Author Archives: steward672014

1st Week of August, 1754, from the London Magazine

Leave a reply

August 1754

Gregorian

 S  M Tu  W Th  F  S
             1  2  3
 4  5  6  7  8  9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

http://www.hf.rim.or.jp/~kaji/cal/cal.cgi?1754

Saturday, Aug. 3.

A person was convicted before two of his majesty’s justices of the peace in Southwark for bringing half a pint of spirituous liquor (called Geneva) into the King’s Bench prison, contrary to the form of the statute in that case made and provided. The penalty, which is 20I. was mitigated to 10l.. and upon his refusing to pay the said fine immediately (as the statute directs) he was committed to the house of correction for six weeks.

A bill of indictment was found by the grand jury for the city of York, against William Arundel, for traitorously and seditiously taking down from off the top of Micklegate-bar, the heads of William Conolly and Benjamin Mason, two of the persons executed for being engaged in the last rebellion.—He was afterwards admitted to bail.

Monday, 5.

Mary Smith, for robbing Anne Gough, an infant about three years old, and James Cobley, for stealing some valuable manuscript books out of Mr. Lintot’s chambers in the Temple, were this day executed at Tyburn. Jones and Lewis, two women, who received sentence of death together with the two former, were ordered to be transported for life, Smith’s face was covered all the way to and at the place of execution.

Tuesday, 6.

Samuel Fludyer, Esq.; citizen and cloth-worker, and alderman of Cheap ward, was chosen one of the sheriffs of London and Middlesex for the year ensuing, in the room of Allen Evans, Esq; who refused to take upon him that office.

The parliament, which stood prorogued to 8th instant, was by his majesty in council ordered to.be further prorogued to October 22.

Marriages and Births

Aug.1. Rt. Hon. the earl of Essex, to Miss Charlotte Williams, daughter of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, knight of the Bath.

Everard Buckworth, Esq; to Miss Frances Amcotts.

John Cockaine Sole, Esq; to Miss Lushington.

Rev. Mr. Charles Merrest, eldest son of the late James Merrest, Esq., clerk assistant of the house of lords, to Miss Wilkins, of Wisbech in the Isle of Ely.

 

Aug. 2. Lady Charlotte Murray, of a daughter in Scotland.

5. Lady viscountess Mountgarret, of a son.

Dauphiness; of France, of a prince.

The lady of the Hon. Mr. How, of a son and heir.

Deaths

Aug. 5. Capt. Dansay, deputy-governor of Greenwich-hospital.

James Gibbs, Esq; well known for his great genius in architecture.

7. Dr. Pierce Dodd, many years one of the physicians of St. Bartholomew’s hospital.

5th Week of July, 1754, from the London Magazine

Leave a reply

July 1754

Gregorian

 S  M Tu  W Th  F  S
    1  2  3  4  5  6
 7  8  9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31

http://www.hf.rim.or.jp/~kaji/cal/cal.cgi?1754

According to advices from Naples, of July 2, they had an account from Sicily, that in June last mount Aetna made an eruption, in which it cast out such a quantity of ashes and flames, that the neighbouring country for 3 leagues round was entirely destroyed.  Several earthquakes had also happened in those parts, the shocks of which were so violent, that two villagers were swallowed up by them.

The following account was given of the cause of the disputes between the assembly of Jamaica and their governor.  It hath been the custom of that island, ever since it was taken by the admirals Penn and Venables, in Cromwell’s time, to make laws for themselves, with consent of the governor; which laws were binding and of force until they got the royal assent of the king of England; but, if the king dissented, then the laws were no longer in force; if his majesty did not dissent, they were to continue in full force and vigour till there might or should be a repeal. And the present dispute is now, whether they shall be put in execution without being first signed in England? If they are not, it will not be in the power of the governor, or the assembly, to raise men or money in that island without his majesty’s consent; which those islanders think a hardship, as they cannot, in case of an invasion or insurrection, immediately defend themselves, or prevent any commotions in that country without sending to England, and the island might be subdued or conquered before they could get their laws enacted in England.

An English vessel bound from Rotterdam for North-America, with upwards of 300 Palatine passengers on board, in her passage struck on the send called the Galloper, which beat off her rudder, and soon after she foundered. A Dutchmawho was in sight continued his course, and left the preserving of upwards of 80 souls, out of the above number, to Capt. Henderson, for the coast of Guinea, who took them on board, and landed them at Helvoetsluys, and then proceeded on hit voyage.

