Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Private William Lennox, 79th Regiment, wounded at the battle of Waterloo 18 June 1815

Military General Service 1793-1814, 4 clasps, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Toulouse (William Lennox, 79th Foot); Waterloo 1815 (Willm. Lennox, Lt. Coy. 1st Batt. 79th Regt. Foot) this last renamed, fitted with a replacement silver loop and straight bar suspension, edge bruising, contact marks, nearly very fine and better (2) £2500-3000

Private William Lennox served in Captain William Marshall’s Light Company, 79th Regiment during the Waterloo campaign.

The discharge papers of William Lennox state that he enlisted in the Regiment on 14 November, 1812 and was discharged on 24 April, 1816, having served for three years, 163 days. The cause of discharge being as a consequence of ‘having accured(?) a gun shot wound in the right hand at Quatre Bras on 16th June’. He is described as about 24 years of age, 5’7”, fair hair, grey eyes, fair complexion and by trade a labourer.

From other sources the above would appear to be incorrect on two points. A ‘Family History’ source indicates Lennox was not wounded at Quatre Bras but at Waterloo, 18 June 1815. In 1866 he wrote an article for a newspaper/magazine giving the story of his part in the battle at Quatre Bras and ending with his going to sleep on the Saturday night prior to Waterloo. (This article was reprinted in The Queen’s Own Highlander, the regimental magazine, of January 1972). Although little mention of the battle on the 18th is given, he further states that at the climax of the battle, ‘.... I was slowly making my way to Brussels, with a ball in my left leg and my right hand sadly cut up with a piece of shell. ...’ Also Lennox was not a labourer but entered the Regiment listing himself as a blacksmith, having served his apprenticeship in his home village. He and the other apprentices used their spare time in the evenings to study the dictionary and confound their friends with their knowledge. This was to stand him in good stead in later life.

William Lennox was born on 5 January, 1795 in the village of Ochiltree near the town of Ayr. On leaving school he worked on a farm for a short time before being apprenticed to the local blacksmith. On completing his apprenticeship in 1812 he went looking for work and eventually arrived in Edinburgh where he enlisted in the 79th Highlanders. Shipped to the Peninsular he took part in the four battles for which he received his M.G.S., being slightly wounded at Toulouse.

How Lennox came by his wound at Waterloo is related in a family history written by a grandson sometime after 1856. It recalls that the Regiment was in square repelling cavalry when an artillery shell fell within the square but did not explode. Lennox picked up the shell and ran to the outer ranks which opened up for him. As he threw the shell out, it exploded knocking him unconscious. When he came to, his only injury was the loss of the first and second fingers of his right hand.

Discharged to a pension; on his return home he became a school teacher in Ochiltree and later in Maybole, also near the town of Ayr. He later became Superintendent of the Kyle Union Poorhouse in Ayr. In 1846, with the passing of the Poor Laws in Parliament he was appointed Inspector of the Poor for the Parish of Ayr, a post he held until his resignation in 1872. It would appear that his duties involved the collection of the rates from the parish, giving out aid to the poor and passing the remainder to the Parochial Board.

Shortly before resigning from the post of Inspector, Lennox came into dispute with the Board regarding some outstanding monies. Several letters were exchanged between Mr. Lennox and his solicitor and the Parochial Board. These were read at the Board meeting and reported in the local newspaper. Finally, against the advice of his solicitor, Mr. Lennox paid the outstanding sum by cheque - £476 13s 8d. Soon afterwards, on 8 February 1872, he resigned from his post due to his health. His letter of resignation and another from his solicitor were read to the Board and also appeared in the local newspaper.

William Lennox died at his home at 35 Queen’s Terrace, Ayr, on 20 March 1872, aged 77 years. He was buried in the family grave in Ochiltree. Lennox was married to a Janet McGavin, who died on 20 December 1869, by whom he had four daughters.

A noted poet, Lennox had much of his work printed. He was one of the founders, and perhaps the most gifted supporter of the ‘Ochiltree “Forget-me-not” Society’, at whose annual meetings he was in the habit of reading some verse of poetry specially written and eminently suitable for the occasion. One of the most popular was a song, “O! Let Us Talk of Ochiltree”. Among his other works are a letter in verse, “To the Miller of Dunure” and a poem, “The Fairy Lady of Dunure”, which consists of over sixty verses. Both these works appear in “An Anthology of Carrick” by Finlayson, believed published in 1925. It also has biographical notes on Lennox. In the book, “Ochiltree, its History and Reminiscences”, by Alexander Murdoch, there are further notes on Lennox and the ‘Ochiltree “Forget–Me-Not” Society’.

With copied extracts form the 79th Regimental Register; copied discharge papers; the magazine: The Queen’s Own Highlander, January 1972, containing the article, ‘Some Reflections of the Waterloo Campaign’; copied article from the family history; copied newspaper extracts; copied extracts from ‘An Anthology of Carrick’ and ‘Ochiltree, its History and Reminiscences’.