Wedderburn book > History

HENRY WEDDERBURN OF GOSFORD. 383
5. Charles Wedderburn [17 — -1756]. I have no note of his birth or baptism. Part i v.
Douglas and J.W., the latter again on the authority of John Halkett, give no note Chap. I.
of his career but say that he died unmarried, and this is, no doubt, so, and Playfair
also, less precisely, says that he died s.p. 1 In the " Genealogical Account " (Bl. 81)
of about 1 780 it is Charles who is described as " an officer in the service of the East
India Company, died with many others in the prison called the Black Hole of
Calcutta," and this is, I think, the fact. See above s. his brother James. In the
list of the victims of the Black Hole, given in Busteed's Echoes from Old Calcutta
(1897), p. 333, Charles Wedderburn is named among the ensigns. 2
Of the daughters, all of whom were baptized at Dunfermline (ante, p. 382, n. 3),
1. Elizabeth Wedderburn was baptized 12-13 May 1724, and died unmarried.
2. Janet Wedderburn was baptized 22 Nov. 1726. She married John Ershine of
Balgonie, advocate, who made a bond of provision charging Balgonie and Thrask
with an annuity in her favour, 23 June 1759 (R.D. 403), but died between then
and 10 April 1767, when she is spoken of his relict in a sasineto her of this annuity
(G.R.S. 78). She had no issue. I have not ascertained the date of her death.
3. Charlotte Wedderburn was baptized 7-8 Jan. 1728, and died unmarried.
4. Mary Wedderburn was baptized 12-13 Oct. 1729. She married Charles Stewart of
Annefield, Lt.-Col. in the 63rd Foot (eldest son of John Stewart of Blairhall and
Lady Anne Stewart, sister of Lady Aemilia Halkett of Pitfirrane, ante, p. 380), by
whom she had two sons, Francis, born 7 Dec. 1770, and James, born 13 Jan.
1773, both baptized in South Leith (S.L.B. 4, 5), and apparently other issue,
as Douglas {Baronage, p. 244, s. Bruce of Blairhall) gives three sons, John,Charles,
and Henry, and a daughter, Mary. I have not ascertained the date of Mrs.
Stewart's death.
5. Ann Wedderburn, baptized 17 Oct. 1730, and died unmarried. 3
I have now to give an account of Henry Wedderburn of Gosford, second son to Charles
Wedderburn of Oosford and Mary Wardlaw, who succeeded to Gosford when, owing to the
mental condition of his cousin, Sir Peter, it was clear that Pitfirrane would become the
inheritance of Henry's elder brother, John. It was from his daughter and heiress, Mary
Wedderburn, Lady Gumming, that Gosford passed by sale to the Charteris family in 1784
(see below) who now possess it, so that the account of Henry and his issue not only
disposes of that estate as a family possession, but leaves the sole representation of the
first baronet of Gosford in the person of Sir John Wedderburn-Halkett, the fourth baronet,
to whom, after my account of Henry, I shall thus return (post, p. 386).
Henry Wedderburn [1722-77], 4 afterwards of Gosford (second son to Charles
Wedderburn of Gosford and Mary Wardlaw), was baptized at Dunfermline 19 July 1722.
He was bred to the sea, 5 and settled at Bengal as a free mariner soon after 1740. Upon
the war with Suraja Dowlah in 1757 he was appointed lieutenant and captain of the
Grenadier Company of Militia, and in reward for his then services was in 1758 promoted
by the local Government to the situation of Master Attendant of Marine, a post of con-
siderable importance, which he did not, however, hold it long as, the rupture with the Dutch
soon following, his services were accepted by Colonel Ford, who left him, on the army
advancing to Chandenagur, in command of the forts of Janna and Tobehannach, while in
the engagement terminated by the capture of the Dutch vessels, Wedderburn served on
board of Captain Wilson's ship.
1 He is thus not to be identified with another and later Charles Wedderburn, in the Indian army; cornet
13 Oct. 1766, captain 4 April 1773, died at Boggah 1 Jan. 1778 (List of Officers in the Indian Army,
Longmans 1838), administration to whose estate, however, was granted to his father, Charles Wedder-
burn, as next-of-kin, 6 April 1778 {Ind. Off. Bengal Administrations, No. 12960), a further proof of
his distinction from the above Charles, whose father, Gosford, was long since dead in 1778. I have not
been able to identify this Charles Wedderburn who died 1778.
- In some other accounts the Christian name is not given, e.a.. Scots' Wag. 1757, p. 254, while in others,
again, Wedderburn is omitted altogether, as, for example, in that of J.S. Holwell, a survivor, in
1758, and Orme's Military Transactions in Indostani, published in 1763. John Halkett refers J.W.
to the Annual Register, but I can find no such publication before 1758.
3 Qiitere ? Is she the person of her name who died and was buried at Dundee 4 Dec. 1795 (D.M.D. 68).
1 Synopsis of References :— J.W. 50, 80, 81, 83 ; G.S.R. 145 ; R.D. 405, 420, 424, 429, 435, 437, 443, 446 ;
R.A D. 185 ; Ed.M. 28 ; L.W. 3, 8, 12, 13.
5 The following facts of his career are taken from the petition to the Court of Directors mentioned below,
a copy of which was formerly at Pearsie, while another is among J.W. 'a papers (J.W. 83).