Scandal in the Guards: Lt. Colonel Dury confesses to his Wife regarding his Second Family

A Detail from George II at Dettingen

Dear Reader,

Today, I want to examine a document I recently examined in the United Kingdom. In it, we find a British officer in a rather awkward situation. Lt. Col. Alexander Dury of the Guards, fearing he might be killed in action, wrote a letter to his wife, Isabella, telling her about his other family. In this letter, we see a fascinating bundle of eighteenth-century ideas regarding marriage, sex, religion, death, and family obligations. Without further adieu, here is the letter:

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My Dear Bell,
 Before I left London, I took care to make a proper
disposition of my worldly concerns, and in such a manner as
I hope you are satisfied with, but one thing remains which I
cannot now avoid mentioning as I am going upon Service, and
for the concealment of which, I ask pardon of God and of yourself
and indeed my inducement for concealing it from you, was to
avoid giving you uneasiness of any kind, especially as
the case was without Remedy. Indeed at the time I was
solliciting you to marry I ought then to have acquainted you
with it, but my fears of losing you prevailed over reason
and I was also by a friend of both to conceal it,
which I listened to the sooner, as I did not entail any charge
on you having a little income from my Company (which
I never mentioned to you) over and above the 1000 a year
which I declared to you my income consisted of vis. 500
from H.R.H. the Duke, and 500 as a Lt. Colonel to the Regiment
so that the balance of the accounts of my company, amounting
to 70 or 80 pounds I applied for the maintenance of one Mrs.
Barbara Moncrieffe, and her two Children. The said Barbara
goes by the name of Thompson and lives at one Mrs. Walton
two doors beyond the white houses in Marsham Street
Westminister. She was formerly a servant in my Mothers'
Family, and I was so wicked, as by frequently importunity and
opportunity to seduce her, and she was with Child by me.
From that time I thought myself bound, from principle
to take care of her and of her Child, which I did; the Child
died, but continuing to go to her from time to time, she was
delivered of another son, the latter end of December 1746
who was christened Henry, two years after that she lay in of
a Daughter who was christened Barbara, and they both go by
the name of Thompson as well as the mother. I never
gave the least hope of expectation to the mother of her ever
becoming my wife, but as I have great reason to think
she has always been honest to me, and that she has taken
great and proper care of her Children, I cannot help
recommending her and them to your protection, and if
as they grow up, you would be so good as to put them out apprentices to some
business, to prevent their ruin by being idea and destitute,
it will be a great act of charity, and of Regard to me.
The boy, who is now between 11 and 12 years of age, writes a good
hand, has been educated at a school at Stanmore where
he is now, and my design was to procure an Ensigns
Commission for him in a marching Regiment, but I now fear
that cannot be done. I can solemnly assure you my Dear
Bell, since the time of our marriage and from some weeks
before I have not seen her, nor her Children; I have received
Letters from her, and have wrote to her, to direct her in the
management of her family, but never anything more.
I could wish my Dear you would allow her 30 or 40 pounds
a year, viz. 20 for the boy, ten for her self, and ten for the
Girl, till such time as they are able to procure a livelihood
for themselves, and may God reward you for such an Act of
Charity...
Mr. Davies, Surgeon to the
Regiment, knows where she lives, the last time she received
any money from me, she came to him for it. I had never
before paid it to her, and did it then at my Request, He
may (and will very readily, I am persuaded out of regard
for me) carry any message to her...

Once more forgive my deceit, in concealing this circumstance
of my Life from your knowledge, consider the
motive for it, and pardon it not only pardon, but pray
to the almighty for my forgiveness, from this, and many
other Crimes I have been guilty off, both of Omission
and commission and may the same Merciful Father of
us all ever watch over you and our Child, Guard and
protect you both,  Amen.

Alex Dury.

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Tragically, Lt. Colonel Dury was killed in action at St. Malo in September of 1758, only months after he had written this letter. No record of what happened to his second family survives. This letter is preserved in the British National Army Museum at Chelsea.

