William Buckland (1786-1856), from Guadeloupe to ‘the Fighting Fifth’, Limerick and Liverpool

By John D Ellis

William Buckland was born at Guadeloupe c.1786. During the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815), Guadeloupe was captured by the British from the French in both 1798 and 1810, and it is likely that he left sometime in that period, enlisting in the 5^th (Northumberland) Foot in May 1810.^[1]The National Archives (TNA) WO 97/426. The 5^th Foot did not serve in the either of the Guadeloupe campaigns. The regiment are an antecedent of ‘The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers’

There were other Guadeloupeans serving in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars, including one alongside William Buckland in the 5^th Foot: Private Simon Mansell, described as “a native of the West Indies”, with a “black” complexion, served with the regiment between 1807 and 1826.^[2]TNA WO 23/147, WO 25/918 and WO 120/35. After being discharged on a pension, Simon Mansell settled in St Lucia. Private John Baptist (Jean Baptiste), of Guadeloupe served with the Royal Wagon Train (1813-1814), the Scots Guards (1818-1821) and the Grenadier Guards (1824-1841), retiring in London and dying at Strand Union Workhouse in 1857.^[3]Ellis, JD. “Left to the Streets and the Workhouse”: The Life, Visual Representation and Death of John Baptist, 3^rd Scots Fusilier Guards. JSAHR. 82. Autumn 20004. No. 331. Pages 204-209.

‘William Buckland’ was not a French name and therefore it was likely to be an anglicised version of his original name, or a name created for him on enlistment. It was neither a comedic or ‘slave name’, but was one shared with a prominent architect in colonial Maryland and Virginia, and a nineteenth century theologian and palaeontologist.^[4]William Buckland (1734-1774) and William Buckland (1784-1856) respectively. It would certainly not be beyond either the education or wit of an officer of the 5^th to select such a name for a new French-speaking Black recruit. Once given, and out of administrative necessity, the name would have to be retained for the remainder of the recruit’s service and beyond.

As a private in the band of the 1st Battalion of the 5^th Foot, William Buckland served in the Peninsula Campaign at the battles of Salamanca (1812), Vitoria (1813), the Pyrenees (1813) and Toulouse (1814). The fighting prowess and renown of the 5^th Foot was such that it earned itself the nicknames ‘The Fighting Fifth’ and ‘Wellington’s Bodyguard’. Following the abdication of Napoleon in 1814, the 5^th were posted to North America. After the Waterloo Campaign (1815), the regiment returned to Europe and served as part of the ‘Allied Army of Occupation’ in France between 1815 and 1818.^[5].TNA WO 12/2299. At Valenciennes, France, in March 1817, Private William Buckland transferred to the 23^rd (Royal Welch Fuzileers) Foot and continued to be employed as a bandsman.^[6]TNA WO 12/2299. The 23^rd Foot are an antecedent regiment of ‘The Royal Welsh’. The spelling ‘Welch Fuzileers’ will look odd to modern eyes but was what was used at the time. Between 1817 and 1823 he served with the 23^rd in France (1817-1818), and Ireland (1818-1823). In 1821, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, presented the 23^rd Foot with “…an elegant harp, to be added to the regimental band”.^[7]Chester Courant, 3rd July 1821. findmypast.co.uk Sir Watkin Williams Wynn (1772-1840), 5th Baronet, was a Welsh landowner and Tory politician with a great interest in military affairs. Two of the … Continue reading

Whilst serving in the 23^rd William Buckland was recorded as having a “dark” complexion, a description frequently used for White soldiers and reflecting the uncertainty within individual regiments regarding how to exactly describe the complexions of Black soldiers.^[8]TNA WO 25/347 No guidance appears to have been given by the War Office as to how complexion should be described, nor how ‘race’/ethnicity might be indicated. Thus, it was left to individual regiments to decide how to describe complexions. Regiments with long standing traditions of employing soldiers of African and Asian origin, appear to have been quite clear that those men should be described as having “Black” complexions (“a man of colour” was also common, as were “mulatto” and “tawny” – being interchangeable references to soldiers of mixed heritage). Other regiments, whose Black presence was measured in years or decades, or who employed more than one Black soldier also referred to complexions as being “Black” (or descriptions such as “mulatto” and “tawny”). However, as William Buckland appears to have been the only soldier of either African or Asian origin serving in the 23^rd when it was inspected his complexion was simply noted as being “dark”.^[9]To date, and the West India Regiments aside, very few ‘racially’ derogatory references have been found in the records of Black soldiers in Crown regiments during the eighteenth and nineteenth … Continue reading

