D is for Durham Light Infantry

Major George Champion Crespigny, 68th Foot, was killed on 30 July 1813 in the Battle of the Pyrenees during the Peninsular War against Napoleon's forces in Spain.

Major George Champion de Crespigny (1788–1813) by British School Date painted: c.1810 Oil on canvas, 76 x 65 cm Collection: Durham Light Infantry Museum from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/major-george-champion-de-crespigny-17881813-46147 retrieved 24 March 2014

George was the son of Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 - 1803) and his fourth wife Dorothea née Scott (1765-1837).  He was born in 1783 at Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk. He was the tenth of fourteen children. Three of his older siblings died before he was born.

On May 19 1804, at the age of twenty-one,  George became an ensign, a regiment's lowest-ranking officer,  in the 13th Regiment of Foot by purchase.

Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 15702, 15 May 1804, page 622

George's father Philip had died the year before, on 1 January 1803.  His mother married Sir John Keane on 27 March 1804. In 1804 his surviving half-siblings and siblings were:

• Philip (1765-1851) was a civilian prisoner of the French from 1803 to 1811.
• Anne (1768-1844) had married Hugh Barlow of Pembrokeshire Wales in 1791.
• Maria (1776-1858) married John Horsley, a captain in the Royal Horse Guards, in July 1804.
• Fanny (1779-1865) remained unmarried.
• Eliza (1784-1831) eloped with Richard Hussey Vivian (1775-1842) and they married at Gretna Green in September 1804. Vivian, later Lord Vivian, was a major in the 7th Light Dragoons. Vivian was soon to be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
• Charles Fox (1785-1875) had been at Cambridge University in 1803. 

As a younger son, George was probably destined for a career in the church, army, navy or possibly  law. Although his father had been a lawyer, George chose the army. George had not been to Cambridge like his brother, so perhaps George was not suited to the career of a lawyer.

An ensign was the most junior commissioned officer. In 1871 the rank was replaced with 2nd lieutenant. The duties of the officer included carrying the regimental colours, the flag or ensign of the regiment.


In May 1812 George de Crespigny, Captain from the 68th Foot, became a captain in the 89th Foot. He exchanged with Captain Peter le Mesurier. (The Royal Military Chronicle VOL.IV May,1812 By The Duke of York pages 476-7)

On 17 October 1812 George, promoted by purchase to be Major, was back with the 68th Foot. ( The London Gazette Publication date: 10 October 1812 Issue: 16657 Page: 2065)

John Green, late of the 68th Durham Light Infantry, that is the 68th Regiment of Foot, wrote of his experiences in the Peninsular War from 1806 to 1815.

Green writes of the unnecessary strictness of a major when he, Green, was ill in the middle of July 1813.

Green, John. 'Vicissitudes of a Soldier's Life', 1827. Louth. page 171 retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/vicissitudesaso00greegoog#page/n185/mode/2up

The major is almost certainly George de Crespigny. Green records the death of the Major ten pages later in his account of this part of the campaign.

Major Crespigny was killed on the 30th of July. ( The London Gazette Publication date: 16 August 1813 Issue: 16763 Page: 1609)

John Green wrote of the 30th of July and the events leading up to it including "Pampeluna" (as the siege of Pamplona was called by Green), the division being stationed at "Marcelain" (Marcaláin is 11 kilometres or 2 1/2 hours walk north of Pamplona).

Green, John. 'Vicissitudes of a Soldier's Life', 1827. Louth. pages 179-181 retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/vicissitudesaso00greegoog#page/n193/mode/2up

Another modern account of the 68th Foot's action may be found in "Notes on Wellington’s Peninsular Regiments: 68th Regiment of Foot (Durham Light)" by Ray Foster at http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/Britain/Infantry/WellingtonsRegiments/c_68thFoot.html

21st June 1813 (after the battle at Vittoria)                                                                                                                
Present after battle (PAB) 484

Grant has been badly wounded so that Inglis will return for a while to hold the brigade and in fact will have it for a considerable time onward. There is much marching and counter-marching about the foothills of the Pyrenees in the Bastan Region during the next month ending with a night march in teeming rain to come up to the concentration of the army about Sorauren, for a while during all of this Inglis will be in charge of the whole of 7th Division but, when the CIC decides for the offensive on 30th July Dalhousie is back in command ready to send Inglis and his men forward and down into the Ulzama valley just west of Sorauren village, they meet General Vandermaesen's  men who put up a stout resistance trading volley for volley in a sustained fire-fight which is only broken off when Soult's men are streaming off in rear of these others who effectively become a rearguard as the whole enemy array attempts to disengage, going off to the rear at some pace. The Major of 2/68th one George Crespigny is shot through the throat and killed during the pursuit, a great relief it seems to most of his junior officers and men who saw him as a martinet, Captain Henry Irwin and Ensign John Connell fell seriously wounded and Lieutenant James Leith lightly so, of the men, three died and another sixteen were injured so that:

