71st. Regt. Lgt. Infty & 6th veterans

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breacdonalda
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2017 9:17 pm

71st. Regt. Lgt. Infty & 6th veterans

Post by breacdonalda » Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:19 am

Hello everyone,

I am new to this site.

I am trying to track information on the following person and what is military service entails.

He is my great, great grandfather - Finlay McRae (1790- 1872) served 71st Regt. Lgt. Infty and in the 6th Veterans. In the early 1800's he came to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada from Gairloch, Scotland. His wife was Annabella MacDonald. I do believe his parents were Lewis McRae and Jane (Campbell) from the same area.
I am wondering if this military service is in an early Scottish Regiment, etc. He died in 1872 so the details are on his tombstone at Man O War Point, Cape Breton, NS. I was told that he received a war pension, because of an injury.

Any information or advise would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone heard of this regiment in Scotland?

Thanking you,
Donalda Gillis

Currie
Posts: 3924
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:20 am
Location: Australia

Re: 71st. Regt. Lgt. Infty & 6th veterans

Post by Currie » Mon Nov 20, 2017 4:02 pm

Hello Donalda, and Welcome to TalkingScot.

Some light reading for you.

Historical Record of the 71st Regiment Highland Light Infantry, 1777-1852, published 1852.
http://www.archive.org/stream/recordofs ... 5/mode/2up

Or, Historical Record of the 71st Regiment Highland Light Infantry, 1777-1876, published 1876. http://archive.org/stream/historicalrec ... 7/mode/2up

Archived regiments.org page for 6th Royal Veteran Battalion, 1802-1814, raised in Scotland, disbanded Fort George, Scotland, and 1819-1821, reformed and disbanded at Edinburgh.
https://web.archive.org/web/20050212031 ... 02vet6.htm

Another 6th Royal Veterans Battalion, 1815-1816, (12th RV Bn. renumbered) raised and disbanded at Cork, Ireland.
https://web.archive.org/web/20050212115 ... 8vet12.htm

This book preview, if you can see enough of it, will give you an idea of what life was like for a soldier in the 71st. It mentions a soldier, Alex Brice, of the 6th Royal Veterans, who joined the 71st when both regiments were at Fort George in 1807. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=KQ ... 22&f=false

FMP has British Army service records (pension records). I searched for Fin* M*r* born 1790 +/-5. In the 33 results there's a Finlay MacRae without a regiment shown, and the only one for 71st Regiment is a Finlay McCraw. https://search.findmypast.co.uk/results ... h_offset=5

Hope that helps,
Alan

p.s. The 2nd Battalion of the 71st was in Scotland the first half of 1807.
Alan