CAMPBELL, KATHARINE [SSNE 8282]
Text source
Katharine Campbell was a Scottish woman and wife of Major James Ferguson of Brigadier Barthold Balfour’s [SSNE 8260] (later Colonel George Lauder’s [SSNE 4982]) regiment of the Scots-Dutch Brigade. In 1689, the Brigade returned to Scotland and they were heavily involved in fighting the Jacobites during the Scottish Highland War (1689-92). Ferguson was captured by the Jacobites after the defeat of King William II and Queen Mary II’s Scots Army at Killiecrankie, 27th July 1689. For a short time afterward, Ferguson was thought dead due to the eyewitness testimony of fellow officer Captain John Cunningham and, as a result, his wife petitioned the Scottish Privy Council for funds to return to the Dutch Republic as a widow. She was granted 4 Rijksdaalders, or 19 shillings and 4 pence Sterling, for that purpose on 11th September 1689. Some weeks later it was discovered that Ferguson was not dead but held as a prisoner of war, reportedly due to his well-known zeal for William and Mary’s cause. His release was negotiated by Major-General Hugh Mackay of Scourie [SSNE 5005] as part of a larger prisoner exchange a few months later.
Sources:
James Ferguson (ed.), Papers Illustrating the History of the Scots Brigade in the Service of the United Netherlands 1572-1782, Vol 1, 1572-1697 (Edinburgh, 1899), pp. 480, 485.
Henry Paton (ed.), Records of the Privy Council of Scotland, Volume 14, 3rd Series (Edinburgh, 1933), Order for a precept of four rex dollars to Katharine Campbell, 9th September 1689, p. 239.
National Records of Scotland, E7/5, Treasury Register, 1688-1689, 11th September 1689, f. 190.
This entry written by Mr Graeme Millen.
Keywords: Widow, female
Service record
- SCOTLAND, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC,
- Arrived 1689-07-27, as WIDOW
- Departed 1689-09-11, as REPATRIATED?
- Capacity PETITIONER, purpose WIDOW