Hi – I’m new to Rootschat having been enticed here via Iain’s posts about Brice McGregor on Napoleonicwarsforum.com. My post is not about handwriting, but does, I hope, fit the discussion about Brice that has developed here.
I own the Georgian mourning brooch referred to by Iain which must have been made for a female family member shortly after Brice McGregor’s death in November1846 (he was buried on December 3rd) and I thought Rootschat members might be interested in seeing the attached photo. The brooch is not in very good condition, but it looks more handsome in real life than it does in the picture – a bit like me really!
Iain, as a jeweller by trade, has very kindly given his assessment of the brooch’s construction on the Napoleonic wars forum. It incorporates the engraving from a silver item presented to Brice by the brethren of his masonic lodge, the “Lodge of United Strength”, in the 1820s.Some of the engraved lettering, including the last digit of the presentation year, is obscured by the brooch’s jewelled surround but, essentially, it reads:
"Presented by the Members of the Lodge of United Strength, to Br. Brice McGregor, P.M. & T, as a Tribute of Gratitude, and a Memorial of Men, April 4, A.D. 182?"
Brice was admitted as a joining member of that lodge in May, 1816 and remained a member until his death 30 years later. He joined the lodge along with three of his colleagues who were also all serjeants in the 3rd Guards of Foot; namely Thomas Goddard, William McRobert and the charmingly named Joseph Plumtree. All four men had been initiated into Freemasonry a month earlier in ‘Lodge 895’ which was an ambulatory military lodge for the 71st Highland Light Infantry warranted by the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland.
I’m hoping to find an explanation as to how/why men of the 3rd Guards of Foot were allowed into the 71st HLI’s lodge as I understand that the initiation of men from other regiments was a breach of the Irish masonic rules of the day for military lodges and could have resulted in lodge 895 being fined or closed down. It would be great if any forum members could help on this point.
Because Brice was one of the known heroes of the well-known Hougoumont incident in the Battle of Waterloo, there have been lots of references to him over the last 200 years and I’ve seen his name recorded as McGregor, MacGregor, MacGreggor, Brice, Bryce, Bice, Price, Bruce and even as ‘Bryan’!
But I'm convinced that his name was actually Charles Brice McGregor and that ‘Brice’ is the name he used – the 1820s engraving on the brooch seems to settle this. ‘Brice’ is also used on most of the ‘official’ contemporary records comprising of …..brace yourself!…….: the Dec 1814 Muster Roll for his regiment; the Waterloo Medal Roll ; his 1823 army discharge certificate (including his own signature); the 1827 baptism record of his second daughter, Elizabeth; two membership register volumes of the United Grand Lodge of England: the records of two court appearances as a witness at the Old Bailey in 1837 and 1839; the Royal Household Staff Lists (Yeomen) for 1841/42/44 and 46; the record of his burial at St Margaret’s Westminster on Dec 3rd, 1846; and finally, the indices to entries in the Death Register and the Death Duty Registers for 1846 (and, presumably therefore, in the registers themselves). One, or maybe two, of his grandsons were also given the name ‘Brice’. (I say ‘maybe two’, as I’m not sure if one of the McGregor boys I’ve found, both of whom died in infancy, was a son or a grandson.)
And those are just the ‘official’ records - there are several contemporary newspaper items, including his obituary, which also name him as ‘Brice’. But on the other hand, the majority (but admittedly not all) of the references to him as ‘Bruce’ are in publications produced long after his death.
On the record of his 1805 marriage to Elizabeth Ross and that of the 1814 baptism of his first daughter, Jane Elizabeth, he is named as Charles Brice McGregor. Maybe ‘Brice’ was his mother’s maiden name? I have not been able to find a record of his birth or details of his parents – again, it would be great if any forum members could help.
After his discharge from the army in 1823, he was appointed as keeper of the ‘Foot Guards Suttling House’ in the Tilt-yard at Horse Guards in Whitehall and he died there in 1846. A ‘Suttling House’ was (and still is?) effectively a pub/canteen open to both army personnel and the public. In around 1840, he was also appointed as a Yeoman of the Guard.
The Suttling House tenancy in Whitehall was at the disposal of the field officers of the Foot Guards who reportedly 'bestowed it on old, brave and meritorious non-commissioned officers' and it was granted to Brice 'as a reward for his prowess at the Battle of Waterloo'. It must have been a lucrative appointment as, according to his obituary, he is believed to have left around £15,000 to his son – an enormous sum in 1846.
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All fascinating stuff - to me, anyway! And if any forum members can throw further light on Brice’s life and times and masonic connections, I’ll be very grateful.
