HLI Chronicle 1907 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

54 HIGHLAND I,IGHT 'INFANTRY CHRONICLE.
Cromarty tenants, giving his own receipt
against their being required to pay again to
the Forfeited Estates Commissioners, and
personally carried the money to her ladyship
in London. It was in acknowledgment of this
service that Lord Macleod afterwards appointed
him chaplain to his newly-raised
regiment-Macleod's Highlanders.
It was this Colin who first fully recognised
the health-giving properties of. the Strathpeffer
mineral springs, and who, by erecting
a covered shed over one of them, placed it, for
the first time, in a condition to benefit the
suffering thonsands who have since derived so
much advantage from it. Shortly before his
death in 1801, at the very old age of ninetyfive
years, he conducted the opening services
of the parish church of Ferintosh, and contributed
largely to the funds for its erection,
to commemorate the saving of his wife's life
when she was washed ashore on her horse's
back, near the site of the church, when her
father and brother perished by drowning,
while crossing the River Conon, opposite
Dingwall, in 1759.
The Rev. Colin married, secondly, in 1754,
his cousin Mary, eldest daughter of Donald
Mackenzie, Balnabeen, and by her, who died
in 1828, had issue-
Cl} Roderick, his heir and successor.
(2) Donald, who was educated at the
University of Edinburgh, and afterwards
appointed parish minister of Fodderty and
chaplain to the 71st Highlanders, his father
having resigned both offices in his favour.
He was a noted humourist, and said, by those
who knew him best, to be much more at heart
a soldier than a minister.
A Hundred Years Ago.
'AT the commencement of 1806 the 2nd Battalion
of the 718t was quartered in Glasgow,
under command of Lord George Beresford,
and continued to be particularly successful
in recruiting, owing to the exertions of Major
Archibald Campbell.
That duelling was still quite common in the
Army then can be seen from the following
extract from the "Caledonian Mercury" of
17th April :-" On Sunday morning two
officers of the 71st Regiment, in garrison there,
exchanged a shot on the Green, Glasgow,
when one of them was wounded, but not
dangerously, in the thigh." .
In April a strong draft of about 200 men.
was sent off to reinforce the 1st Battalion,
supposed still to be in South Africa. They
embarked at Leith for Gravesend on' the
17th, under command of Captain William
Brookman.
We quote the following account of their
send-off :-" On Friday, the 11th inst., the '
Light Company of the 2nd Battalion 71st
Regiment of Foot, in garrison at Glasgow,
presented Captain Brookman with a handsome
snuff-box, with the figure of a Highlander
engraved upon it, as a te&,timony of respect for
him as a gentleman and an offic~r.~. Upo~.his
receiving the box, he addressed f!t&t;"COmpany
in a highly appropriate speech, .4t the conclusion
of which the men gave him three hearty
cheers, and afterwards carried him upon: their
shoulders round the barrack-yard amidst continued
huzzas. We understand Captain Brookman
immediately sets off for the Cape of Good
Hope, and that 200 of that excellent Regiment
go out with him, having volunteered for
active service." -" Caledonian Mercury,", April
17, 1806.
The above is a pleasing proof of the good
feeling which at all times existed between
officers and men of the 718t.
In this year an augmentation was made in
the pay of the Army, which was raised according
to rank as follows :-Lieutenant-Colonels,
from 15/11 to 17/-; majors, from 14/1 to 16/-;
captains, from 9/5 to 10/6 (2/- allowed for
brevets)_; lieutenants, from 5/8 to 6/6 (lieu­