"The final years of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th saw conflicts with France and Spain at their height during the Revolutionary / Napoleonic Wars....Britain was almost continuously at war with France and her allies for twenty-two years between 1793 and 1815 with the regular army stretched to its limits in home defence and foreign campaigns; French naval vessels and privateers off the Scottish coast; the threat of invasion of the United Kingdom; and fear of internal subversion from the spread of republican and radical ideas from France. And if these were not enough to contend with, the unhappy Irish rebelled in 1798 and a small French invasion force joined them...... The Napoleonic Wars created an unprecedented demand for military power." (Prof. A Morrison - click on title for full article)
It is possible that relatives of James Horn served in the army or militia before he did, and there are records that should be checked in search of another generation back.
The 5th North British Militia which included men from Fife, Stirling, Clackmannon, and Kinross list several Horn men in the 1798-1802 records. The following references were searched in the Muster Records at Kew and reported on the thaneofife.org website. The numbers on the left refer to the numbers in the muster rolls:
#322 David Horn, 5th North British (Fifeshire) Militia, Jan 1799 - May 1802, Private
#323 George Horn, 5th North British (Fifeshire) Militia, June 1798 - May 1802, Private
The 1803 - 1854 records show a number of Horns, but it is unclear if these men were with the Stirling Militia, as there was a reorganization of the shire groups after 1802.
#1303 - David Horn, Private, Time served 1821-1825, both years training only.#1304 - George Horn, Private, 1831 - 28 days training only.#1305 - James Horn, Private, 1812 - RejectedOur James Horn joined the Stirling Militia on October 22, 1807. By July of 1808, it was stationed at Berwick on Tweed on the east coast of Scotland. (see map below and click to enlarge). They then marched to Dunbar back up the east coast in East Lothian (Haddingtonshire at that time). The next record of location puts them in Glasgow with a detachment at Greenock, west of Glasgow. In April, 1810 they were at Edinburgh Castle in preparation for moving to England.
In June, 1810 they sailed from Leith (the harbour north of Edinburgh) to Margate, Kent on the south-east coast of England opposite the continent. They then they marched to Ramsgate, Kent. (see map of Kent coastline below)
March, 1811 they were in Sheerness; August - Brabourn Lees; December - Deal, all of which are in Kent.
February, 1812 they moved to Leicester and then to Derby, Ashton-under-Lyne, Kersal Moor (near Manchester) and finally Halifax (Yorkshire). Alexander, the second child of James Horn and Marion was conceived in about November of 1812; therefore, James must have had some leave around this time. In late January, 1813 the militia moved to Leeds. In 1814, they went back to Edinburgh.
James Horn's monument at the Hopetown Cemetery in Lanark County, Ontario states that he died April 6, 1837 at 50 years of age. Unless his birthday fell in the first quarter of the year, he was probably born in 1786 (and would have turned 51 in the year that he died). We do not have the names of his parents or the location of his birth, but it has been assumed that he was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland perhaps in or close to Glasgow. In 1807 when he was married, his address was Bridgeton.
The Bridgeton community started as a weaving town in 1705 when a John Walkinshaw rented out part of his Goosefauld estate to weavers. When the Rutherglen Bridge was built across the Clyde in 1775, the town began to be called Bridge Town ( often pronounced Brigton). [Source: Wikipedia]
The first official record we have for James is his marriage to Marion Megget on May 5, 1807. James is shown as a weaver of Bridgeton, and he would have been twenty or twenty-one years old. Bridgeton is north of the Clyde and east of the Glasgow city centre. We have Marion's baptism of 1789, which makes her tombstone at the Hopetown Cemetery inaccurate by two years. This means that Marion was just eighteen when they were married, and probably would have remained with her parents during James' years in the militia.
According to the a roll book for the Stirlingshire Militia (searched for M. Jacques), James Horn enlisted in the Militia October 22, 1807, about six months after his marriage. The next official document is the baptism of their first child, Elizabeth, which took place in May of 1808 in Barony Parish. James Horn's occupation is 'soldier - Stirling Sh. Mil' (Stirlingshire Militia).
"....(James) was appointed to the rank of Corporal on July 25, 1813. There is a one word note added after his promotion date that he was 'Reduced.' This means for some reason he was reduced back down to the rank of Private. Whether this was at his own request or for some misdemeanor I cannot say but given the rank of corporal would be associated with a rise in wages, I doubt he would have wished to have remained a private. There is nothing else in the remarks column so it is doubful that he regained the rank at a later date." (reply to M. Jacques from Argylls Museum at Stirling Castle)
James and Marion's second child was born in 1813 and the baptism record has James' occupation as 'soldier' but by the time their third child was born in 1815, he was a 'weaver' again.
His militia career spanned approximately five or six years, five being the required length of service. It is possible that his promotion to Corporal at a higher pay was meant to entice him to remain in the militia. The record says 'reduced' but does not state the reason. He would have completed five years in October of 1812. From a modern perspective, marching with the militia from Kent back to Glasgow, even part of the distance, might have been enough military experience for James.
The militia, which would never have served outside Britain, was back-up for the regular army, providing training, then soldiers, as needed. The militia was used if riots occured within the country or if there was an invasion. Militia men were also used as security guards at prisons
which would have held French prisoners during the Napoleonic years.
There are some very informative articles on line concerning the militia, most notably a lengthy paper by Professor Arnold Morrison titled "The Defence of Scotland - Militias, Fencibles and Volunteer Corps - 1793 - 1820. Click on the title above for this website.
to be continued
