Afternoon Lecture| A Black Watch Officer’s Experience of The Peninsular War 1812 -1813

Drawing on entries from the Peninsular War Diary of Captain John Orr, her great great grandfather Rosslyn Macphail will talk about the experiences of this young Black Watch officer, veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, as he marched through Portugal and Spain. Captain John Orr who was born in Greenock in 1790 and enrolled in the militia. He was commissioned into the 42nd Regiment of Foot as an ensign in November 1811, arriving in Lisbon in April 1812. He kept a campaign diary for eighteen months giving an eye-witness account of what happened to his battalion as Wellington tried to remove the French from the Peninsula.  He usually wrote a few lines each night, using a small notebook.  He fought at the Battle of Salamanca and described the siege of Burgos and nearly being captured during the retreat. In 1813 he took part in various skirmishes with the French in the Pyrenees.  Later John fought with his regiment at Quatre Bras and was wounded at Waterloo. In 1831 he became superintendent of the Scottish Naval & Military Academy and is buried in Warriston Cemetery, Edinburgh

Rosslyn Macphail was born in Hertfordshire. She graduated from Edinburgh University with an MA in mathematics and psychology.   She worked in Scotland, Iran and in the Bahamas, before marrying and raising her family. After being widowed, she started to sort through a large archive of family papers and found materials relating to her great great grandfather Captain John Orr.  As a result of the family papers and further research, she has written her first book – From Fighting Napoleon to the Scottish Academy: The Life of captain John Orr which was published by Pen & Sword in October 2024.

2.00pm Lecture Commences

£11 non members | £9 Friends