Thurso soldier injured six times in the Battle of Waterloo lived to 82
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Thurso's Heritage by a Thirsa Loon
On June 16, 1793, at Aimster, Thurso, Alexander Davidson, a farmer, and his wife Euphemia (née McKay) welcomed a newborn to the world, with the birth of their son Benjamin.
Growing up, Benjamin apprenticed as a tailor in Thurso. But a different destiny called the 5ft 7¾in young man, with brown eyes and hair, a long face and a fresh complexion.
At 18, he enlisted in the army, initially in the Ross-shire Militia in 1811. On January 4, 1812, he joined the 79th Regiment of Foot at Portsmouth – in which he was the master tailor. However, this position certainly didn’t mean he didn’t see any action.
Fast-forward to May 1815, he found himself in Belgium, right in the thick of the climactic battles at Quatre Bras and Waterloo; marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars and shattering Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s dreams of European conquest. Two armies of the Seventh Coalition defeated the French.
Abandoning his broken army, Napoleon returned to Paris on June 21 and abdicated the following day. One of these coalitions was a British-led force with units from Britain, the Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, and Nassau, under the command of the Duke of Wellington.
The Battle of Waterloo was a violent storm of death and bravery. The total of combined casualties saw around 50,000 killed or wounded. Of the 675 men of Benjamin’s regiment, 103 died, while 353 were wounded, of which Benjamin was one on June 16.
He was injured not once, but three times, and only then he was forced to quit the ranks and retreat. However, as he was going to the rear, a bullet from a French musket pierced both thighs, wounding him twice more. This was followed by another agonising wound, when a shell fired from a cannon, exploding near him, grazing his head – smoothing his skull as if it were “glass”. Despite enduring six wounds in a single battle, Benjamin lived to tell the tale.
Returning to Britain, Benjamin was honourably discharged with good conduct in 1818, with a 6-pence daily pension, and an additional 6 pence from the Kinloch Bequest – for poor and disabled Scots soldiers and sailors.
A few years later, his Waterloo valour was acknowledged by another 6 pence. Back in Thurso, he returned from soldier to sewing for over 35 years, carrying on his tailoring, thrilling listeners with riveting war accounts that were described as “a treat”.
His personal life was also somewhat eventful. A year after his military discharge, on June 30, 1820, he married Margaret McPherson in Thurso. This was followed by a second marriage to Janet Mill in Gerston, Halkirk on October 10, 1823, and later, a third marriage to Mary Calder in Thurso on May 10, 1838.
Fatherhood graced him five times, once out-of-wedlock with Catherine Manson, resulting in a son named Benjamin in 1822.
Benjamin’s journey ended on October 16, 1875, at 82 years when he died at his home on High Street. The absence of a military burial for him was lamented by the Volunteers who claimed that had they known earlier, they would have made the necessary arrangements.
Today, he rests in Old St Peters. While his tombstone might be familiar to some when walking through the graveyard, this account will hopefully add some detail about this remarkable Thurso soldier.
- To get in touch, contact thursoheritage1@gmail.com
