From: The Gore District Militia of 1821-1824 -1830 and 1838 ; [and] The Militia of West York and West Lincoln of 1804, with the lists of officers : together with some historical and biographical notes on the militia within the territory at present constituting the County of Wentworth, in the years named: by H H Robertson and published in 1904.
Captain Alexander Roxburgh, Kirkcudbright and Canada
Capt. Alexander Roxburgh was born at Kirkcudbright, Scotland, in 1774. In 1799 he sailed for Canada, a fellow-passenger with Dr., afterwards Bishop, Strachan. In 1812, from among the settlers of Glengarry — mainly disbanded Highlanders — he raised a company in the Glangarry Light Infantry, and received a commission as Captain. “To the Jacobites of 1745, to the U. E. Loyalists of 1775," says Coffin, "was added a gallant band of Scottish soldiers, who had fought for the crown against Republican France from 1792 to 1803." The descendants of men who had braved "Culloden's fateful moor," but whose loyalty was such, that regardless of names, genealogies or dynasties, they looked to the principle, and whether it was for James, or whether it was for George, struck heartily and home in the abiding sentiment of Bonnie Dundee :
"Ere the King's crown shall fall, there are crowns to lie broke."
Captain Roxburgh commanded his company throughout the war, was wounded at the taking of Fort George, in May, 1813, and participated in the notable service of the Fencibles at Lundy's Lane, where they formed the right of the British line. The regiment was disbanded in 1816, and in 1832 Capt. Roxburgh settled in Ancaster. He was on service in 1837-8, and in 1841 moved to Hamilton, where he acted as magistrate with Major Arthur Bowen. His wife was Euphemia, daughter of Alexander Melville, of Barquhar, Scotland, who predeceased her husband at Ancaster in 1834. Captain Roxburgh died at Hamilton, and was buried in St John's Churchyard, Ancaster, in 1856. His portrait is from a painting in 1831, in the uniform of the Fencibles. Though not of the Gore Militia his associations are the justification for inserting his name among the officers of the District.
Further Information
- Alexander Robertson was born and baptised in Kirkcudbright 24 June 1774, parents Patrick Roxburgh & Margaret Murray.
- His parents are listed as residing at Torrs.
- There are family gravestones at St Cuthbert's Churchyard, Kirkcudbright.
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