Memorial to George Hume, Esquire, Crown Surveyor of Virginia and Washington's Teacher of Surveying
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MEMORIAL TO GEORGE HUME, ESQUIRE, CROWN SURVEYOR OF VIRGINIA AND WASHINGTON'S TEACHER OF SURVEYING WITH NOTES ON HIS LIFE by LIEUTENANT-COLONEL EDGAR ERSKINE fIUME1 M. C., United States Army. Reprinted from Tyler's Quarterly Hutorical and Genealogical Magazine Richmond, Virginia Vol. XXI, No. 1, July, 19!l9, page11 6-54, and Vol. XXI, No. e, October, 1989, page, 10-tSO. TABLET 11' !'.1E'.\,IOR Y OF MR. GEORGE Hl'!\iE OF HRGl:--:IA St. (;eor!l,e's Church, Fredericksburll., \'irll.inia [)edicated 2b June, 19.JS MEMORIAL TO GEORGE HUME, ESQUIRE, CROWN SURVEYOR OF VIRGINIA AND WASHINGTON'S TEACHER OF SURVEYING WITH NOTES ON HIS LIFE by Lieutenant-Colonel Edgar Erskine Hume, M. C., United States Army. "God bless the King-I mean the Faith's Defender, God bless-no harm in blessing-the Pretender I But who Pretender is, or who is King- God bless us all I that's quite another thing." John Byrom. At noon on 26 June 1938, there was dedicated in St. George's Church, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Virginia, a memorial tablet honoring George Hume, Esquire, an early vestryman of that church and the Crown Surveyor who laid out the town itself. The tablet was unveiled by the rep resentative of the family of Milne-Home of Wedderburn Castle, Scotland, descendants of the sister of George Hume, as will be related. Fredericksburg is filled with historical associations of interest not only to Virginians, but to many others on both sides of the Atlantic, so that had he never done ought else to merit such recognition George Hume's part in the establishment of the town would entitle him to be remembered to-day. His life was fraught with many hardships, and that he met them with honor reflects credit on the ancient house from which he sprung. Dedication of the Tablet. The dedication of the tablet was brief but impressive and took place at high noon, immediately following the regular morning services at the Church. It began with the following prayer by the Rev. Dudley Boogher, Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church: "Our hearts turn to Thee, Our Father in Heaven, as we assemble here at this hour and on this sacred spot, in memory of one who served well this community in the days of its beginnings, and this church as vestryman, and whose life and public services challenged the admiration of the men of his day and generation. "A gallant soldier in his father's command in the land of his youth, he became a worthy and valued citizen in Colonial Virginia. Long may his memory live and inspire others to emulate his virtues. "May Thy richest blessing, Our Father, rest upon his descendants here gathered, and upon those whose presence was not made possible, yet whose interest is evident in this beautiful tablet now to be unveiled. "And now we would unite our hearts and voices in that model of all prayer: "Our Father who are in Heaven, Blessed be Thy name. Thy King dom come. Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And Thine is the Kingdom, and power and glory, for ever and ever. Amen." The Rector thereupon asked Colonel Hume to present the tablet. Lieu tenant-Colonel Edgar Erskine Hume, United States Army, said: "We have come to this old church to honor the memory of the founder of our family in the New World. He was a man who suffered much for his loyalty to the ancient Royal House of his native Scotland. He lived through great hardships in Britain and in Britain's most important colony and he came through it all with honor and with the respect of those among whom he established himself beyond the seas from the Tweedside of his birth. "George Hume, or Home, for he used both spellings. of. a name that is always pronounced Hume, was born at Wedderburn Castle in the county of Berwick, Scotland, on 30 May 1698. Wedderburn Castle is about a mile. and a half from Duns, the county town of Berwickshire. He was baptised in the parish of Duns on 4 January 1698-9, 0. S. (14 January 1699, N. S.). He was the second son of Sir George Hume of Wedderburn, Baronet, . being the only one of the six sons who left issue. With his father he par ticipated in the Rising of 1715, the ill-fated attempt to restore the House of Stuart to the throne. When this effort failed, both father and son were taken to London as prisoners and there sentenced to die for their loyalty to the dynasty which had ruled Scotland for so many