Sir John Kincaid (1787 – 1862) was an officer of the British 95th Regiment, The Rifle Brigade who wrote a first hand account of his service under

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

through the

Peninsula War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, ...

and the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

John Augustus Atkinson - A Rifleman at Musketry Practice - B1975

Life

Born the second son of John Kincaid of Dalheath, near

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

, John Kincaid was educated at

Polmont Polmont ( gd, Poll-Mhonadh) is a village in the Falkirk council area of Central Scotland. It lies towards the east of the town of Falkirk, north of the Union Canal, which runs adjacent to the village. Due to its situation in Central Scotland, m ...

School and served for a time in the North York Militia. He joined the second battalion

Rifle Brigade The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle ...

(then still the 95th) as a second Lieutenant in 1809. Kincaid recounted the events of his life from 1809 to 1815 in
Adventures in the Rifle Brigade
'. He first saw action in the Walcheran Expedition in 1809 before returning to England. The regiment then sailed to Spain in 1810 to join the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...

's Army. Kincaid related his own experience of the Peninsula Campaign, the advance into France and finally the Battles of

Quatre Bras Quatre Bras (, French for crossroads; literally "four arms") is a hamlet in the municipality of Genappe, Wallonia, Belgium. It lies on the crossroad of the Charleroi-Brussels road (currently named N5) and the Nivelles-Namur road south of Genappe ...

and Waterloo in his memoir. His account is thought to be one of the principle sources for Bernard Cornwall's fictional Sharpe of the Rifles. Kincaid became a captain in 1826, retired from the Army in 1831 and was knighted in 1852 as senior Exon of the

Yeomen of the Guard The King's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard is a Sovereign's Bodyguard, bodyguard of the British monarch. The List of oldest military units and formations in continuous operation, oldest British military corps still in existence, it was ...

Works

*''Adventures in the Rifle Brigade'' (London 1830) *''Random Shots of a Rifleman'' (London 1835)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kincaid, John 1787 births 1862 deaths British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Place of birth missing Yeomen