HOME, GEORGE [SSNE 8099]

Surname
HOME, HUME, HUM
First name
GEORGE
Title/rank
FIAR OF WEDDERBURN, YOUNGER OF WEDDERBURN, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL
Nationality
SCOT
Region
BERWICKSHIRE
Social status
OFFICER, NOBILITY

Text source

George Home, Fiar of Wedderburn was both a veteran of continental service and an officer in the Amy of the Covenant during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. He was born in 1607 and was the only son of Sir David Home of Wedderburn and Margaret Home, daughter of Sir John Home of Coldenknowes (Wedderburn Papers, p. 4 and 7).

Service in the Scots-Dutch Brigade, 1629

In 1628, Sir David Home had raised a company for “his Majesty’s service.”  It soon after joined the regiment of Sir George Hay of Kinfauns [SSNE 5056], formerly the regiment of the Earl of Morton and which had seen service at La Rochelle in 1627 (RPCS: 1627-1628, p. 291; RPCS: 1629, p. 124). This regiment joined the Scots-Dutch Brigade in the service of the Dutch Republic and fought at the siege of ’s-Hertogenbosch between 1 May and 13 September 1629. George Home appears to have arrived in the Dutch Republic ahead of the regiment, having been licensed to pass to The Hague on 14 January 1629 (TNA). In a request to the Council of State dated to 12 March 1629, George Hume evidently was granted permission to serve in one of the French regiments in Dutch service, under Lt. Col. Louis du Plessis, in order to learn the French language (NL-HaNA). However, from there, it is likely he took the opportunity to captain his father’s company in Hay’s regiment, as a Captain Hum appears in a roll of names of the captains in that regiment (Ferguson, p. 400). After the capture of ’s-Hertogenbosch by the Dutch, Sir George Hay’s regiment returned to Scotland, and George Home would have also returned sometime thereafter, whether or not he rejoined with the French.

The Merse Foot: Army of the Solemn League and Covenant

It is possible that George Home served in the Second Bishops’ War in 1640-1641 and fought at Duns, but this is a largely unreferenced claim (Furgol, p. 74). What is certain is that on 26 August 1643, Sir David Home of Wedderburn was nominated by the Convention of Estates to be a colonel for the Merse Foot, out of Berwickshire (Furgol, 166). George Home was made lieutenant-colonel, and he and his father served in Alexander Leslie, Earl of Leven’s [SSNE 1] army in England (Wedderburn Papers, p. 96). The regiment participated at the siege of Newcastle from late July 1644 and made up the third brigade, which stormed the Pilgrim Street Gate-Carliol Tower area (Furgol, p. 167). It was also present at the siege of Hereford in 1645. Ed Furgol writes that the regiment appears to have been disbanded on its return to Scotland in 1647 (Furgol, p. 167).

Wedderburn’s Foot: The Battle of Dunbar, 1650

On 28 February 1649, Sir David Home was again commissioned to levy a regiment of foot out of Berwickshire, Selkirkshire and Teviotdale, and George Home was again made lieutenant-colonel. By 31 July, only 100 men were mustered into Wedderburn’s Foot: 700 short of the original commission (Furgol, p. 353). The regiment joined David Leslie’s Army of the Covenant in 1650, when threatened by invasion from England by the Parliamentarian army under Oliver Cromwell. On 1 September, George Home sent a letter to his wife, complaining that his “man Dunken hes lost my horse” and that “it is thoughtt we will feaght or att leist scrimmish this nightt—Sum say the ennymie is fleing,” (Wedderburn Papers, p. 101). The enemy, in fact, was not fleeing. Two days later, both Sir David and George fought at the battle of Dunbar, and both father and son were killed there (Wedderburn Papers, p. 4, 7). George Home’s estate—valued at £1669—was left to his wife, Katherine Morrison, and their children (Wedderburn Papers, p. 101).

 

Keywords:

 

English Civil War, Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Covenant, Bishops Wars, Cromwell, British Civil Wars

 

Sources: 

 

Ferguson, J. Papers Illustrating the History of the Scots Brigade in the service of the United Netherlands,1572-1697 (Edinburgh, 1899), p. 400.

Furgol, E., A Regimental History of the Covenanting Armies (Edinburgh, 1990), pp. 74, 166-167, 352-353.

Nationaal Archief, Den Haag (NL-HaNA), Raad van State, 1581-1795, 1.01.19, inv.nr. 46, f. 157.

Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1627-1628: p. 291.

 -- 1629: p. 124

Report on the Manuscripts of Colonel David Milne Home of Wedderburn Castle, N.B (London, 1902), p. 4, 7, 96, 101 et passim.

Ten Raa, F.J.G, and de Bas, F., Het Staatsche Leger, 1568-1795, III (Breda, 1915), p. 182; Vol. IV, p. 247.

The National Archives, E 157/4: Register of soldiers taking the oath of allegiance and register of licences of persons to pass beyond the seas, 1628-1629, f. 88. 

 

 

This entry created by Mr Jack Abernethy.

Service record

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE, HAY'S
Arrived 1629-01-14, as CAPTAIN?
Departed 1629-12-31
Capacity OFFICER?, purpose MILITARY
SCOTLAND, ARMY OF THE SOLEMN LEAGUE, SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, NEWCASTLE, HEREFORD
Arrived 1643-08-26, as LIEUTENANT-COLONEL
Departed 1647-12-31
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SCOTLAND, DAVID LESLIE, ARMY OF THE COVENANT, SCOTLAND, DUNBAR
Arrived 1649-02-28, as LIEUTENANT-COLONEL
Departed 1650-09-03, as DECEASED
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY