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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 287. 



William Billinnrs of Fairfield Head, near Long- 

 nor, in Staffordshire, died 1791, aged one hundred 

 and fourteen : long supposed to be the only sur- 

 vivor of the great duke's army ; died in a cottage 

 not a hundred yards from the place of his nativity. 



John Jackson, of Burnew Castle, gunner ; 

 served in nineteen actions ; died ] 799, aged one 

 hundred and seventeen. 



Ambrose Bennett, of Tetbury, in Gloucester- 

 shire; sixty years a private soldier; died 1800, 

 aged one hundred and six. 



Henry Francesco, of White Hall, near New- 

 York, died 1820, aged one hundred and thirty- 

 four. This remarkable case is mentioned in Silli- 

 man's Tour between Hartford and Quebec^ in 1819, 

 ■where he is described as a Frenchman ; but he 

 may with fairness be claimed as the last relic of 

 the army of Marlborough, for he was not only a 

 native of England, but practised as a drummer at 

 the coronation of Queen Anne. 



The last surviving seaman, who served in Anne's 

 reign, was J. Jennings, of Gosport, who died 1814, 

 at the age of one hundred and nine. 



Sheriffmuir, 1715, or the Rebellion of the elder 

 Pretender. — Alexander Campbell, of Kincardine; 

 who, at the age of sixteen, fought under Lord 

 Ross; lived till 1816, at which time he was one 

 hundred and seventeen years old. A year before 

 his death, he put himself to school to the Gaelic 

 Society, and learned to spell, and lost his sight to- 

 gether. One of his latest acts was to walk to the 

 residence of Lord Ashburton, who presented him 

 ■with as many shillings as he had lived years. In 

 his dress, he steadily adhered to the kilt, and 

 always walked very erect, with his neck and 

 breast bare. 



Dettingen, 1743. — Lieut.-Colonel Sir William 

 Innes, of Balvenie, Ipswich, baronet. On that 

 occasion he fought as a volunteer in the life- 

 guards. His death occurred in 1817, at the age 

 of one hundred. 



In the following year died another veteran, who 

 survived the same fight seventy-five years. This 

 •was John Reid, of Delnies, near Nairn, of the 

 second battalion of Royal Scots, aged one hundred 

 and four years. He also served at Fontenoy, 

 CuUoden, and Quebec. He never required glasses 

 to assist his sight, though he spent much of his 

 later years in reading, principally the Bible. 



Fontenoy, 1745. — Edmund Barry, of Water- 

 grass Hill, in Ireland, died 1822, aged one hun- 

 dred and thirteen. He was six feet two in height, 

 and walked well to the last. 



Coupled with his name, is that of the Amazon 

 Phoebe Hessel, who merits a more lengthened 

 notice. Living at Brighton, her case became 

 known to George IV., then Prince Regent, who 

 thereupon sent to ask her what sum of money 

 would render her comfortable ? " Half-a-guinea 



a week," replied old Phoebe, " will make me as 

 happy as a princess." This, therefore, by his ma- 

 jesty's command, was regularly paid her till the 

 day of her death ; which took place at Brighton, 

 December 12, 1821, when she had attained the 

 age of one hundred and eight years. Her monu- 

 ment in the churchyard states, that she was born 

 at Chelsea in 1713; that she served for many 

 years as a private soldier in the fifth regiment of 

 foot in different parts of Europe, and received a 

 bayonet wound in the arm at Fontenoy. 



CuUoden, 1746, and the Rebellion of the younger 

 Pretender. — Here we must distinguish between 

 the contending parties ; and first, for the king's 

 soldiers : — 



William Broughton, of Neston, died in 1816, 

 aged one hundred and six. He remained a healthy 

 and industrious labourer till his end. He used to 

 call himself " one of King George's, hard bargains," 

 having drawn his pension more than sixty years. 



William Gillespie, of Rothwell, in Dumfries, 

 died 1818, aged one hundred and two. He be- 

 longed to the Enniskillen Dragoons. At Preston 

 Pans he saved a stand of colours, and ran with it 

 to Colonel Gardiner, who he found had just re- 

 ceived his death-wound. 



The three following were adherents of Charles 

 Edward : — 



Gillies McKechnie, of Gourock, who died in 1814, 

 aged one hundred and four, having but a short 

 time previously declared that he was still ready to 

 shed his blood in the same cause. 



John Eraser, a native of Strathspey, who died 

 at Dundee in 1817, aged one hundred. 



Grant, living on the estates of the Hon. 



W. Maule, near Montrose, presented a memorial 

 to the king through Sir B. Bloomfield, soliciting a 

 pension ; and stating, among other arguments, 

 that if not the oldest of his majesty's loyal sub- 

 jects, he was at all events the oldest of his ma- 

 jesty's enemies ; having fought at CuUoden Muir 

 in the behalf of Charles Stuart, and being now 

 [1835?] one hundred and eight years of age. 

 King William immediately ordered him 1/. a week; 

 and the same to be continued to his daughter who 

 attended him (herself being seventy), should she 

 survive. 



Taking of Quebec, 1759, by Wolfe. — James 

 Stuart, of Tweedmouth, commonly called " the 

 last of the Stuarts," recently living, at the age of 

 one hundred and fifteen. For sixty years, and 

 more, he frequented the "Borders" as a wander- 

 ing minstrel ; and had many a tale to tell of the 

 "Young Chevalier," with whom he had drunk 

 wine, and to whom it is supposed he was dis- 

 tantly related. He appears to have served both 

 on land and sea. His strength was prodigious. 



Abraham Miller, living so recently as 1852 

 among the Indians in Grey-township, Simcoe 