30th July 1813 (after the second battle at Sorauren)                                                                                                
PAB 461

 Foster's theory of the reasons for the relief felt by de Crespigny's men on his death is based largely on Green's book. (email 6 July 2014)


Additional sources

• On younger sons at the time of Jane Austen:  Handler, Richard, and Daniel Alan Segal. "Jane Austen and the Fiction of Culture." Google Books. Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Web. 04 Apr. 2015. <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ItlrTo8mqSgC&pg=PA48&>
• Durham Light Infantry Museum frequently asked questions http://www.dlidurham.org.uk/Pages/HistoryFAQs.aspx 

Trove Tuesday: Cricket and the Duke of Edinburgh's visit in 1867

Duke of Edinburgh about 1867

In 1858 Alfred (1844-1900), the second son of Queen Victoria, joined the navy as a midshipman. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1863 and three years later, in 1866, gained the rank of captain, appointed to command the steam frigate HMS Galatea. In the same year Alfred was made Duke of Edinburgh in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

The Galatea sailed for the Mediterranean in February 1867 and then to Brazil on June 12 for a state visit to the emperor of Brazil. After two months at the Cape, the Galatea arrived at Adelaide on 31 October 1867 and commenced a royal tour of Australia. The Galatea visited Melbourne, Tasmania, Sydney and Brisbane.

On the Galatea were two of my relatives from two different branches of my family tree: Sub-lieutenant Guy Mainwaring (1847-1909) and Midshipman Philip Augustus Champion de Crespigny (1850-1912). When the ship arrived in Adelaide, she had 540 men aboard: 42 officers of all ranks, 46 boys, 70 marines and 382 blue jackets.¹

The Royal navy frigate HMS Galatea sits moored in Farm Cove 1868. Picture: Daniel Solander Library at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. retrieved from http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au

The Galatea fielded a cricket team and Philip de Crespigny played with them in Adelaide on 8 November 1867 against the members of the South Australian Cricket Club. The South Australians won the game but the commentary favourably noted de Crespigny's bowling and batting.²

In March 1869 the men of the Galatea, including Philip de Crespigny, played against a team of Aboriginal cricketers. The game was over two days and was a draw with the Aboriginal team scoring 331 for 9 wickets against 293 with the loss of five wickets.³

Three masted sailing ship H.M.S. Galatea, ca. 1868 from the Archer Family Photograph Album now in the collection of the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/39932

Mainwaring did not play cricket but did perform in the Galatea's theatrical entertainment. For example when the Galatea was due to depart Sydney in March 1869, Lieutenant Mainwaring appeared as Gimlet in a comedy performed for several hundred guests. The Sydney Morning Herald reported it as a "highly creditable performance".⁴ He also appeared as the Ancient Mariner.⁵

A fellow officer, Lord Charles Beresford, danced the hornpipe. Later in the voyage while in Hong Kong, Guy Mainwaring and Charles Beresford were photographed together in costume. (This is the Charles Beresford who as Admiral became notorious for his bitter dispute with Sir John (Jackie) Fisher, First Sea Lord. )

Lord Charles Beresford and Guy Mainwaring, photographed in Hong Kong in 1869 while serving on HMS Galatea retrieved from the Library of Nineteenth Century Photography . Looking at other photographs of Beresford, it would seem that the bearded man is Guy Mainwaring.

Guy Mainwaring was my third great grand uncle. Philip Augustus Champion de Crespigny was my fourth cousin three times removed.

Guy Mainwaring retired from the Royal Navy with the rank of captain in 1895.

Philip was promoted to Lieutenant on 8 August 1874. As late as 1903 he appeared in the Navy List still with the rank of lieutenant but on part pay. He played first class cricket in England and his obituary in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack mentioned that he played played for Hampshire v. Somerset at Bournemouth in 1880, scoring 2 and 3. It also mentions that he was on the Galatea.

The Royal visit was extensively reported. There are over 6,000 newspaper articles currently on the National Library of Australia's digitised newspaper collection at http://trove.nla.gov.au which mention the visit of the Galatea and the Duke of Edinburgh in the late 1860s.

..........

Notes
<sup>1. H.M.S.S. GALATEA. (1867, October 31). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), p. 2. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39180042 ↩
2. DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S VISIT TO ADELAIDE.—The Cricket match. (1867, November 26). Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers (Melbourne, Vic. : 1867 - 1875), p. 10. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60819944 ↩
3. CRICKET. (1869, March 4). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 5. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5817582 ↩
4. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH IN SYDNEY. (1869, April 21). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13179267 ↩
5. THE GALATEA FETE. (1869, April 15). Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1853 - 1872), p. 3. Retrieved July 14, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63514477 ↩</sup>