If you enjoyed this post, or any of our other posts, please consider liking us on facebook, or following us on twitter. Consider checking out our exclusive content on Patreon. Finally, we are dedicated to keeping Kabinettskriege ad-free. In order to assist with this, please consider supporting us via the donate button in the upper right-hand corner of the page. As always:

Thanks for Reading, 

Alex Burns

Observing Fortresses by Eye: Eighteenth-Century Officers' Skills

Dear Readers,

As a reader of this blog, hopefully you have an appreciation for siege and fortress warfare in the Kabinettskriege period. If terms like trace italienne, glacis, and covered way are new to you, take a second to review this post. Today, I want to report on an activity I carried out during my research trip to Europe in the summer of 2019. For one weekend (when the archives were closed) I traveled to Vesting Bourtange in the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. This small village was transformed back into a star fortress in the 1950s as a way of bringing tourism to the area.

The state of the reconstruction at Bourtange today.
I specifically did not have this image pulled up while drawing my sketches

It is one of the few examples of a completed star fortresses which remains more or less intact, with the various glacis, wet ditches (moats) , bastions and curtain walls completed and available to walk. As part of my weekend at the fortress, I decided, immediately upon arrival, to conduct a visual inspection of the outside of the fortress, and sketch my inspection. This was an incredibly common experience for eighteenth-century officers and engineers.

Imagine yourself as an artillery or engineer officer preparing to attack an eighteenth-century fortress. Your commanding officers have assembled the soldiers and artillery necessary to begin a formal attack on a fortified place (as happened at many places in the Seven Years War in Europe and North America, such as Louisbourg, Schweidnitz and Niagara, and Charleston and Savannah during the American War of Independence.) Upon arriving in the vicinity of the fortresses, your first task would be to see how closely your outdated maps of the fortress match the actual layout of the defenses.

Christopher Duffy describes this practice in his excellent book on siege warfare, Fire and Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare:

The still remained the difficult task of relating the designs on the map to the actual ground as it presented itself to the eyes of the besiegers. From a distance, most fortresses looked like collections of grassy mounds, among which it was not easy to distinguish the gates and guerites, or by the shadows that were thrown on the works when the sun was low.[1]

This experience of war was fairly universal, and Duffy cites sources from the 1650s to1750s describing the unfortunate task of officers having to inspect fortifications directly before a siege. Of particular interest for us, Duffy reproduces the writings of the Saxon Officer Tielcke during the seige of Kolberg in 1758:

We used to approach within grapeshot range of the fortifications; two general went together, one of whom kept his eyes fixed on the enemy's batteries, and when they prepared to fire, both threw themselves flat on the ground, and let the balls go over their heads.. On moonlit nights we used to steal up to the palisades of the covered way, and endeavor to form some idea of the works by the shade.[2] 

With this type of practice in mind, I approached the fortress from each side, coming no closer than 500 meters. I photographed the scenes, so that you all can get a sense of the view from this distance.

 Obviously, with a camera, the details are a bit less clear than they were in person, and the view in person was more "zoomed in" than on a phone camera. With that said, I completed a walk around the fortresses, and made the following sketches.

My initial sketch of the eastern part of the fortress

A preliminary sketch of the south part of the fortress

A more developed guess at the South and west faces of the fortress

Another view from the south

My final sketch, with recommendations for attacking fronts

 As you can see from the sketches above compared with the actual overlay, I wasn't that great at this. I confused the south great glacis and ravelin with a more developed hornwork, which I only identified (incorrectly) as a westward facing ravelin. I missed the north-east facing ravelin entirely, which would have complicated the approach of my south-eastern attack.

Errors and difficulties aside, this was a very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon in the Dutch countryside, and I will be giving an opportunity to practice this again in the near future.  I'll conclude with a few photographs of the wonderful fort at Bourtange.

The Bridge connection the crownwork to the bastion fort

The view towards the easternmost bastion

The bridge and crownwork from the first photo, viewed from the south-east ravelin

The northernmost ravelin and windmill

If you enjoyed this post, or any of our other posts, please consider liking us on facebook, or following us on twitter. Consider checking out our exclusive content on Patreon. Finally, we are dedicated to keeping Kabinettskriege ad-free. In order to assist with this, please consider supporting us via the donate button in the upper right-hand corner of the page. As always:

Thanks for Reading, 

Alex Burns

[1] Duffy, Fire and Stone, 102
[2] Tielcke, J. G. An Account of the Most Remarkable Events of the Last War, Vol 2, 318-319.

