Capt James Gammell 1797-1893 James Gammell was the 4th child and 2nd son of Lt. General Andrew Gammell and Martha Stageldoir, and was born on 3 January 17971. We know nothing of his early life, nor any details of his education, and the first definite information we have is that he was gazetted as an Ensign in the 59th Foot in 1813 at the age of sixteen and a half2. It is understood that this commission was presented to him by Prince Frederick, Duke of York, who, as mentioned elsewhere was a friend of his father's3. Immediately on being commissioned, James proceeded to the Peninsula War and served in the Peninsula from December 1813 to the end of the war in April 1814. He fought at the battles of Nive4 and at the siege of Bayonne and the James as a young officer sortie from Bayonne in 18145 and received the Military General Service Medal 1793-1814, with a clasp for Nive. He became a Lieutenant in 18156, saw service with the Sicilian Regiment, 61st Foot, and 64th Foot7 and spent some years of his service in the West Indies, before finally retiring from the Army with the rank of Captain in the Gordon Highlanders (92nd Foot) in September 18258. In 1816, when he was nineteen, and soon after his father's death, his grandfather, James Gammell, the Banker, purchased for him the estate of Ardiffery near Cruden Bay in North Aberdeenshire. The purchase was made jointly, 'in life rent and fee respectively', which in fact meant that the income and title were vested in James, and only reverted to his grandfather in the event of the premature death of the young James. The estate of had no residence attached to it and consisted almost entirely of agricultural holdings9. A few years after he had bought Ardiffery for James, there was a serious quarrel between James and his grandfather concerning his marriage. His grandfather wished him to marry Charlotte, daughter of Lord Forbes, but it is reported that James flatly refused to do so, saying that the lady was ill-favoured, and that instead he intended to marry a beautiful Irish lady, Sydney Holmes whom he had met while serving in the Army in Ireland. Whether this was the reason why his younger brother inherited their grandfather's other landed properties rather than he, history does not relate, but it may be significant that he refrained from marrying Sydney Holmes during his grandfather's lifetime, although the wedding took place, either by accident or design, just a week after his grandfather's death10. The marriage of James to Sydney Holmes, who was the daughter of Frederick Holmes Esq, merchant in Dublin, took place on 21 September 182511. It was conducted by the Revd. E. Coates at Donaghmore Church in County Down, (Northern) Ireland, and after their honeymoon, they took up residence at a house called Beech Hill, in the same parish of Donaghmore in which they had been married, and there the first six of their ten children were born. Born Died James Stewart 21 September 1826 2 November 1899 Frederick Ernest 3 September 1827 23 February 1902 Harcourt Thomas 29 April 1829 25 September 1904 John Holmes Houston 12 September 1830 3 February 1902 Sydney Marion 12 November 1831 6 February 183712 William 11 or 12 July 183313 23 March 1882 Andrew Conway 15 January 1835 12 December 183514 Martha Janet 7 May 1836 31 July 1868 Andrew Conway 5 September 1837 25 December 183715 Albert 27 July 1840 14 June 1868 In 1834, James and his family moved to Edinburgh, and took up residence at 52 Inverleith Row. Presumably the move had something to do with the education of their children, as immediately on arrival in Edinburgh, the eldest sons were sent to a preparatory school in Circus Place, and later to Edinburgh Academy. Their last four children were born in Edinburgh16. In 1856/7, when the education of his children at Edinburgh Academy had been completed, James and his wife moved to Bath, where the climate was no doubt more congenial, and took up residence at 16 Grosvenor Place17. Whilst in Bath there is some evidence that he had an illegitimate daughter with a housemaid, Rebecca Rollston, who was working for the family living next door, at 17 Grosvenor Place18. The child, Mary Jane Rollston was born on 25 July 1862 in Clifton19 and baptised on 20 August 186220 (is that James’ name scratched out on the baptism record?). Mary was brought up by her grandparents in Claycoton, Northants21 and Rebecca Rollston married on 5 August 1879 and became Rebecca Dolby22, who received £50 in James’ will. James lived in Bath until he died on 23 September 1893, by which time he had reached the venerable age of 96. He is buried at Locksbrook St Saviour’s Cemetery in Bath but has no headstone23. His wife, Sydney, predeceased him by more than fifteen years, dying in Hampstead in on 27 February 187824 aged 80. She and five of their children are memorialised on a gravestone in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard, Edinburgh. At the time of his death, James' photograph appeared (full page) in the Admiralty & Horse Guards Gazette, under the title of; “Our Portrait Gallery No. 19 - The late Captain James Gammell”. There