centuries. The father was finally pardoned after the forfeiture of his lands, and the son spared because of his youth, for he was but seventeen when he took arms. At length, after imprisonment, he was permitted to come to Virginia in 1721. "Here in the colony of Virginia he sought a home. This was the colony which King Charles II called The Old Dominion, because of all his realms, only Virginia had refused to acknowledge Oliver Cromwell. We are proud of our name The Old Dominion. It was for a time the only land which acknowledged the Stuart Kings. "George Hume at length was appointed to both civil and military office under the Crown, and under the orders of the Virginia Assembly, composed Qf the King's Council and the House of Burgesses, he laid out this town of Fredericksburg in 1727. He was Vestryman of St. George's Parish, and in 1733 planned the Church. He died in Culpeper County in 1760. "With reverence we of the blood and race of this pioneer offer to this Church this bronze marker in honor of one of the earliest members of the Vestry and one who played his part in the founding of Fredericksburg. "The tablet likewise bears the name of his second son, Captain Francis [ 2 ] Hume of the Virginia State Line, who was one of the ongmal members of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia, founded here in Fredericksburg on 6 October 1783. We are persuaded that both father and son lived up to the motto of their family and were True to the End." The tablet was unveiled by Mrs. Milne-Home of Wedderburn, nee Margaret Florence, only child of Captain Arthur van Notten Pole, 13th Hussars and his wife, Margaret Louisa, eldest daughter of Sir John Dick Lauder, Baronet, and Lady Anne Dalrymple, daughter of the ninth Earl of Stair. Mrs. Milne-Home of Wedderburn is the wife of the late David Wil liam Milne-Home of Wedderburn Castle and Grange in the county of Ber wick, Scotland and Paxton House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. Mrs. Milne-Home of Wedderburn said: "It is a very great privilege for me to be present to-day with my kins men and kinswomen to honour the memory of Mr. George Home, and it is with deep sense of admiration and regard not only of him but of those who now represent him, that I shall have the honour of unveiling this tablet. "Before doing so I should like to obey what I am sure would be his wish and what is certainly my wish, and pray God to bless his descendants here and the descendants of his cousins in Scotland, and may He grant that the friendship between the branches continue and go on from strength to strength and from generation to generation." The green flag charged with the St. Andrew's Cross in yellow, replica of the famous Flodden Banner of the Homes of Wedderburn,* was drawn aside revealing the bronze tablet inscribed : *Thought to be the oldest existing Scottish battle flag, this banner hangs today in the hall at Wedderburn Castle "a silent yet telling reminder of those days of stress and storm in which our Border ancestry lived and died" (Col. David Milne-Home). It was borne by the Homes of Wedder burn at the battles of Flodden, 1513, and Dunbar, 1650. In both battles a Sir David Home of Wedderburn and his eldest son, George, were killed, and their bodies carried back to Wedderburn Castle wrapped in this banner which still shows stains of their blood. The design, a yellow saltire on a green field is a modification of the Scottish flag, a white saltire on a blue field. It has been suggested that the banner was originally of the Scottish colours, but has faded to its present shades with the passage of the cen turies. On the other hand the livery colours of the Homes are green and yellow, so that flag was probably always of its present hue. Certainly the banner does not look as though it had greatly faded. Of it a modern bard has written : "The Homes of old were warriors bold ; As e'er auld Scotland ken'd man; Their motto was Their Country's Cause, And True unto the End, man. This is the banner which they raised On Flodden's battle-field, man; Those noble men, their name be praised, They died ere they would yield, man." [ 3 ] IN MEMORY OF GEORGE HUME Born at Wedderburn Castle, Scotland, 1698 Died in Culpeper County, Virginia, 1760 Second but only son with issue of Sir George Hume of Wedderburn, Baronet and tenth baron of his line Served in his father's command in the Rising for King James VIII & III, 1715 Captured at Preston, England; inprisoned in the Marshalsea; but permitted to come to Virginia, 1721.