The Boston Massacre: Two New Archival Accounts and a Letter from Thomas Preston

Letter from George Mason describing the Boston Massacre

Dear Reader,

Today, we mark the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Massacre (the Riot on King Street), where British soldiers fired on and killed five members of a mob in colonial Boston. This event had repercussions far in excess of the tragic loss of life: deepening the feeling of mistrust felt by the colonial populace towards the British government and regular troops in America. Today, in order to commemorate the anniversary, I have transcribed two accounts of the night of the massacre found in the British National Archives, and my patreon supporters will be able to read an entire letter from Captain Thomas Preston, the man in command of the troops during the massacre,  describing the aftermath of the massacre and his trial. To my knowledge, these accounts have not been published elsewhere, but as a specialist in German Central Europe, I am very open to being corrected on that point.

Paul Revere's Depiction of the Masscare

I have retained the spelling of the original. The author of the first letter was not the famous Virginian founding father, but rather a man living in Boston. When reading these sources, it is important to keep in mind that they were solicited by a defendant in ongoing legal proceedings, by those willing to communicate with an individual who at that point, was one of the most hated individuals in Boston.

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[Statement from George Mason to Captain Thomas Preston]

Sir                                                                                             Boston, 3 Apr 1770

On Monday the 5th as I was going towards the Northward, I heard the Bells ringing for Fire, and I saw a very considerable number of people in the streets armed with clubs, (which from a former observation, I immediately concluded to be a Mob) this was previous to the firing; on my return to the Southward  I heard a drum beat to arms, and saw a great number of people actually with firelocks on their shoulders advancing towards King's Street. If you think my evidence is necessary to confirm the above, you may freely command.

Sir,
Your Most Humbl Servt.
George Mason

[Statement from Richard Silvester to Captain Thomas Preston]

Sir                                                                                         April the 3rd 1770

This Morning a sergeant came to me (as he said) from you, requesting that I would acquaint you of what particulars I knew of the transactions on Monday Evening the 5th past.As I was not out of my house, I can only inform you that towards the evening, I went at different times into the shop, and observed several companys pass by, with Clubs in their hands towards Liberty Tree, which gave one suspicion that a Mob was gathering; I afterwards was informed they did not meet there or near the Place, and at dark, proceeded over the Common towards Cornhill soon afterwards the Bells rang and Fire was cried, I went to the door and asked where the Fire was, was answered in Kingstreet: I saw one Engine going from the Southward which was soon returned back but I did not see any Buckets carryed but observed several people had great Clubs in their hands, which confirmed me in the opinion it was a Mob that occasioned this alarm, some time after (but the particular time I can't say) a drum beat to arms at the Southend, for upwards of an Hour, and I saw numbers pass by toward Cornhill with firelocks.

I am sincerely sorry for your Calamity, and am with due Regard

Sir,
Your Real Friend and Humble Servant
Richard Silvester

                                                                                       
[Letter from Captain Thomas Preston to the Secretary of War, Lord Barrington]

My Lord                                                                          Boston Goal June 25th 1770

As I expect that Col Evelyn is on his way here, I know of none so conspicuously the friend of the Military people in distress as your Lordship, to whom I could apply. I have therefore taken the liberty of inclosing a copy of affidavits concerning the 5th March last should they be wanted. I sent some home before, but they are included in these and are attested by the Justice before whom the Originals were sworn, and whose hand Sir Tos. Barnard well knows.

The madness of the people is so great, that evidence are afraid to appear for us, may they have declared publickly, that if a jury should acquit us or we should receive his Majesty's pardon, not a man of us should go alive out of town. Even their pulpits are echoing persecution against us, and that blood crys to heaven for vengeance. [For the rest of this letter, and Barrington's response,  join us on patreon]

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If you enjoyed this post, or any of our other posts, please consider liking us on facebook, or following us on twitter. Consider checking out our exclusive content on Patreon. Finally, we are dedicated to keeping Kabinettskriege ad-free. In order to assist with this, please consider supporting us via the donate button in the upper right-hand corner of the page. As always:

Thanks for Reading, 

Alex Burns