Colonel Anstruther-Thomson

Colonel  John Anstruther-Thomson of Charleton, co Fife, and Carntyne was born on 8 August 1818, and served in the 9th Lancers and 13th Light Dragoons. He was Honorary Colonel of the Fife and Forfar Imperial Yeomanry; a Deputy Lieutenant for Fife; and a J.P. for the same county. He married, firstly, Caroline Maria Agnes Robina Gray, daughter of Reverend John Hamilton Gray of Carntyne, on 25 July 1852; and, secondly, Isabel Bruce, daughter of Lt.-Gen. Robert Bruce, on 17 June 1891. He died on 8 October 1904 at age 86. He would have succeeded to the title of 18th Lord St. Clair on 10 April 1833 but for the attainder resulting from a predecessor’s involvement at the Battle of Sherrifmuir in 1715 during the first Jacobite rising.

Major Gerald Achilles Burgoyne (1874-1936), soldier and scribe, served with 3rd Dragoon Guards in the Boer War and was the author of The Fife and Forfar Imperial Yeomanry (pubd. 1904). He served with the South Irish Horse (retired 1910) and during the First World War with the Royal Irish Rifles. His account of active service 30 November 1914 to 10 May 1915 was published under the title of The Burgoyne Diaries and is summarized as follows ‘ Vivid descriptions of life in the trenches and behind the lines south of Ypres; criticism of organisation and fellow officers; criticism and sympathy for his men; sent home wounded and exhausted; an honest and straightforward record of the man and events which has been drawn upon by Jennifer Johnston for the novel How Many Miles to Babylon. The Burgoyne Diaries were republished by Harmsworth in 1985.