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***This article appears to be on two different
persons - edit awaited***
Archibald Douglas (d. 1667),
army officer, whose origins are obscure although
he was probably Scottish by birth, was commissioned captain on 5 July 1666
in Colonel Lord George Douglas's regiment of foot (the Royal Scots). In
1667 the regiment was brought back from four years' garrison duty in
France to confront the Dutch threat during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. As
the Dutch fleet under De Ruyter advanced on the Medway estuary, Colonel
Douglas's regiment was reinforced and assigned to the defence of Chatham.
Captain Douglas, who had previously been stationed at Queensferry to deter
the Dutch crossing the Medway, was sent with a detachment of soldiers to defend HMS
Royal Oak.
On 12 June the Dutch got their fireships over the
chain across the mouth of the Medway and entered the river. They missed
the Royal Oak on the first attempt but on the following day John
Clapham reported to Pepys that he saw the Royal Oak and other
vessels ‘fired and aflame’ (CSP dom., 1667,
185). Douglas defended the vessel with great courage and when advised to
retire, refused, allegedly saying, ‘it shall never be told that a Douglas
quitted his post without orders’ (Lediard, 589). Douglas perished in the
flames on 13 June; it is not known whether his body was recovered for
burial but on 18 October of the same year his widow, Anne-Marie Herry, was given the sum of £100 by royal warrant.
Anne-Marie Herry was born in 1639, Audenarde (Eastern-Flanders). She
remarried with Corneille de Heze. She was the daughter of Stephen Herry,
(26 Dec 1609, Oudenaarde, -25 Aug 1679) and Marie-Jeanne Moreau, who died
in Brussels October 21, 1677.
ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS was many years an officer in the First,
or the
Royal regiment of foot, with which corps he served in
France and
Germany, when that veteran Scots regiment was
in the service of
Louis XIV.; but it was withdrawn from the
army of the French monarch
in 1678, from which period it
has been on the British establishment.
He was captain of one of the companies of the Royal regiment sent to
the relief
of Tangier, in Africa, when that fortress' was besieged
by the
Moors in 1680, and he was wounded in the general engagement on the 27th of September, 1680, when the Moorish
army was
overthrown. He was subsequently promoted to
the lieutenant-colonelcy
of his regiment ; and he commanded
the companies of his corps at the
battle of Sedgemoor, on the
6th of July, 1685, where he
distinguished himself.
King James II. placed great confidence in the loyalty of Colonel
Douglas, and when His Majesty's power was menaced by the
armament
under the Prince of Orange, the King nominated
this distinguished
Scots officer to raise a regiment, now the
SIXTEENTH foot, of which
he was appointed colonel. At the
Revolution in 1688, he withdrew
from the service, and was
not afterwards employed under the British
crown.
In consequence of a mark on his countenance, he was sometimes
called Spot.
At the Battle of
Sedgemoor, the last battle to be ever fought on English soil. James, Duke
of Monmouth, raised a rebellion in the West Country against the Catholic
King, James II, hoping it would spread to the rest of the country. Five
companies of the Royal Regt, including the Grenadiers and nine field
pieces, under the overall command of Lt Colonel Archibald Douglas, marched
to the assistance of the Earl of Feversham's Royalist forces at Sedgemoor.
The rebels attempted a surprise night attack on the Royalist camp only to
encounter the veterans of the Royal Regt who formed instantly at the alarm
and held the rebels in check, giving the other battalions of the army time
to form up. The Royals were then attacked by the Rebel cavalry at first
light followed by the rebel infantry but they held firm. 2nd Lt McCulloch
fell wounded in the action and is listed as one of seven Royal officers to
receive a bounty of money (25 pounds sterling) from the King in
recognition of the key role they played in the battle. Not only had the
Regt taken the brunt of the fighting, it had gone on to capture the Duke
of Monmouth's standard when his forces were finally routed from the field.
In 1687, The Royal Regt was split into two battalions of eleven and
ten companies respectively, each company being reduced from 100 to 50 men.
2nd Lt McCulloch remained with the First Battalion which moved to various
quarters in and around the City of London. In early 1688, John McCulloch
said goodbye to his old company commander, Robert Hodges, who was promoted
to Lt Colonel of the newly raised 16th Regt of Foot which was to be under
the command of his old CO, newly-promoted Colonel Archibald Douglas.
Archibald Douglas was the first Colonel of the 16th Regiment of Foot,
later the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was a Scotsman who raised the
regiment in 1688 and was a veteran of many battles across several
decades, including Tangiers and Sedgemoor. He was trusted emphatically
by King James II, having served his family loyally for decades.
After he had served in the 1st Foot (Royal Scots) for many years and
risen to the rank of Lt-Colonel, he was appointed to raise and lead the
regiment on the 9th October. William of Orange's forces landed in Kent 5
November and the "Glorious Revolution" overthrew James II, who fled to
France 21 December.
Colonel Douglas, a staunch supporter of
James, refused to take the oath of allegiance and was replaced by Robert
Hodges.
Other than the fact that he did not apparently serve the
crown after 1688, information on him has proved hard to find.
Notes:
1. I have seen a reference to a brother, William, who went to France
to serve alongside him, but have been unable to confirm this.
2. There is a theory that his loyalty was a reflection on him being a
Roman Catholic.
3. He is the subject of a poem by Andrew Marvell, 'Last
Instructions to a Painter'.
Sources
Sources for this article include:
• The Bedfordshire Regiment
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