The Earl of Kingston's Regiment of Foot

 

1689-1698

Col J. Douglas commanded, 1690 - 1692, having succeeded William (Pierrepont), 4th Earl of Kingston who died, 1690, of apoplexy at Holme Pierrepont

This is the only reference to the regiment that I have been able to locate:
William Cartwright, of Normanton, who was so much disliked by Mrs. Hutchinson, married Christian Cartwright, Sir Hugh Cartwright's daughter, who was doubtless the "Citty" mentioned in his letter. He is mentioned in Thoroton as "William Cartwright the Lawyer, who built a house of brick and stone at Normanton." Their son, William, deserted the Stuart cause, and served as a captain in Ireland in the regiment which the Earl of Kingston led for William of Orange, but as Sir Hugh's brother, Fulke Cartwright, had married Mary Pierrepont, sister of the Earl of Kingston, this change of masters was probably due to family connections. William Cartwright, who was evidently more of a soldier than a scholar, wrote the two following letters to his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Charlton, of Chilwell, and, dying during the siege of Londonderry, was buried at Belfast:—

"August 27th 1689
My dearest Deare
On Monday ye 18th wee marched to ye towne of Caravargus, (a very strong place) haveing ye sea on ye one side, the towne being strongly walled and a very strong castle in it, (being thought one of the strongest in Ireland) which received us with great store both of great and small shott, but ye night being darke, wee made our aproch within a hundred yards of ye castle, and working very hard, by ye morning wee had made our trencher secure, and throwne up our batteries undiscovered, as soone as it was light we began to play our great and small shott very plentifully, which has continued ever since almost without intermission. Ye last night our Regimend and foure more entred the trenches about eight oclock, haveing double ye quantity of amunition that wee use to have, which wee made so good use of, that wee by one oclock had made three great fires in ye towne, as soon as it was day the enemy hung out a white flag and came to capitulation the towne was surrendered to us about tenn oclock yt day, wee have lost very few men in this enter-price I have lost never a man, I have one man very ill, wounded in his left hand by a musket (viz James Thomas yt quartered at Hen. Woodward's) Give my service to all my ferindes and let them know I have my health extremely well, give my blessing to all my little ones, and I pray GOD send you and them yor healthes. You may send me an account of all your wellfaires, direct yor letter for Captain Cartwright in ye Earl of Kingston's Regiment to be left with Mr Simon Smith at his house in Bellfast in ye Kingdom of Ireland,

so I rest in haste
thine as ever
W. Cartwright."

See also:
•  Colonel James Douglas Regiment - were there two James Douglases at this same time?

This page was last updated on 08 September 2022

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