Colonial war heroes
From Mr Anthony Furse Sir: Regarding the excellent article by Bunny Smedley (The forgotten patriot', 30 December) about her American Loyalist cousin, Joseph Galloway, your readers may care to know that the jovial and flourishing General Society of Colonial Wars, which has existed in the USA since 1892, was founded:
... to perpetuate the memory of the men who ... assisted in the establishment, defense and preservation of the American Colonies [prior to 17761 and who were in truth the founders of this nation.
Separate societies now exist in 31 of the different states, and in 1999 the establishment of a new Society of Colonial Wars in the British Isles was agreed at the general meeting.
Like Joseph Galloway, my great-greatgreat-grandfather Sir William Pepperrell and many other Loyalists left America in 1776 or later, moving either to Canada or back to Britain, and membership of the SCWBI is open to any man who can trace his direct descent from an ancestor who fought in a colonial war. Ancestors who were members of the British Army and Royal Navy in actions fought before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War are just as eligible as colonists like Pepperrell or Galloway. Women who are equally eligible may join the British Chapter of the Society of Colonial Dames.
At the annual banquet of the General Society, members have always toasted their society, their president and (since 1952) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and, since 1999, the British and Canadian Armed Forces are also thus honoured.
Anthony Furse
Mold, Flintshire
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