KENNETH THE SOLDIER
SIR,—I was interested to read the contribution by A. C. MacKenzie in your issue of May 25. The story of the Old Soldier is substantially correct though Mr. MacKenzie does make some mistakes in his narrative. I was the Colonel who provided him with the first inti- mation about his relative. My father, the late Colonel Darroch of Gourock, who had served over twenty years in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, visited the old man at Diabaig early in 1912. Successful application was made for the King's Pardon and the old man's medals, through the then Lord-Lieutenant of Ross-shire, Sir Hector Munro of Foulis, not through Sir Kenneth MacKenzie of Gairloch as is suggested by Mr. MacKenzie. These were probably the last Crimean medals to have been issued. Amongst my papers there is an account of Kenneth MacKenzie, giving his regimental number in the old 93rd Highlanders (incorpo- rated in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders by Lord Cardwell's reforms of 1881). He was wounded at Inkerman, not Balaclava, and worked for spells in England as a mason, probably stone-dyking, during his journey north on foot which took over two years.
I accompanied my father to Diabaig and remember the old man, who was by that time very nearly blind. He said he had had to learn English whilst ho was going home as
a deserter but he had very little recollection of it. In his time in the Regiment Gaelic was the language spoken in the ranks and English was only used for words of command, some of which he could still remember. He gave us a graphic account of being wounded : he was kneeling down, the ball shattered the stock of his musket and entered his right thigh.
I take leave to doubt the story of the feather- bonnet; it was certainly not on view the day we visited Diabaig. Some years ago I sug- gested purchasing the old man's medals and pardon from his son for the Regimental Museum : the reply was that these medals and pardon were the only mementos which the family possessed of Old Kenneth. No mention of the feather-bonnet.
Articles have, appeared in the Regimental Magazine on the subject of Old Kenneth. There is no doubt of his authenticity. The dry facts are that he served in the 93rd, deserted from hospital and made his way home on foot. He heard my father was to leave the district and made himself known, with the result that the King's Pardon and his medals were obtained for him in 1913.—Yours faithfully,
DARROCH OF GOUROCK
Swanston Cottage, Edinburgh, 10
Previous page
