James Plunkett and the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot ( 10 Abstract)

For the complete story on James Plunkett and the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot, and his relationship with my Great Great Grandmother, Agnes McIndoe Pollock, click on the following link:-

The 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot companies, received their orders on the 28th February, 1859, to come together at Shergati, India. The Regiment then embarked on board either the "Clasmerden" on the 3rd May, or the "Gypsy Bride" on the 16th May, 1859 arriving in Portsmouth, England, in 1859, on the 18th and the 29th September respectively. Private James Plunkett joined rank with the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot soldiers in England, who by that time after travelling from India, were a battle hardened and war weary outfit very much deserving of some rest and recreation.

Photo: Uniforms of the 29^th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot. Private: Full Dress; Officer: Undress – Blue Patrol,     Adjuctant; Drill Order, 1876. Watercolours from Everard’s book, “History of Thos Farrington’s Regiment”, painted theGrandson of Sir Joshua Reynolds, portrait painter to 18^th century London Society. Photo of watercolour taken by         PaulineandNeil McNee with kind permission of  Mercian Regiment Museum as original published watercolours are now exempt from Copyright

When the 1861 Census was recorded, the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot were stationed at North Camp, Farnborough, Hampshire in England. James Plunkett is listed on the Census as a soldier, aged 21, rank of Private, with the Worcestershire Regiment. The 2nd Division of the Regiment under Major Walker, travelled to Glasgow, Scotland arriving on the 28th May, 1862. Many of the soldiers were then billeted out with families in Paisley, whilst the Glasgow barracks were occupied by other soldiers.

At this time the American Civil War was raging, Royal Wedding fever was paramount in Glasgow, the Scottish cotton and weaving industry was depressed, and Agnes McIndoe Pollock and Private James Plunkett met and had a relationship.

The 29th Foot Regiment including James Plunkett, left Glasgow on the 21st April, 1863, en route to Ireland, where they relocated to Dublin, and then marched to the Curragh on 27th April.

Meanwhile by the 1871 Scottish Census, Agnes McIndoe Pollock "Plunkett", (Granny's mother and my Great Great Grandmother), born in Paisley, Renfrew, is living in Glasgow, at 332 St. George's Square. Her first born daughter, Annie McIndoe Pollock, is recorded on the 31st December, 1863, as being illegitimate. However, she is later recorded in the 1871 Census as Annie McIndoe Plunkett. By 1871, Agnes Pollock  "Plunkett" has met Thomas Dudgeon, and my Great Grandmother has been born. At the time of the 1871 Scottish Census, Thomas is working in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England.

When Granny Delandelles wrote her memoirs she had the best interests of her family at heart, and was also trusting in what she had been told by her Father and Mother. She was also relying on memory regarding a lot of her experiences as a child, before emigrating to Australia. The 1871 Scotland Census, an accurate and trustworthy account of people's lives, sheds a very different light on some aspects of Granny's account of her parent's relationship and what she had been told. "Captain" James Plunkett, the father of Annie, and Granny's stepsister, assumed a very romantic status in our family, by the time the story was handed down through the generations, hence a chapter being dedicated to his service in the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot and the part he played in the life of my Great Great Grandmother before she met my Great Great Grandfather, Thomas Dudgeon.

Granny said: It was told to me after my father's death .....that he had been in love with my mother's mother and his people would not let him marry her, but when his first wife died he went back to look for his old sweetheart and found she had died and left a family of boys and one girl who had married Captain James Plunkett of an old Irish family and he had been in the 29th Foot Regiment and had been killed in in India. She had a little daughter. She was only 19 when her husband was killed so my father persuaded her to marry him, though he was old enough to be her father, but his two girls by his first wife never forgave him for my mother was younger than they were. (Extract from Granny's diary)

For the complete story on Private James Plunkett and the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot, and his relationship with my Great Great Grandmother, Agnes McIndoe Pollock, click on the following link:

Keywords:

29th (Worcestershire) Foot Regiment
Agnes McIndoe Pollock
Agnes Plunkett nee Pollock
James Plunkett
Annie McIndoe Plunkett