Tour Scotland Video Lieutenant John Irving Gravestone Dean Cemetery Edinburgh

Tour Scotland video of the Lieutenant John Irving gravestone on ancestry visit to Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland. Lt John Irving of HMS Terror, born 1822, died 1848 or 1849, died on King William Island as part of the Franklin Expedition searching for the Northwest Passage and whose body was found some 30 years later and brought back to Edinburgh for burial, re-interred 7th of November 1881. HMS Terror was a bomb vessel designed by Sir Henry Peake and constructed by the Royal Navy by Robert Davy, Topsham, Devon. The ship, variously listed as being of either 326 or 340 tons, carried two mortars, one 13 inch and one 10 inch. The ship took part in the Ross expedition of 1839 to 1843. Terror was outfitted with steam engines, which were ex London and Greenwich Railway steam locomotives. Rated at 25 horsepower the engine could propel the ship at 4 knots. Twelve day's supply of coal was carried. Iron plating was added to the hull for the voyage to the Arctic with Sir John Franklin in overall command of the expedition in Erebus, and Terror again under the command of Captain Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier. The expedition was ordered to gather magnetic data in the Canadian Arctic and complete a crossing of the Northwest Passage, which had already been charted from both the east and west but never entirely navigated.

This interesting surname, with variant spellings Irvine, Ervin, Urvine, Erving etc., is of Scottish territorial origin either from Irving, the name of an old parish in Dumfriesshire, or from Irvine in Strathclyde.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Tour Scotland Video David Octavius Hill Monument Dean Cemetery Edinburgh

Tour Scotland travel video of the David Octavius Hill monument on ancestry, genealogy, history visit and trip to Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland. David, born 1802, died 1870, was an artist and photography pioneer The monument is by his second wife, Amelia Robertson Paton, born 1820, died 1904. David Octavius Hill was born in 1802 in Perth, Perthshire. His father, a bookseller and publisher, helped to re-establish Perth Academy and David was educated there as were his brothers. He formed Hill & Adamson studio with the engineer and photographer Robert Adamson between 1843 and 1847 to pioneer many aspects of photography in Scotland.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Tour Scotland Video Colonel Robert A. Smith Monument Dean Cemetery Edinburgh

Tour Scotland video of the Colonel Robert A. Smith monument on ancestry visit to Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland. On September 14, 1862, Scottish born Colonel Smith was ordered to capture a vital bridge during the Battle of Munfordville. After three hours of combat, Confederate losses were 40 dead and 211 wounded. Smith himself was mortally wounded and in great pain until he died several days later. The Battle of Munfordville, also known as the Battle of Green River, was an engagement in Kentucky, USA, during the American Civil War. Victory there allowed the Confederates to temporarily strengthen their hold on the region and impair Union supply lines. In late August 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg's army left Chattanooga, Tennessee and marched into Kentucky. Pursued by Major General. Don Carlos Buell's Union Army, Bragg approached Munfordville, a station on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the location of the railroad bridge crossing Green River, in mid-September. Colonel John T. Wilder commanded the Union garrison at Munfordville, which consisted of three regiments behind extensive fortifications. Wilder refused Brigadier General James R. Chalmers's demand to surrender on September 14. Union forces repulsed Chalmers's attacks that day, forcing the Confederates to conduct siege operations September 15 and September 16. Late on September 16, realizing that Buell's forces were near and not wishing to kill or injure innocent civilians, the Confederates sent another demand for surrender. Wilder entered enemy lines under a flag of truce, and Confederate Major General Simon B. Buckner escorted him to view the Confederate strength to convince him resistance was futile. Realizing the odds he faced, Wilder agreed to surrender. The formal ceremony took place the next day. With the railroad and bridge, Munfordville was an important transportation center, and Confederates' control hampered the movement of Union supplies and men. Three places in the National Register of Historic Places are related to the battle. The entire battlefield is listed in the National Register as the Battle of Munfordville Site. The Unknown Confederate Soldier Monument in Horse Cave marks the grave of a Louisiana soldier accidentally killed while clearing timber for the Confederate advance. The Colonel Robert A. Smith Monument is the only one still on the battlefield.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Tour Scotland Video John Leishman Gravestone Dean Cemetery Edinburgh

Tour Scotland video of the John Leishman gravestone on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit and trip to Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland. Writer to the Signet, born 1801, died 1861, and of his wife Hannah Elizabeth Weatherley. Solicitors in Scotland were previously known as " writers "; Writers to the Signet were the solicitors entitled to supervise use of the King's Signet, the private seal of the early Kings of Scots. Records of that use date back to 1369. In 1532, the Writers to the Signet were included as Members in the newly established College of Justice, along with the Faculty of Advocates and the Clerks of the Court of Session. The Society was established in 1594, when the King's Secretary, as Keeper of the Signet, gave commissions to a Deputy Keeper and 18 other writers.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.

Tour Scotland Video Major General William John Gairdner Gravestone Dean Cemetery Edinburgh

Tour Scotland travel video of the Major General William John Gairdner gravestone on ancestry, genealogy, history visit and trip to Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh. 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.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.