Colonel Horsburgh of Horsburgh

[tarabelle]

Hey

Does anyone know how I would find out what Regiment this Colonel was attached to ?
I've been rooting about and cant find much other than Mallams auctioned a painting of him and his wife dates 1860 where he was a lieutenant colonel but the letter in the image is 1864 and he is a colonel ?

Thanks for anything

Not mines no idea if it is or will be for sale


T X

[3dg]

Hello,
Colonel is a higher rank than Lt Colonel.
In the Army we used to call Lt Colonels half colonels and Colonels full colonels.
Don't know his regiment, sorry.
Any chance of seeing the painting?

Chris

[3dg]

I have found an Alexander Horsburgh Lt Colonel, Bengal native infantry.
Edinburgh Gazette 1855.
Chris

[tarabelle]

Hi Chris and thank you
Wish I could I'd love to see it myself but it was a print catalogue and didnt have images which I would have thought were pretty important if youre selling paintings

T X

[mike_vee]

Another bit of info that may help ??

Deaths - June 1852 :
At Pirn House, Innerleithen, on the 14th instant, Thomas Horsburgh Esq., of Horsburgh.

Same address as on evelope , so must be a relative.

[tarabelle]

Thank you Mike

I was able to find his relatives in the 1600 and 1700s but little in Victorian times. I wonder maybe did he spend a lot of his time abroad in the Army?

T X

[Toby Purcell]

As an officer of Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) he was not an officer of the British Army, but an officer of the Honourable East India Company, a huge mercantile institution that effectively ran the Indian Sub Continent on behalf of the British Crown, thus not effecting the national balance book. All those in the HEIC Army, Europeans and natives, were technically mercenaries. Apart from any applications that he might have made to take furloughs (i.e. long leave of absence) back home in Britain, it was common to spend the majority of time while serving, in India.

[tarabelle]

HI toby

So he was definitely in the Bengal Infantry then ? They seem to be a bit of an aristocratic family going by the ones in 1600 and 1700s

T X

[at57]

Could be the man you are looking for:

Col Boyd Robert Horsbrugh
BIRTH 22 Jul 1871
Pune (Poona), Maharashtra, India
DEATH 14 Jul 1916 (aged 44)
England
BURIAL
St Peter Churchyard
Tandridge, Tandridge District, Surrey, England


Lieutenant Colonel Boyd Robert Horsbrugh (Army Service Corps) was an English ornithologist and military man, best known for his 1912 book The Gamebirds and Waterfowl of South Africa, a collaborative work with Claude Gibney Finch-Davie.
He was the elder son of Charles Bell Horsbrugh, a Captain and Adjutant of the 2nd Central India Horse, later the Central India Horse.
He married Elizabeth Mitchell of Philadelphia.

Died aged 44 years
Served in
Sierra Leone 1898-1899
South Africa 1899-1902

Regards,
Andrew

Sorry, looking again at the dates this can't be the same man

[Toby Purcell]

Originally Posted by tarabelle

HI toby

So he was definitely in the Bengal Infantry then ? They seem to be a bit of an aristocratic family going by the ones in 1600 and 1700s

T X

Hi Tara,
Going by 3dg post above it seems likely I think that he had found the details of the officer whose envelope you are investigating. Although it’s not entirely impossible I suppose that there’s another officer in the British service by that name. The fact that you have an address is key though and with more research you should find a definitive answer. A genealogical website will usually prove matters and there are also HEIC records accessible via the following links:

1. British Library: https://www.bl.uk/subjects/family-history
2. Find my past: https://search.findmypast.co.uk/sear...-navy-pensions
3. Families in British India Society: https://wiki.fibis.org/index.php/Main_Page
4. India Office Records: https://indiafamily.bl.uk/UI/Home.aspx

As an aside, interestingly the Church of England, never slow to spot a financial opportunity, are currently digitising and photographing their entire estate of graveyard and burial records, in a business partnership with one or more of the genealogical concerns.

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by tarabelle

They seem to be a bit of an aristocratic family going by the ones in 1600 and 1700s

T X

James Horsburgh (1762-1836) was Chief Hydrographer of the Honourable East India Company , but he was from Fife and his parents "though respectable , were poor."

Perhaps another branch of the family but there is the East India Company link ?

[3dg]

Originally Posted by at57

Could be the man you are looking for:

Col Boyd Robert Horsbrugh
BIRTH 22 Jul 1871
Pune (Poona), Maharashtra, India
DEATH 14 Jul 1916 (aged 44)
England
BURIAL
St Peter Churchyard
Tandridge, Tandridge District, Surrey, England


Lieutenant Colonel Boyd Robert Horsbrugh (Army Service Corps) was an English ornithologist and military man, best known for his 1912 book The Gamebirds and Waterfowl of South Africa, a collaborative work with Claude Gibney Finch-Davie.
He was the elder son of Charles Bell Horsbrugh, a Captain and Adjutant of the 2nd Central India Horse, later the Central India Horse.
He married Elizabeth Mitchell of Philadelphia.

Died aged 44 years
Served in
Sierra Leone 1898-1899
South Africa 1899-1902

Regards,
Andrew

Sorry, looking again at the dates this can't be the same man

Not him.
The letter is dated 1864, this chap was born 1871.
Yet another relative maybe?

Chris

[Toby Purcell]

Originally Posted by 3dg

Not him.
The letter is dated 1864, this chap was born 1871.
Yet another relative maybe?

Chris

I think you probably had the right man already, Chris.

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by at57

He was the elder son of Charles Bell Horsbrugh, a Captain and Adjutant of the 2nd Central India Horse, later the Central India Horse.

Not the father either :

"Cornet Charles Bell Horsbrugh to be Lieutenant. - Dated 17th November, 1863."

[Toby Purcell]

Originally Posted by mike_vee

Not the father either :

"Cornet Charles Bell Horsbrugh to be Lieutenant. - Dated 17th November, 1863."

I think it’s the address on the envelope that needs to be focussed upon, and then work backwards from the Horsburgh family who resided at that location.