Records of the Pringles of the Scottish Border, by Alex Pringle

Chapter 31

THE ARMY

THE SCOTS BRIGADE IN HOLLAND (Scottish Historical Society)

IN November 1782 the States General resolved that the officers of the Brigade should be required to take an oath abjuring all allegiance to their native land on pain of forfeiting their commission, that the regiment should be put into Dutch uniform, that the colours should no longer bear the British arms, and that the orders and commands should be in Dutch and the Scottish March be no longer played. Such was the end of the Brigade, which had its beginning in the 16th century and eventually consisted on three regiments.

King George being appealed to, he promised to take the officers under his protection, some fifty of all grades; and eleven years later the Scots Brigade lately in the Dutch service was ordered to be levied in Scotland.

John Pringle, Adjutant in Colonel James Gordon's regiment, 1764 to 1782, took the required oath and continued in the Dutch service, and in 1786 while acting as Quarter-master he was appointed Captain of a Grenadier company in Major General Dundas's regiment. At Namur in 1761 he married Mary Hope. They had issue: Robert, born 1761; James, born 1767; Alexander, born 1771; Colin, born 1773; Rudolph, born 1782; and. four daughters. In 1794 Colin Pringle, Ensign in Bentinck's regiment was granted an honourable discharge, in 1803 Captain and Adjutant in King George's German Legion, Major of the Depot Company till 1812, Aide-de-camp to General du Plat in Sicily, in 1815 conducted the battalion from Geneva to Emden in Hanover, where it was reduced; married at St Clement's Church, London, no issue. Rudolph Pringle, Colin's brother, Lieutenant in the same regiment, married in 1809 Carolina, daughter of James Townley of Ramsgate (G. M.).

COLONEL SIR JAMES. See Stitchill

LIEUT.-COLONEL ROBERT, R.E.

Robert was the 2nd son of Mark Pringle of Crichton the Consul. In 1766 he was recommended by Governor Melville of Grenada as Governor-Depute. In 1772 his memoranda anent the defence of Newfoundland and its fishings were sent in, and in 1773 together with his plans for a battery and a boom at the harbour of St John's, considered and approved by the Board in London ; and they ordered him to proceed to St John's to carry them out with all possible dispatch, while orders were sent to the naval department to have the boom prepared (American MSS., Royal Institution). In 1778 Robert, now Lieut.-Colonel, was warned officially of the importance of St John's in the war (with the U. S. A.), and that it was believed that if the Americans and French could get together sufficient force they might pay him a visit in the spring. In 1780 he was appointed Commandant of a regiment of foot in Newfoundland. The war having been terminated by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783, Robert returned to London, where in 1784 he married a daughter of Colonel Balneaves of Kirkland (S. M.). In 1785 he was appointed Engineer Commandant at Gibraltar, which during the war withstood a siege of three years and - seven months; and there in 1788 his wife died (G. M.). Among the British Museum MSS. is an account by Robert, dated December 1792, of the state of the army and navy of Holland, made during a sojourn there in the two preceding months.

Robert died at Grenada on 17th June 1793, where he had landed on the 10th preceding. He died of the yellow fever, which was brought to the island by a slave ship from Sierra Leone. His servant, who wrote an account of his death, died of the same illness the day after (G. M.). Previous to embarking on this Government mission Robert made his will, making, after certain bequests, and subject to certain pensions, his brother Andrew his residuary legatee (T. E., 1794). Among the American MSS. in the British Museum are several letters to Robert from Sir Guy Carlton from New York.

Andrew, Robert's brother, entered the Bengal Army in 1770, became Lieutenant in 1776, Captain in 1781, and resigned in December 1792. In 1790 at Cawnpore he married a daughter of the late Colonel Fortnum, Chief Engineer, Bengal (S. M., 1791).

MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY OF CALEDON. See Ireland.

Henry was the second son of John Pringle of Lyme Park, Co. Tyrone. In 1747 he became Ensign in Otway's Regt. on Irish half pay, in 1750 Lieut,. in Blackeney's Regt. (Enniskilllngs), in 1756 Major in the 56th Regt., in 1779 Lieut.-Col. in the 51st Foot, in November 1782 Major-General (S. M.). In January 1782 General Murray, while defending Port St Philip in the Island of Minorca, which was besieged by the French, declared to his officers that he would never surrender until driven to the last extremity, and they, including Colonel Henry Pringle, replied that they would obey his orders. In February Governor Murray writes as to the unhappy differences between the Lieut.-Governor and himself relative to the surrender of the Island to the French. Later, a complaint having been presented against Murray, it was found that the case could not be tried for want of Colonel Pringle who was left hostage for the transport vessels. In 1767 Henry married a daughter of the Rev. Dr Godley, Ireland (G. M.). He had issue, a daughter Caroline, who in 1797 marr. Robert, son of the late Sir Richard St George, Bart.; also a son William-Henry (G. M.).