On Sunday, July 28, between 6 and 7 in the evening, was a most violent storm of hail and rain, attended with thunder, and lightning, at Walton in Suffolk. The hail-stones in general were as large as pigeon eggs, in various shapes, and jagged like broken pieces of ice. It did incredible damage, especially in the corn fields. Several had their glass windows broke in such manner that scarce a whole quarry remained, and the fruits in the gardens were entirely spoiled. The damage done by this storm was computed at near 500I. Where the hail fell so very thick was about a mile in length and half a mile in breadth. It seemed to have fallen down with a whirlwind, like a tornado, and nor to have spread itself far.

On Tuesday the 30th, at a court of aldermen at Guildhall, Allen Evans and John Torriano, Esqrs. lately elected sheriffs of London and Middlesex, appeared, when the latter gave bond to serve the said office, but the former pleaded his inability to serve it as being a Dissenter.

Marriages and Births

July 23. John St. Leger, Esq; in Ireland, to Miss Mary Butler, niece to lord Lanesborough, a 40,000l fortune.

30. Robert Roper, Esq; of the county of Durham, to the Hon. lady Henrietta Hay, sister to the lord visc. Dupplin.

Deaths

July 15. Lord Lewis Cordon, brother to the late duke of Gordon, in France.

25. Hon. and Rev. Henry Dawnay, D. D. uncle to lord viscount Downe, rector of Piddle-Town in Dorsetshire, &c. and one of the prebendaries of Canterbury.

16. Heny Cary Hamilton, Esq; of the kingdom of Ireland.

27. Hon. Patrick Grant, of Elches, Esq. one of the senators of the college of justice in Scotland, and one of the lords commissioners of justiciary.

19. Lady Peachy, mother of Sir John Peachy, Bart.

30. Armaindus Ernestus, baron Dirmar, field marshal of the Imperial forces, colonel of a regiment of Cuirassiers, and sometime minister of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel at the court of Great-Britain

Col. Driver, late of the fourth troop of horse-guards.

Rt. Hon. the earl of Westmeath, at Brussels.

4th Week of July, 1754, from the London Magazine

Leave a reply

July 1754

Gregorian

 S  M Tu  W Th  F  S
    1  2  3  4  5  6
 7  8  9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31

All calendar information is from this site:
http://www.hf.rim.or.jp/~kaji/cal/cal.cgi?1754

Monday, 22.

Joseph Mills, a turncock [a waterworks official responsible for turning on water at the mains], for the murder of Samuel Room, a paviour [a person who lays paving stones], in the Minories [a civil parish in London]; and Robert Finch, for the murder of his wife in Ludgate, who received sentence at the Old-Bailey immediately on their conviction, the former on Friday, and the other on Saturday, were this day executed at Tyburn.

The sessions ended at the Old-Bailey, when the other convicts received sentence of death, vix. Mary Smith, for stripping and robbing an infant about 3 years old; Thomas Collis, for sacreligiously stealing a linen surplice; Elizabeth Jones, for stealing a silver watch and 20 guineas; and James Cobley, for stealing some valuable manuscript books out of Mr. Linnot’s chambers in the Temple.

At this sessions one Lewis, a woman who had been in Newgate upwards of two years on a verdict left special for forgery, was brought into court, the same being determined by the judges, and received sentence of death.

Their royal highnesses the prince of Wales, duke of Cumberland and prince Edward went this day by water to Woolwich, attended by lord Harcourt, lord Anson, admiral Rowley, and a great number of persons of distinction; the lords of the admiralty, the commissioners of the navy, and victualing officer, also in their respective barges.  They were saluted when they went aboard by the guns at the Tower, and upon their landing at Woolwich by the guns at the warren, and all the yachts lying there.  Their royal highnesses first took a view of the several works in the dock-yard, saw the manner of forging an anchor, making sails, &c.  Afterwards they went on board the Royal Anne, a first rate man of war now building, and then on board the Dunkirk, the new 60 gun ship, which was launched that day.  A new sloop of war, called the Happy, was launched about an hour before.  As soon as the launch was over, their royal highnesses went on board the Carolina yacht, where a most elegant dinner was provided for them, and at 7 in the evening they embarked on board their barge to return to town, being saluted as before.  All the ships in the river had their colours hoisted, which, with the great number of yachts and boats of all kinds, with which the Thames was covered, formed a most beautiful prospect.

Tuesday, 23.

