91st (98th) Argyll Highland Regiment

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Kyle, The 74th like the 91st and 98th while an Argyll regiment consisted of a significant number of Glasgow recruits and those from other parts of Western Scotland. Of these three it is more likely that Dr. Livingstone's Uncles served in the later 98th Highland Regiment as young recruits during the Napoleonic War. Of course this is just speculation on my part as I have found out only that they served during the Napoleonic War. There were actually quite a few Livingstons that left their crofts in Argyll and served in the

[Jill Richmond]

Hi Donald, My great, great grandfather, Alexander Livingston was called up for Waterloo. He returned to Craignish, Argyll at the end of hostilities, but I have never researched which regiment he served in. It is interesting that during the Napoleonic Wars press gangs from both the army and navy were operating in Argyll. The press gangs were loathed by the populace and trouble broke out between the local inhabitants and the press gangs. On one occasion the women of a township near Kilninver heard that a press gang was in the district and ordered all the menfolk away to dig peat and not to return until sent for. Young boys were posted as scouts to warn of the press gang's arrival while the women armed themselves with clods of earth and any other missiles they could lay their hands on. When the press gang duly arrived the women hurled such a volley of clod and turf at them that the men turned around and marched away, their officer saying that he wasn't going to fight with women and children. Robert McGeachy in his excellent book Argyll, 1730-1850, goes into the actions of the press gangs in detail. Regards, Jill

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Jill, That is an interesting story. Thank-you for sharing it. I have heard that the press gangs were quite notorious and ruthless in the means employed in getting their quota of recruits. And once in the British Army or Navy at that time life for the ordinary enlisted man was one of harsh disapline and punishment for any infractions. The story "Mutiny on the Bounty" certainly gives one the sense of kind of punishment given out to sailors in the Navy in the 18th century. There were indeed a large number of highland Livingstons that served in the British Army. Some but not all served in the Argyll regiments. There were as I mentioned Livingstons of highland origin that resided in the lowlands in the 1800's in a number of Counties, so they would be recruited into various regiments as the records indicate. I wrote down the names of several Argyll Livingstons that served in the British Army during the Napoleonic war last year but I seem to have misplaced the information or filed it away somewhere. The National Archives of Britain is in the process of copying some of the military records for online use. I think they are military attestation papers and the Chelsea Hospital pensioners records. THese include several Livingstons from the Napoleonic War period. I think they basically give the soldiers age where he originated, the name of his regiment and the duration of his service I think. One of the Mull Livingstones that settled at Boularderie Island on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia around 1816, an Angus Livingston was said to have been a Napoleonic War veteran. He may have gone to Nova Scotia because a brother or brothers had settled there a decade earlier. I have not found him in the few military records I have seen so far,but he may be in there somewhere. For some Napoleonic vets, Nova Scotia and Upper Canada (Ontario) was an option as the British Government after the War of 1812 with the United States was encouraging settlement of British North America by persons of British origin as up to that time, many of the settlers were from the former American colonies and many of uncertain loyalty to the Crown. Land grants of 100 acres or more certainly an incentive for those of the British Isles to settle, given that many of the settlers from the old country had been tenant farmers on extremely small lots. What happened to Dr. David Livingstone's Uncles has been a source of interest to me since I arrived at the Maclea Livingstone forum. From the early historic accounts on the family we know that all of his Uncles (John,Donald, Duncan and Charles) served in the military either the Army or Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. We also know that Charles died during the war and that is about it. Now assuming that they lived in the Blantyre/Glasgow area at the time of Napoleonic War near or with the Neal Livingston family that was where they were recruited from. Interestingly although I did not think they would be in an ARgyll regiment if they lived in the Glasgow area it it noted that the 91st and the subsequent 98th ARgyll Regiment that were in the Napoleonic campaigns included recruits from the Glasgow area as well so they could end up in these records. Of course they may surface in some other military records someday. In any event it is my hope that we can someday have searched through all the Argyll militia rolls pertaining to the Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic War and prepare of list of Livingsons from Argyll and elsewhere. regards, Donald

[Jill Richmond]

Hi donald, Yes, the press gangs were brutal and had no respect for the law. On one occasion a press gang seized witnesses and some of the jurors who were on their way to a court case in Inverness. They were ordered to release them by the Advocate Depute who reprimanded the press gang for obstructing the court's business. It would be interesting to know how many Argyll men were pressed into service during the Napoleonic Wars and how many were honestly recruited; but I don't think we shall every know. Regards, Jill

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Jill, Hopefully Alexander's military information can be found somewhere in the National Archives. I dont know about press gangs for the highland Jacobite recruits in 1745, but there are some stories of highland chiefs using threats and intimidation to get reluctant clan members join their regiments. How many were enlisted in this way one has no way of knowing, but those not particulary fond of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his rebellion and the Jacobites in general no doubt would use this to try and prove that support for the rebellion even in the highlands was lukewarm at best. While there are alot of historians who have tried to debunk the so called romantic mythology of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the 1745 Rebellion, it is encouraging that there are some British historians whose books I have read recently that come out an challenge some of the assumptions of the modern revisionist historians who often marginalize the extent of support that Bonnie Prince Charlie had in the Highlands, Lowlands and in England itself. I think there were some fundamental problems that doomed the Jacobite cause to ultimately to failure sooner or later in 1746; but had Bonnie Prince Charlie taken each of these in account and acted upon them the result might have been different. Who knows. Anyways the latest research reveals he had more support in the lowlands and in England than some historians would care to admit. Probably not enough to make a difference to the military outcome however. Some Scots I suppose see Bonnie Prince Charlie's defeat as a victory of a progressive, bourgeoisie Scotland over an antiquated feudal society. regards, Donald

[Jill Richmond]

Thank you for your posting Donald. I shall certainly see if I can find out something about Alexander's military service sometime, but at present my time is being taken up by writing a family history for my children and grandchildren. This includes not just the Livingston line but the distaff lines as well. So far I have been at it for a month, and there is still a month's work to do, preparing family trees, photographs etc. With regard to your third paragraph, I think that the Jacobites would have faced insuperable problems in restoring the Stuarts to the throne, and the whole thing could have degenerated into a full scale civil war, with all the horrors that civil war brings. However, this does not diminish my admiration for the Highland clans who fought so gallantly in support of their prince. Their outstanding courage and loyalty to the House of Stuart was far greater than the Prince himself deserved, and the savagery with which they and their dependants were treated by the Hanoverians after Culloden is a blot on the history of Britain. The only good thing to come out of this is that when English people heard of the cruelty meted out by the Hanoverian army they turned against the Duke of Cumberland, who had at first been hailed as a conquering hero, and he died alone and in disgrace on one of his German estates. Regards, Jill

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Jill, I had not heard that about the Duke of Cumberland. That is very interesting. Not surprising given the horrific nature of what he had done in the highlands that sooner or later public oppinion would turn against him. I had not read that before. There is a story told about General Wolfe who died in 1759 during the Battle to take Quebec from the French. This year marks the 250th anniversary

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Jill, I had not heard that about the Duke of Cumberland. That is very interesting. Not surprising given the horrific nature of what he had done in the highlands that sooner or later public oppinion would turn against him. I had not read that before. There is a story told about General Wolfe who died in 1759 during the Battle to take Quebec from the French. This year marks the 250th anniversary