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM-HENRY, G.C.B,, M.P.,

son of the above Major-General Henry Pringle who in 1792 entered the army as Cornet in the 16th Dragoons, in 1809 became Colonel m the army, and on 1st January 1812 Major- General, in which year he was appointed to the staff of the Peninsular army ; and he commanded a Brigade at the battles of Salamanca, the Pyrenees, and Nivelle. He received the thanks of the House of Commons in person after the former battle on 10th February 1813, and two votes of thanks after the battles of the Pyrenees, Orthes, and Nivelle on 24th June 1814 (G. M.). In February 1814 he was severely wounded in France. In May following he was appointed Colonel of the Newfoundland Fencibles. In 1816 he was promoted to the 64th Foot, and having attained the rank of Lieut.-General in 1825, to the 45th Foot in 1838. He was made a K.C.B. in 1815, and later advanced to the Grand Cross (G. M). He married in 1806 Hester-Harriet Pitt, granddaughter of Lord Eliot and his wife Harriet Pitt niece of William Pitt the great statesman (Annual Register). William-Henry died at Stratford-place, London, on 23rd December 1840, aged 68 ; and there in October 1842 died his widow. They had issue : John-Henry Pringle; and Ann-Elizabeth, Catherine-Harriet-Frances, and Hester-Margaret.

COLONEL JOHN.HENRY,

son of the above Sir W. H. Pringle, G.C.B., entered the army in 1825 as Ensign and Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards, became Captain in 1830, Lieut.-Col. in 1842, Colonel in the army on retiring in 1854. Ilk 1839-40 he and Mr Taylor published The Correspondence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, their great grandfather, in 4 vols. (Quarterly Review). In 1846 John-Henry Pringle published a volume of poems, Algiers, The Warlike (pp. 127, Ollivier, Pall Mall): He married in 1841 a daughter of J. Ramsbottom of Clewer Lodge (G. M.).

On 26th July 1868 he was accidentally killed, while residing with his family at Bex on the lake of Geneva. He went for a walk on the hills around, and, not returning, next day the authorities sent a hundred men to search for him, but it was not until eight days afterwards that his body was found at the bottom of a ravine. He had fallen over a perpendicular precipice 200 ft. high (The Times, 19th August 1868).

MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN. See Symington

MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES, E.I.CO. See Stitchill, Lord Edgefield.

MAJOR JOHN-WATSON, R.E.,

was a son of Captain George Pringle of Georgefield, Earlston, Berwickshire, and his wife Margaret Watson. Born there in 1790, he entered the Army in his 19th year, and served with the Royal Engineers in the Peninsula from 1810 to the end of the War in 1814. He took part in the battles of Nive and Nivelle where he was wounded. He was present at the investment of Bayonne; and, serving during the campaign of 1815 was severely wounded at Waterloo (The Times, 16th October 1861).

In 1835 Captain Pringle was one of 15 Commissioners for inquiring into the bounds of certain cities, boroughs, and municipal corporations in England (G. M.). In. 1837-38 he was employed on a mission of inquiry into the state of the Prisons in the West Indies. He wrote a letter on the general state of the Colonies to the Government, which was afterwards quoted from by Lord John Russell in a debate in the House of Commons. In January 1854 he was appointed Major with army rank. He died at Bath in October 1861, on his birthday, aged 69 (G, M.).

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ROBERT, V,S., K.C.M.G.,

was a son of Mr Gilbert Pringle of Inch Brae Smithy, Stranraer, and was educated at Lochans Public School under Mr John Davidson. After passing through the Veterinary College, Glasgow, and practising for a time, he entered the Army Veterinary Department In 1878. Next year he served in the Afghan war, took part in the Wuzeree and Zhob Valley Expeditions of 1881 and 1884, and in 1900-01 served in South Africa, gaining mention in dispatches, and the D.S.O. He served as Principal Veterinary Officer under Sir Evelyn Wood when Salisbury Plain was taken over, and when the 3td Army Corps was established he was selected as Inspecting Veterinary Officer in India, where he did great work for Northern India. Returning to England, the hospital treatment of horses at Aldershot took under him a fresh lease, and he was soon removed to the War Office as Director-General of the Army Veterinary Service. When the Great War began he had under him only 197 veterinary officers and 322 other ranks; when it ended the number had grown to 1356 veterinary officers and 26,146 other ranks. Progress was made in the treatment and lion of disease, and so sound was the system which proven General Pringle employed that at home contagious disease disappeared altogether. He left the War Office towards the end of the war after a most successful holding of his appointment. He married in 1898 Sophia, daughter of Mr G. Byres of Tonley. He was appointed C. B, in 1909, and was created K.C.M.G. in 1917 He died at Fairbourne, Farnham, Surrey, in July 1926, aged 70.

COLONEL SIR JOHN-WALLACE, R.E., K.C.B.,

born 1863 ; served in the Burma expedition 1885-86 ; Uganda Railway Survey 1891-92 ; Director of Transport, Home Defence, 1914-16 ; Chief Inspecting Officer for Railways, Ministry of Transport, 1916 to 1925, when he retired, after having investigated every big railway smash of the time, and when in recognition of his services he was knighted.

COLONEL HALL-GRANT, K.C.B.,

born 1876, served in China 1900) North Nigeria 1901-02, European War 1914-17, D.S.O. 1917, C.B. 1921, Inspector of the West Indian Local Forces and Officer Commanding troops in Jamaica 1922-25, retired pay and K.C.B. 1925, son of the late David Pringle, Esq., of Torquhan, Gala Water.