During the late 18^th Century the British demarcated a number of burial grounds in the South, initially to compensate for the loss of the North Front Cemetery during the Great Siege and later as a consequence of the renewal of hostilities by Spain who quickly sided with France during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Amongst the burial grounds that stood to the South of Southport Gates were Trafalgar Cemetery, Witham’s Cemetery, Sandpits, Engineer Road Cemetery and Jews’ Gate Cemetery. The tomb of Bridget McFarlane is the only tomb that remains extant within the old Sandpits burial ground with the other five remaining graves being identified by headstones instead.

The inscription on the tomb reads as follows:

HERE LIES INTERD

THE REMAINS OF BRIDGET MCFARLANE

Wife of Sgt W. McFarlane

82^nd Regiment Who Departed This

Life The 2^nd Day of January ALONE 1795

Aged 38 years.

There are a number of further inscriptions on the tomb but these are at present undecipherable to the naked eye. With the information inscribed on the tomb, however, we gain the following information by tracing the movement of Sgt. W McFarlane’s Regiment.

Tomb inscription.

The 82^nd Regiment of Foot was raised in September 1793 as the British Army expanded to face the armies of hostile, revolutionary France. First formed in Stamford, Lincolnshire, by Major General Charles Leigh, late of the Foot Guards, it also recruited from Lancashire, Yorkshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire. General Leigh was serving in the Prince of Wales’s Household (later George IV) and by Royal consent his new regiment proudly took the title of “The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers”.

The 82^nd saw brief duty in Windsor and Hampton Court, but was soon posted to Gibraltar in August 1794, arriving on the 1^st December of that same year.¹ A second battalion (2nd/ 82nd) was raised and was also sent to Gibraltar, but the two new battalions were to have little time together. In May 1795, as the 2^nd/82^nd arrived the 1^st / 82^nd was ordered to embark for the West Indies where valuable French sugar islands might be captured. The 2^nd/82^nd was then disbanded and its soldiers drafted into other units in Gibraltar.

From the information above, we gather that Sgt. W. McFarlane arrived in Gibraltar with the 1^st Battalion with his wife, Bridget passing away barely a month after arrival. One can only imagine the effects of a long sea-journey on board Navy transport ships could have on the men, women and children of army regiments posted to remote stations of the British Empire. Some would not have survived the journey, others, like in the case of Bridget McFarlane would have succumbed shortly after arrival or during the course of their posting as tropical diseases took their toll. This appears to have been the fate of the 1^st / 82^nd as they left for the West Indies in May 1795.

82nd Regiment Foot badge.

The West Indies were far from the paradise that they have since become. Service in the islands could be little short of a death sentence. Nine hundred British soldiers died in eight weeks. By November 1796, the 82nd had fewer than 100 men fit for duty. The wasteful struggle against yellow fever, local insurrections, the French and latterly also the Spanish, lasted until the end of 1797 when the British left the island of Santo Domingo (Haiti) having failed to drive the French out. Of the 22 officers and 1,000 soldiers of the regiment who had sailed from Gibraltar in 1795, only one officer and 22 men were still with the Colours when, less than four years later, it at last returned to England in January 1799.² It remains unknown whether Sgt. McFarlane was one of the survivors.

Gravestone David Archibald 1804.

Gravestone John & Mary Hughes 1807.

Gravestone Henry & Jean Richmond 1799.

Gravestone Unknown 42 years old.

Gravestone Robert Shand RA 1799.

Along with the tomb of Bridget McFarlane a number of other gravestones remain with the following inscriptions:

Sacred To the Memory of Robert Shand the son of James and Mary Shand of the Royal Art. Who Departed his life the 5^th October 1799 Aged one Year and six Month.

This Stone is Erected by Elenor Richmond in Memory of her late Husband Henry Richmond late Serjeant of the R, M. Artificer Company who departed this Life the 4^th May 1800 Aged 44 Years. Also her daughter Jean Richmond who departed this Life 14 August 1799 Aged 15 Months.

To the Sacred Memory of Mr. David Archibald who died 28^th October 1804 Aged 28 Much regretted by all Relations & Acquaintances.

In Memory of John Hughes Son to Joseph Hughes & Sarah Hughes R. Artillery Died 31^st July Aged Two Years 11 Months. Also there Daughter Mary Who Died 15^th Nov 1807 Aged Two Months 4 Days Sweet babes Adue then take Your R… God Takes To him Whom he Loves…

Sacred memory…..Aged 42 Years of a son and two daughters whose …Here intered.

1 POWER, Vince: Garrison of Gibraltar II 1794-1870., Gibraltar Heritage Journal No.16 (2009)., p. 78.

2 http://www.lancashireinfantrymuseum.org.uk/the-82nd-prince-of-waless-volunteers-regiment/