 1762 the Seven Years’ War was at an end, and France, crippled by the loss of Canada and most of her Indian possessions, was going for peace, which the Treaty of Paris, signed 10 February 1763, eventually secured.
Meanwhile the orders were issued disbanding both the Argyllshire Fencibles and the Sutherland Highlanders in the following terms:-
Order and Instructions for disbanding Colonel Campbell’s Regiment pf the Fencible Men of Argyllshire and the Earl of Sutherland’s Battalion of Highlanders.
George R
Whereas we hac thought fit to order our Regiment of the Fencible Men of Argyllshire, commanded by our Trusty and Welbeloved Lieutenant-Colonel Dougal Campbell, and our Battalion of Highlanders commanded by our Right, Trusty, and Welbeloved Cousin, William, Earl of Sutherland, to be forthwith disbanded. Our Will and Pleasure is that you, or such person or persons as you shall appoint for this service, so immediately repair to the respective Quarters of the said Corps and disband them accordingly, and that in the disbanding of them the following Rules be observed.
1st Before such disbanding you are to cause an exact Muster to be taken of the several companies of the said Corps, which you may draw together in the Quarters where they now are, or any other adjacent place as you shall see most convenient; and you are to give an account of their condition and numbers at the time of disbanding to our Secretary at War for our Information.
2dly You are to take care before the disbanding the said Corps that the Quarters of each Company be duly satisfied, as also that the Accounts between the non-commissioned Officers and private Soldiers hereby disbanded and their Officers be made up to the Day of their Discharge, and that they be fully satisfied and paid their arrears or other just pretensions, whereof the said Officers are to produce Acquittances and Discharge from them respectively.
3dly That care be taken that the Arms delivered out of our Stores of Ordnance and indented for, be returned thither again, and Acquittances taken for the same.
4thly That care be taken that each non-commissioned Officer and private man hereby to be disbanded be permitted to carry away with him his Cloaths, Belt, and Knapsack which he now wears, and that each private Soldier, Corporal, and Drummer be paid three Shillings for his Sword, which is to be delivered with the other Arms into our Stores of Ordnance; and we being pleased to allow each Sergeant, Corporal, Drummer and private Soldier who shall be hereby disbanded fourteen days Subsistence as of our Bounty to carry them home, payment is to be made of the same to each of them respectively out of such monies as shall be advanced for that purpose, and you are to take receipts for the same from each non-commissioned Officer and private man respectively and transmit them to our Paymaster General as Vouchers for the Bounty Money so paid, and to send to our Secretary at War an authentic List attested in the best manner by yourself, or Officers commanding in chief our said Corps of the names of the non-commissioned Officers and private Soldiers so disbanded, and to give them passes in case they shall desire the same, to the places of their former residence, allowing them a convenient time to repair thither, and giving them likewise a strict charge that they do not presume to travel with any arms nor more than three in company upon pain of the severest punishment.
And to the end the said non-commissioned Officers and private Soldiers may be sensible of the care we have taken of them upon their dismission, you are to cause these our directions to be read at the Head of each Company for a more ready Compliance with our Pleasure hereby signified, and see the same be put in Execution.
Given at our Court at St James’s this 31st day of January 1763 in the third year of our Reign.
By his Majesty’s command
W. Ellis
To our Treaty and Welbeloved George Beauclerck, Esquire (commonly called Lord Geo. Beauclerck), Lieut-General of our Forces, or to the person or persons appointed by him for the Service above mentioned.
The regiment thus reduced was the first of the Fencible Regiments raised in Sutherland. The others were the Sutherland Fencibles of 1779, the Sutherland Fencibles of 1793, and the better known Reay Fencibles of 1798, the “brave and honest Reays” of General Lake, whose story has been so well told by Mr John Mackay of Hereford.
All these regiments did honour to the county of their origin, and it was mainly from the disbanded regiment of 1793 that the gallant 93rd Highlanders, the famous “Thin Red Line”, now the 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was recruited.
Of the 80,000 men raised in the Highlands between the years 1759 and 1814 the county of Sutherland contributed her full share, and there is little doubt that much of this military patriotism was due to the example of that famous Scots Brigade, whose name is writ large in the military annals of Europe, “Mackay’s Regiment”.
Thank you Adair.