were evidently two reasons for this special honour, as the following quotations from the Gazette show. “This grand old officer was reputed to be the last commissioned veteran survivor of the Peninsula War in the British Service”, and “He served through all the Peninsula War….It seems that never having received his medal for his share in these operations having been brought recently by H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge to the notice of Her Majesty, she presented the veteran with her Jubilee Medal, in addition to the Peninsula decoration, accompanying the gift with an expression of warm appreciation of his worth, and the hope that he might long enjoy the consideration he merited”.25 In his later years James is reputed to have become rather cantankerous, to have quarrelled with his wife, and even to have thrown her out of his house. He is also said to have thrown a fine miniature of his wife by Cosway, on to the floor and stamped on it26. Although he never resided in Aberdeenshire, he became a Deputy Lieutenant of that county in 182627 and retained this position until his death. It was bestowed on him presumably on account of his ownership of the estate of Ardiffery, and possibly through the influence of the Duke of York, who had presented him with his original commission in the Army. In his will, he left practically all his estate amounting to nearly £60,000 to his third son Harcourt. His eldest son James Stewart is not mentioned in the will, presumably as he automatically inherited the entailed property of Ardiffery, and because this son had already inherited the estates of Drumtochty and Countesswells from his James (Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette) uncle, Andrew. James left his nephew Sydney Albert the sum of £3,000, and instructions to his son Harcourt to pay out to his brother Frederick (James’ second son) the sum of £70 annually. He also left several small legacies to the following people: Miss Sarah Elizabeth Jones, Mrs Rebecca Tolby, Mrs Sophia Peacock, Mrs Mary Ann Lauder, Mrs Jemima Heron, and Miss Maria Skipp. Except for Mrs Rebecca Tolby (a misspelling of Rebecca Dolby), formerly Rebecca Rollston (see above), we don’t know who these people were or why he left them money, but they may well have been former servants? Apart from a few other small payments to servants, the residue of his estate, as has been stated, went to Harcourt absolutely28. 1 The Sketch 1893-10-11 (Obituary); and Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette 1893-10-14 2 Caledonian Mercury 1813-10-18 3 The Sketch 1893-10-11 (Obituary) 4 The British Army against Napoleon facts, lists and Trivia (Burnham and McGuigan); and Orders and Medals Research Society Journal, March 2009 5 The Sketch 1893-10-11 (Obituary); and Orders and Medals Research Society Journal, March 2009 6 Caledonian Mercury 1815-04-17 7 Orders and Medals Research Society Journal, March 2009 8 The Sketch 1893-10-11 (Obituary); and Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette 1893-10-14 9 Information researched by Edward Gammell (dec’d) 10 Information researched by Edward Gammell (dec’d) 11 Belfast Chronicle 1825-09-26; and Scotlands People (Old Parish Registers Marriages 685/2 400 736 St Cuthbert's Page 736 of 737) 12 Gravestone in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard, Edinburgh; and Scotlands People (Old Parish Registers Births 685/2 350 677 St Cuthberts page 677 of 722) 13 Gravestone in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard, Edinburgh (12 July); and Scotlands People (Old Parish Registers Births 685/2 350 677 St Cuthberts page 677 of 722) (11 July) 14 Gravestone in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard, Edinburgh; and Scotlands People (Old Parish Registers Births 685/2 350 677 St Cuthberts page 677 of 722) 15 Gravestone in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard, Edinburgh; and Scotlands People (Old Parish Registers Births 685/2 350 677 St Cuthberts page 677 of 722) 16 Scotlands People (Old Parish Registers Births 685/2 350 677 St Cuthberts page 677 of 722) 17 Information researched by Edward Gammell (dec’d) 18 1861 Census; Class: RG 9; Piece: 1692; Folio: 87; Page: 24; GSU roll: 542852; and information from Mary Lawson (dec’d) 19 General Register Office, birth certificate 20 Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1918 Record (St Andrew Montpelier) 21 The National Archives; 1871 England Census; Class: RG10; Piece: 3186; Folio: 25; Page: 3 22 Bristol Archives; Bristol, England; Bristol Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: P/StA/R/4/k 23 Locksbrook St Saviour’s Cemerery records, plot DB 249 24 Gravestone in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard, Edinburgh; and Scotlands People (Old Parish Registers Births 685/2 350 677 St Cuthberts page 677 of 722) 25 Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette 1893-10-14 26 Information researched by Edward Gammell (dec’d) 27 Caledonian Mercury 1826 03-27 28 Scotlands People 1894 Gammell, James (Wills and testaments Reference SC70/6/53, non-Scottish Court) .