CAMPAIGN GROUPS AND PAIRS 682
Pair: Private William Lennox, 79th Regiment, wounded at the battle of Waterloo 18 June 1815
MILITARY GENERAL SERVICE 1793-1814, 4 clasps, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Toulouse (William Lennox, 79th Foot); WATERLOO 1815 (Willm. Lennox, Lt. Coy. 1st Batt. 79th Regt. Foot) this last renamed, fitted with a replacement silver loop and straight bar suspension, edge bruising, contact marks, nearly very fine and better (2)
£2500-3000 Private William Lennox served in Captain William Marshall’s Light Company, 79th Regiment during the Waterloo campaign.
The discharge papers of William Lennox state that he enlisted in the Regiment on 14 November, 1812 and was discharged on 24 April, 1816, having served for three years, 163 days. The cause of discharge being as a consequence of ‘having accured(?) a gun shot wound in the right hand at Quatre Bras on 16th June’. He is described as about 24 years of age, 5’7”, fair hair, grey eyes, fair complexion and by trade a labourer.
From other sources the above would appear to be incorrect on two points. A ‘Family History’ source indicates Lennox was not wounded at Quatre Bras but at Waterloo, 18 June 1815. In 1866 he wrote an article for a newspaper/magazine giving the story of his part in the battle at Quatre Bras and ending with his going to sleep on the Saturday night prior to Waterloo. (This article was reprinted in The Queen’s Own Highlander, the regimental magazine, of January 1972). Although little mention of the battle on the 18th is given, he further states that at the climax of the battle, ‘.... I was slowly making my way to Brussels, with a ball in my left leg and my right hand sadly cut up with a piece of shell. ...’ Also Lennox was not a labourer but entered the Regiment listing himself as a blacksmith, having served his apprenticeship in his home village. He and the other apprentices used their spare time in the evenings to study the dictionary and confound their friends with their knowledge. This was to stand him in good stead in later life.
William Lennox was born on 5 January, 1795 in the village of Ochiltree near the town of Ayr. On leaving school he worked on a farm for a short time before being apprenticed to the local blacksmith. On completing his apprenticeship in 1812 he went looking for work and eventually arrived in Edinburgh where he enlisted in the 79th Highlanders. Shipped to the Peninsular he took part in the four battles for which he received his M.G.S., being slightly wounded at Toulouse.
How Lennox came by his wound at Waterloo is related in a family history written by a grandson sometime after 1856. It recalls that the Regiment was in square repelling cavalry when an artillery shell fell within the square but did not explode. Lennox picked up the shell and ran to the outer ranks which opened up for him. As he threw the shell out, it exploded knocking him unconscious. When he came to, his only injury was the loss of the first and second fingers of his right hand.
Discharged to a pension; on his return home he became a school teacher in Ochiltree and later in Maybole, also near the town of Ayr. He later became Superintendent of the Kyle Union Poorhouse in Ayr. In 1846, with the passing of the Poor Laws in Parliament he was appointed Inspector of the Poor for the Parish of Ayr, a post he held until his resignation in 1872. It would appear that his duties involved the collection of the rates from the parish, giving out aid to the poor and passing the remainder to the Parochial Board.
Shortly before resigning from the post of Inspector, Lennox came into dispute with the Board regarding some outstanding monies. Several letters were exchanged between Mr. Lennox and his solicitor and the Parochial Board. These were read at the Board meeting and reported in the local newspaper. Finally, against the advice of his solicitor, Mr. Lennox paid the outstanding sum by cheque - £476 13s 8d. Soon afterwards, on 8 February 1872, he resigned from his post due to his health. His letter of resignation and another from his solicitor were read to the Board and also appeared in the local newspaper.
William Lennox died at his home at 35 Queen’s Terrace, Ayr, on 20 March 1872, aged 77 years. He was buried in the family grave in Ochiltree. Lennox was married to a Janet McGavin, who died on 20 December 1869, by whom he had four daughters.
A noted poet, Lennox had much of his work printed. He was one of the founders, and perhaps the most gifted supporter of the ‘Ochiltree “Forget-me-not” Society’, at whose annual meetings he was in the habit of reading some verse of poetry specially written and eminently suitable for the occasion. One of the most popular was a song, “O! Let Us Talk of Ochiltree”. Among his other works are a letter in verse, “To the Miller of Dunure” and a poem, “The Fairy Lady of Dunure”, which consists of over sixty verses. Both these works appear in “An Anthology of Carrick” by Finlayson, believed published in 1925. It also has biographical notes on Lennox. In the book, “Ochiltree, its History and Reminiscences”, by Alexander Murdoch, there are further notes on Lennox and the ‘Ochiltree “Forget–Me-Not” Society’.
With copied extracts form the 79th Regimental Register; copied discharge papers; the magazine: The Queen’s Own Highlander, January 1972, containing the article, ‘Some Reflections of the Waterloo Campaign’; copied article from the family history; copied newspaper extracts; copied extracts from ‘An Anthology of Carrick’ and ‘Ochiltree, its History and Reminiscences’.
www.dnw.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248 |
Page 249 |
Page 250