The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

gourdongirl

(Front of Memorial) To Col. Gardiner who fell in the Battle of Prestonpans 21 Sept 1745.

(Below the above inscription) A faithful man and feared God above many. NEH. VII.2

(Left side of memorial) This neighbourhood alike hallowed by his life and renowned by his death greatfully accepts the guardianship of his memory.

(Back of memorial) Erected by public subscription 1853.
(Archibald Ritchie, Sculptor, Edinburgh)

(Right side of memorial) His valor, his high scorn of death, the fames proud meed no impulse ow'd. His was a pure unsullied zeal for Britain and God. he fell, he died! Th' exulting for trod careless o'er his noble clay. yet not in vain our champion fought in that disastroud fray.

This Memorial to Colonel James Gardiner can be found in the grounds of Bankton House, where he lived from 1742 till his death.

Bankton House can be seen in the background of this picture.

One of the 4 lions found at the corners of the memorial.

gourdongirl · Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 4:04 am Post subject:

James Gardiner was born on 10th Jan 1687 at Carriden, Falkirk to Captain Patrick Gardiner of Torwoodhead and Mary Hodge of Gladsmuir. He was educated in Linlithgow. His father served for many years in the army of King William and Queen Mary and died abroad while with the British Forces in Germany, soon after the Battle of Hochstett. His uncle, Colonel Hodge once commanded a Regiment of Foot and was killed at the Battle of Steenkirk in 1692. His older brother, Robert, aged 16 was killed at the Siege of Namur in 1695.

He joined the army aged 14 and was commissioned as an Ensign. He fought bravely with the Duke of Marlborough's army against the French at the Battle of Ramillies in1706, where he was wounded through the mouth and taken prisoner. He subsequently served in several Dragoon Regiments and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1730 and then to Colonel in 1743. He fought under Sir John Cope at the disastrous engagement with the Jacobites at Prestonpans on the 21st September, 1745, where he was killed when his Dragoons fled the field when attacked by the Jacobite army. He had bravely tried to rally his troops, but was brought down by the cuts of the Highlander's claymores.

In his youth, a reckless and profligate rake, Gardiner became an enthusiastic and devout religious convert following a vision in 1719.

He married The Right Hon. Lady Frances Erskine, the daughter of the late Earl of Buchan on 11th July 1726. They had 13 children, only 5 out-lived their father, 2 sons and 3 daughters. Lady Frances died in 1774. Around 1742, James Gardiner bought Bankton House in Prestonpans, which was only a short distance from where he died, after the Battle of Prestonpans, 21st Sept 1745. He actually died in the arms of the Ministers daughter, Beatrix Jenkinson in the manse of nearby Tranent on 22nd Sept 1745. He is buried in the Tranent Churchyard.