| |
A French early 19th century gold
snuff box of circular form, with engraved and applied decoration, the interior
of the lid inscribed "To Capt Ross 92nd Reg from Chas Grant of Jamaica"
72mm diameter, 19mm high,
4oz..
James Kerr (or Ker) Ross was
commissioned ensign in the 92nd (or Highland) Regiment of Foot on 19th March
1807. The dates given for his promotion to lieutenant vary but he had seniority
in that rank from either 4th May 1808 or 21st July 1808; he remained in the
rank of lieutenant in the 92nd for the next ten years, being commissioned
captain in the 92nd on 22nd October 1818. He transferred to the half-pay of the
7th Regiment of Foot (or Royal Fusiliers) on 9th December 1819 and to that of
the 42nd Regiment of Foot (or Royal Highlanders, the Black Watch) sometime in
1820. He transferred from half-pay in the 42nd to full pay in the rank of
captain on 31st May 1821 and remained with the 42nd until transferring to the
unattached list as a half-pay captain on 27th December 1827. Ross remained on
the half-pay list until his death in 1872, being steadily promoted by brevet as
follows: major, 7th June 1831; lieutenant-colonel, 9th November 1846; colonel,
20th June 1854; major general, 1st May 1861; lieutenant-general 19th November
1870. He was appointed a Knight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order (KH) in
1837. His death was reported in The Times on 11th June 1872. Ross saw action in
the Peninsular War between 1811 and 1814, serving at the engagements at Arroyo
dos Molinos; Badajos; Almaraz; Madrid; Vittoria; Pass of Maya; Valley of
Bastan; Aire; Pyrenees (wounded); Nivelle; Nive; Heights of La Costa; Orthes;
Toulouse. He received the Military General Service Medal 1793-1814 with the six
clasps Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes and Toulouse as well as the
Portuguese war cross for six engagements. In 1815, he was present at the
battles of Quatre Bras (wounded) and at Waterloo (wounded) and received the
Waterloo Medal 1815. His medals were sold by Bearnes & Waycott, Torquay, in
1975. It is probable that Ross went with the 92nd when the regiment was posted
to Jamaica in April 1819. Initially stationed at Up Park Camp in the parish of
St Andrew, Jamaica, the regiment suffered very severely indeed from yellow
fever between its arrival in Jamaica in June 1819 and the ending of the
epidemic in November of that year, losing 10 officers and 275 other ranks to
the disease. It may have been as a result of this epidemic that Ross returned
home to transfer temporarily to the half-pay list late in 1819. A Charles Grant
of the parish of St Andrew in Jamaica has been identified and so it is probable
that it was he who gave the gold box to Ross in 1819. He may have been the
Charles Grant who had served as an officer in the 6th West India Regiment
between 1807 and 1816 but who was, in 1819, on half-pay. Further research would
be required to establish the reason for the gift of the box, to confirm the
identity of Charles Grant and to embellish the above details of the life and
career of Lieutenant-General James Kerr Ross. It may, though, be worthy of note
that, as a result of the number of vacancies caused by the deaths of officers
in the 92nd through yellow fever in 1819, Sergeant-Major William Grant of the
regiment was commissioned ensign and appointed adjutant in November 1819. If
Charles Grant and William Grant were related, then the gift of the gold box
might have been in recognition of some influence that Ross exerted in getting
William Grant (who had served in the 92nd since 1800) commissioned.
Sold as lot 294 by Lyon &
Turnbull, Edinburgh, Scotland,
8th December 2004.
Reproduced by courtesy
of Lyon & Turnbull, auctioneers.
|
|