At a court of hustings [a platform or pavilion, a temporary structure erected at the place of an election, Wikipedia] at Guild-Hall, Allan Evans, Esq. and John Torriano, Esq.; (both merchant taylors) were chosen sheriffs of London and Middlesex, in the room of Alexander Sheafe and George Stratfield, Esqrs. Who refused to give bond to serve that office.  After the election, Mr. Torriano came forward and thanked his fellow-citizens for the honour they had done him, and acknowledged his unfitness, but promised to use his utmost endeavour to go thro’ the office with canour and impartiality.  Mr. Evans not being present, had till next court of aldermen to give his answer.

Thursday, 25.

The back front of Mr. Barrat’s late sugar-house at Paul’s wharf, which was left standing when the said sugar-house was burnt down, fell in, by which accident 5 bricklayers labourers, who were chipping bricks in the cellar, for the workmen, that were carrying up a new building, were killed on the spot.

 

Marriages and Births

23. George Colbrooke, Esq. member of parliament for Arundel in Sussex, to Miss Gaynor

23. Hon. Capt. Vaughan, son and heir to lord visc. Lisbourne, to Miss Nightingale, only daughter of Joseph Gascoigne Nightingale, late of Enfield, Esq.; a 50,000l. fortune.

20. Lady Viscountess Gallway, of a daughter

22. Lady of baron Munchausen, secretary of affairs of Hanover, of a son.

 

Deaths

22. Rt. Hon. Lady Archer

Close to the finish line.

Leave a reply

I’ve been collecting information on 18th century British army and navy officers for years. Living in the US and not having easy access to the War-Office records at the National Archives at Kew, I have relied on printed records, especially through Google Books and microfiche.  I first focused on British Revolutionary War officers and orders of battle.  A great starting point was Worthington Chauncey Ford’s, British Officers Serving in the American Revolution 1774-1783. https://archive.org/details/britishofficerss1897ford.  Ford listed the regiments involved and then each officer alphabetically with his rank, regiment and date(s) of commission.

I then began to look back to the Seven Years’ War and officer services in both America and worldwide.  Ford had a similar book for this period, British Officers Serving in America, 1754-1774, https://archive.org/details/britishofficerss00ford.

Ford drew his information from the printed Army Lists which were printed once or twice a year on behalf of the War-Office.

 

Below is a list of the army lists printed from 1754 to 1763:

Edition Date Published Year Published
1st July 27th 1754
2d August 5th 1755
3d May 10th 1756
4th March 2d 1757
5th February 8th 1758
6th September 15th 1758
7th June 20th 1759
8th March 12th 1760
9th February 3d 1761
10th November 26th 1761
11th April 15th 1762
12th November 24th 1762
13th November (–) 1763

The issue with Ford’s Seven Years’ War list was that it was missing reference to some of the Army lists printed in the late 1750s, causing gaps in the officer commission information.

Below is a facsimile of the August, 1755 Army List, Dublin edition, which will be published shortly:

A

L        I        S        T

OF THE

General and Field OFFICERS, as they Rank in the Army.

A

LIST of the Officers in the several Regiments of

Horse, Dragoons, and Foot, &c.

ON THE

BRITISH and IRISH Establishments:

WITH THE

Dates of their Commissions, as they Rank in each Corps.

A List of the Governors, Lieutenant-Governors, &c. of His Majesty’s Garrisons at Home and Abroad, with their allowances.

The OFFICERS of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, the

Marines, and the BRITISH and IRISH Half Pay.

 To which are added,

The Quarters of the Army in IRELAND, in the year 1755.

 Also, the SUCCESSION of COLONELS to all His Majesty’s Land Forces, from their rise to the present Time; with the General View of the Names and Rank of the several Corps in His Majesty’s Army, with their Number (Officers included) and where they now are; and a Table of the FULL PAY and SUBSISTANCE of His Majesty’s Forces on the British and Irish Establishments, &c.

The Whole to August 1755.

Admittedly, Ford’s focus was solely on North America and the West Indies, but there was a great deal of additional information included in each printed Army List as can be seen above. In the main, data was presented by seniority by corps and then, within the corps, seniority by rank.

In Ford’s works, there was no need of an index as the officers were listed alphabetically.  The drawback was that it is very difficult to know which officers were in which regiment at any particular time.  Since the printed lists were laid out by regiment, it was easy to know the officer corps of a regiment at the date of publication.  However, until the 1770s, the printed lists did not contain an index, so the reader would need to know the regiment the officer.

The version of the 1755 Army List that will be printed soon will contain the positive aspects of the existing works by faithfully reproducing page by page the original list as well as containing an officer index for ease of use.