George Davidson Bt. Major 42nd Regiment of Foot
written by Isabel Hatcher (first cousin, fourth removed) with additional research and words by Peter Thorn (local historian and military researcher)
George Davidson was born on 30 November 1776 second son of 12 children of George Davidson and Ann Gordon.1 His father was the bank agent for the Bank of Scotland in Huntly, Aberdeenshire and in 1801 lived in a house with 20 windows, keeping 1 carriage and six horses.2 Banking must have paid well, even in those days!
George Davidson was commissioned as an Ensign in the 100th Regiment of Foot (The Gordon Highlanders, later renumbered the 92nd)on the 11th February 1794.3 He served with the regiment in Gibraltar and Corsica from 1794 to 1798 and became a Lieutenant during that period.4 The regiment returned to the British Isles and helped suppress the Irish Rebellion of 1798/99.
The 92nd then took part in the Helder expedition to the Netherlands in 1799 and gained their first battle honour at Egmont-op-Zee where the regiment suffered 323 (45%) casualties. This battle was notable as one of the rare recorded occasions where “bayonets were crossed” on the open battlefield. Davidson did not take part in the Egyptian campaign 1800-01 but was recruiting for the regiment in Huntly. The regiment returned from Egypt in 1802, first to Ireland and then to Glasgow where Davidson may have rejoined them. He was promoted to Captain in July 1803.5 The 92nd were in danger of being disbanded during the temporary peace with France but were reprieved.
Davidson went on half-pay from February 1804 and returned to Huntly. He may have done this because his father died in 1803 and Captain Davidson, now head of the family, may have felt it his duty to return home to sort out his father’s affairs. With the patronage of the Duke of Gordon he became Major-Commandant of the Strathbogie, Huntly and Drumblade Volunteers from 1804 to 1807.6
On the 25th September 1807 Davidson joined the 42nd Foot (The Royal Highlanders or Black Watch) as a Captain.7 In September 1809 he travelled with the 2nd battalion (2/42nd) to Portugal and was present at the battle of Bussaco in 1810. 8 He joined the 1st battalion (1/42nd) in the British Isles in 1811 before travelling with that battalion back out to replace the 2nd battalion and in time for the battle of Salamanca in 1812. Davidson was slightly wounded on the 19th September 1812 during the storming of the St. Michael hornwork during the unsuccessful siege of Burgos.9
Sometime between February and September 1813, it is not clear from the records exactly when, Davidson returned to Britain to become the senior Captain in the 2nd battalion. Thus we cannot be certain if Davidson was present with the 1/42nd at the battles of Vitoria or the battle of Sorauren. He definitely was not with the army when it invaded France in late 1813. He received Brevet to Major in the Army in June 1813 (but remaining a Captain in the regiment).10 Davidson transferred back to the 1/42nd as the 3rd senior Captain in the regiment when the 2nd battalion was disbanded in November 1814. In May 1815 the 42nd was moved to France for the Waterloo campaign.
In the early hours (2-4 am) of 16 June 1815, the regiment left Brussels with pipes playing in response to Napoleon’s invasion of Belgium. They marched 30 miles to Quatre Bras arriving there between 3 and 4pm. They were immediately thrown into battle and as they advanced through the tall crops they were surprised by French cavalry. The grenadier and light companies were cut to pieces and the regiment’s commander, Lt-Col Macara was killed. Command passed to Major Dick who hastily formed the rest of the regiment into a defensive square. Blood loss from a musket ball wound forced Dick to hand over command to Captain Davidson. Although suffering from a wound Davison commanded the regiment until late in the day when a second wound forced him to retire from the field.11
The important part taken in the action of Quatre Bras by the Black Watch could not be told better than in the simple words of one who was present, and did his own share of the work, Sergeant James Anton of the 42nd:–
“ …. Of all descriptions of cavalry, certainly the lancers seem the most formidable to infantry, as the lance can be projected with considerable precision, and with deadly effect, without bringing the horse to the point of the bayonet; and it was only by the rapid and well-directed fire of musketry that these formidable assailants were repulsed. Colonel Dick assumed the command on the fall of Sir Robert Macara, and was severely wounded. Brevet-major Davidson succeeded, and was mortally wounded; to him succeeded Brevet-major Campbell. Thus, in a few minutes we had been placed under four different commanding-officers. An attempt was now made to form us in line; for we stood mixed in one irregular mass, –grenadier, light, and battalion companies,–a noisy group; such is the inevitable consequence of a rapid succession of commanders. ….”12
The wounded Davidson would have made the long journey to Brussels either on foot, horseback or in a wagon depending on the nature of his wound. He may have returned to his former billet in Brussels as other wounded officers have described or he may have ended up in a hospital mixed with other ranks as some horrified observers later reported. He died as a result of his wound on the 7th August seven weeks after the battle according to one report or on 19 July 1815 at Antwerp according to another.13
Being an officer he probably would have been buried in a marked grave but no trace or record of this remains. However there is memorial, the Waterloo Cairn, on the hill of Tor Alvie on the Kinrara estate 3 miles south of Aviemore. The was erected by the Marquis of Huntly in August 1815 (possibly one of the earliest Waterloo monuments) in memory of Lt-Col Macara and Cameron of the 42nd and 92nd Highlanders who were both killed at Quatre Bras and “their brave countrymen”.
In the Army Estimates for 1816, 1817 and finally 1818, an annual grant of £100, effective 20 June 1815, is made to Jean Davidson widow of Major George Davidson of the 42nd Foot who died of the wounds he received at Quatre Bras, leaving her with one son, in indigent circumstances.14
George had married Jean Forsyth, daughter of Alexander Forsyth and Margaret Dunbar, on 29 October 1801 in Huntly, Aberdeenshire.15 They had a son, Dunbar Davidson, born in Huntly on 22 December 1803 and baptised on 24 December 1803.16 Dunbar died in Edinburgh of a decline aged 14 on 17 January 1818.17 Jean married again on 18 April 1820 to William Wemyss who was subsequently Depute Commissary General at Sydney, New South Wales until 1828 when they both returned to Edinburgh.18 She died 13 January 1860 in Edinburgh.19
George Davidson's Waterloo Medal was passed to his younger sister Violet Davidson . Her grandson, the Rev Meredith Sharpe presented the medal and a miniature portrait of George to the town of Huntly.
Lenzie, Scotland
June 2015
References
1 Parish records
2 Aberdeenshire Tax Assessment, October 1801
3 London Gazette 19 July 1794
4News from Corsica, Aberdeen Journal
5London Gazette 4 June 1803
6War Office notice 24 March 1804, Caledonian Mercury/Aberdeen Journal 28 August 1805/
7British Army service records
8British Army service records
9British Army service records
10Waterloo Roll Call, 42nd Regt of Foot/War Office notice 7 June 1813, Caledonian Mercury
11The History of the Black Watch (into which the 42nd was integrated)
12Sergeant James Anton's 'Retrospect of a Military Life'
13The Battle of Waterloo, John Booth/Also Scots Magazine 19 July 1815 at Antwerp
14Army Estimates 1816, 1817 and 1818
15Parish records and newspaper reports
16Parish records
17Blackwoods Magazine/Caledonian Mercury 29 January 1818
18Australian National Dictionary of Biography
19Scottish civil registers