In June 1823, whilst stationed at Dublin, Ireland, Private William Buckland applied to be discharged on a pension.^[10]TNA WO 97/426/99. Examined at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in July 1823, he was declared to be “worn out and unable to march” and suffering from “imperfect vision of both eyes from diseased cornea”.^[11]TNA WO 119/14/83. Awarded a pension of 9d per day, on discharge he was 37 years of age with black hair, dark eyes and a black complexion. His conduct was described as “good” and he was a labourer by occupation.^[12]TNA WO 97/426/99

The fate after discharge of most soldiers who served in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars remains unknown. However, some survived long enough to re-appear in medal rolls and more detailed pension returns from the late 1840s onwards. William Buckland was one of those veterans. In 1847 he applied for the retrospectively awarded Military General Service Medal, 1793-1814. A slew of memoirs by veterans of the Peninsula Campaign, (former officers and soldiers) had captured the imagination of the British public and led to a clamour for there to be some form of recognition of their service. Consequently, in 1848, William Buckland, formerly a Private in the 5^th Foot, claimed the MGSM 1793-1814, with clasps for: Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees and Toulouse.^[13]TNA WO 100/11. The medal was not listed on the ‘Colonial List’ indicating that it had been claimed from Britain or Ireland. Cross-referencing the records of British Merchant Seamen with British Army pension records reveals something of William Buckland’s life after being discharged on a pension in Dublin.

Between 1823 and 1848 he claimed his pension whilst resident at Limerick, Ireland.^[14]TNA WO 100/22/181 In March 1847, at Limerick, he registered as a British Merchant Seaman.^[15]British Merchant Seamen, 1835-1857. TNA BT 113/176. TNA BT 114/3. The physical description and age offered approximate to those in the British Army records, although the place of birth differs, with Barbados being noted rather than Guadeloupe – possibly because William Buckland would have found registration more problematic if he was not a British subject. He had first gone to sea as a cook and steward in 1835, and there-after had served as a cook.

William Buckland was not the only Black former soldier seeking employment at sea:

• George Dennison was born at Kingston, Jamaica c.1791. Described as “a man of colour”, he enlisted in the 77^th (East Middlesex) Foot at Cork in 1815 and was discharged in Glasgow in 1822.^[16]For George Dennison see: TNA WO 25/473. The 77^th Foot are an antecedent of ‘The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment‘. He registered as a British Merchant Seaman in 1835-1836, when his occupation was noted as cook.^[17]For George Dennison see: TNA BT 112/17 and BT 120/2.
• George Spence was born in Jamaica c.1806. Described as “a man of colour”, he enlisted in the 69^th (South Lincolnshire) Foot at London in 1827.^[18]For George Spence see: TNA WO 25/454. The 69^th Foot are an antecedent of ‘The Royal Welsh’. He may well have been the George Spence, described as a negro aged 7 years, who was amongst the “…return of slaves in the parish of Hanover (Jamaica) in the possession of William McMahon…” in June 1817.^[19]Office of Registry of Colonial Slaves and Slave Compensation Commission. TNA T71/190. ancestry.co.uk It is not known when George Spence was discharged from the 69^th Foot, but in 1848 he enlisted as a British Merchant Seaman. A steward by occupation, he gave his address as West India Dock, London.^[20]TNA BT 113/198.

William Buckland’s pension records indicate that in early 1848 he moved permanently to Liverpool.^[21]TNA WO 22/181. In doing so, he was following another Black veteran of the Peninsula Campaign – George Wise, a Nova Scotian who had served as a drummer in the 29^th (Worcestershire) Foot.^[22]www.historycalroots.com/george-wise-from-nova-scotia-to-liverpool-via-the-battlefields-of-the-napoleonic-wars/ Wise, who had briefly settled in Mauritius after discharge, later worked as a cook and steward on merchant ships, and when not at sea lived with his family close to the Liverpool docks.^[23]Ibid.

Of the twenty-two pensioners who re-located to Liverpool in the first half of 1848, eight had come from Ireland – with all, including William Buckland, likely to be fleeing ‘The Great Famine’.^[24]TNA WO 22/46. A search of Liverpool parish records and the 1851 Census returns held by both ancestry.co.uk and findmypast.co.uk has not yielded any results for William Buckland. However, pension records do reveal that he remained a resident of the city until late 1855 when he returned to sea for the last time. He is believed to have died early in 1856.^[25]TNA BT 153/0002/212. TNA WO 22/47. The location of his Military General Service Medal is unknown.