Tour Scotland video of the Major General William John Gairdner gravestone on ancestry visit to Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was born in 1789 and died in 1861 aged 72. A sculpture of his hat under a canopy, with his sword at the base. Jane Wishart, his wife, was born in 1822 and died in 1894 aged 72. William John Gairdner was born in September 1789, the son of Alexander Gairdner of Ladykirk, Markton, Ayrshire. Appointed a Cadet in the Honourable East India Company’s forces in 1807, he arrived in India in October 1808 and was posted to the 10th Native Infantry as an Ensign. Quickly in action against the Bhattis in the following year, Gairdner was transferred as an Ensign to the 2/10th Native Infantry for operations in the Oudh in 1813, seeing action in Rewah and at the storming of Etah, where he was wounded. Then in 1816, having been advanced to Lieutenant, he fought with the 2nd Brigade, Left Column in operations of the Nepal War; and in the same year he was also witnessed the Bareilly insurrection. Gairdner was Adjutant of the 2/10th Native Infantry from March 1817 to April 1824, a period that encompassed further active service in the Third Mahratta War, and, having transferred to the 14th Native Infantry in May 1824, he served in the First Burma War and was present at the engagements at Donabew on 2 April 1825 and at Prome on 1 December of the same year, latterly as a temporary Staff Assistant Commissary-General to Sir A. Campbell’s force. He became a Deputy Assistant Commissary-General in August 1831, was advanced to Major in June 1835 and returned home to Scotland on furlough 1836 to 1840. Back in India, Gairdner was advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in January 1842 and appointed to the command of the 14th Native Infantry, which regiment he led in the Gwalior operations of the following year, not least at Maharajpoor; and again, between 1845 and 1846, he commanded the regiment in the First Sikh War and was present at Ferozeshuhur; his C.B. Military Companion’s breast badge, was gazetted in April 1846. Transferring to the 16th Native Infantry, Gairdner’s final stint of active service was against the Rajah of Sikkim’s forces in 1850; he was appointed Commanding Officer of the 63rd Native Infantry. soon after his advancement to full Colonel in September 1852 but returned home on furlough in the same year and died at Strathtyrum House, St. Andrews, Fife in February 1861. His advancement to Major-General dated from November 1854.
The Gairdner surname is of early medieval English and French origin, and is from occupational name derived from the Middle English and Old Northern French " gardin ", garden, itself a diminutive of the Germanic word, gard, an enclosure. The function of the gardinier, or jardiniere in modern French, of medieval times was an important one, since he was responsible for cultivating edible produce in an orchard or kitchen garden, what would now be a market gardener. The use of the word gardener, referring to one who tends ornamental lawns and flower beds is a much later application. Richard Gardiner was listed as a seaman aboard the Mayflower in 1620, which sailed for the New World. One Peter Gardner was one of the first emigrants to the New Virginia Colony in America in April 1635, leaving London, England, on the Elizabeth under Mr. William Staggs. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William le Gardinier, which was dated 1199.
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