James Gardiner (British Army officer)
Colonel James Gardiner (11 January 1688 – 21 September 1745) was a Scottish soldier who fought in the British Army, including during the 1745 Jacobite rising.[1]
He was born at Carriden, educated in Linlithgow, and joined the army at the age of fourteen. He served with distinction in several battles and was promoted through the ranks to Colonel in 1743.[2]
Gardiner was known as a rake in his youth, but had a religious experience in 1719 and became a devout convert. In 1726 he married Frances Erskine, daughter to the ninth Earl of Buchan; five of their thirteen children survived to adulthood.
During the Battle of Ramillies he was shot through the mouth and nearly killed by a French soldier who had returned to plunder the dead. However, Gardiner was spared after being mistaken for a French soldier.[3]
At the Battle of Prestonpans he was mortally wounded by the Highlanders after his dragoons had fled the field and he was attempting to rally some footsoldiers. He received a mortal blow whilst wounded on the ground and was stripped to the waist as his possessions were looted by the Highlanders. After the battle Gardiner was carried from the field by a servant to nearby Tranent where he soon died. By a quirk of fate Gardiner lived close to the battlefield in Bankton House.
Memorials
An influential biography was written by Philip Doddridge. He is commemorated locally with a memorial and with a plaque on Bankton House. The play, Colonel Gardiner: Vice and Virtue, written by playwright Andrew Dallmeyer was performed as part of Prestonpans' 2009 Homecoming celebrations.[4]
References
External links
 |
Wikisource has the text of the The Nuttall Encyclopædia article Gardiner, Colonel James. |
- Gutenberg Project: The Life of Col. James Gardiner by Philip Doddridge
- Full biography at Electric Scotland
<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  |
This Scottish biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- Use dmy dates from August 2012
- Use British English from August 2012
- Pages with broken file links
- Scottish soldiers
- 7th Queen's Own Hussars officers
- 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons officers
- 13th Hussars officers
- British military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession
- British Army personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745
- Scottish military personnel killed in action
- 1688 births
- 1745 deaths
- People from Falkirk (council area)
- People of the Jacobite rising of 1715
- People from Bo'ness
- 17th-century Scottish people
- 18th-century Scottish people
- 18th-century British Army personnel
- Scottish people stubs
_Wedgwood,_published_by_William_Johnstone_White.jpg){kind=link}
