Brothers In Arms

Archibald, Murdoch, John and Hector Maclaine  were all officers in the British Army.

Three Of the Fighting Maclaine Brothers ... 

They all won medals in a proud military tradition in the family.

What makes this all the more unusual, is that all the bothers did so in the Napoleonic Wars in the various campaigns across Europe. Murdoch, was a Captain in the 20th Foot, and was the only British officer to be killed at the Battle of Maida in 1806, while eldest brother John, was a major in the 73rd Foot, served with distinction at Seringapatam in 1799 and at Turnagel in 1802, and was mortally wounded at Waterloo in 1815. Murdochs twin brother Archibald (who rose  later to become a General), and Hector both survived the battles they fought in.

Archibald, was popularly known as the 'Hero of Matagorda', for his brave command in 1810 of a small group of soldiers that kept an 8,000-strong French army at bay during the Siege of Cadiz. General (as he ended his life) Sir Archibald Maclaine's set of medals, included his Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath, and a Honourable East India Company medal for the Battle of Seringapatam (Pre Raj, Indian Campaign).  

His active service commenced with the old 94th (Scotch Brigade) in India and included the battles of Malavelly and Seringapatam, where he was so severely wounded that he was upwards of a year in hospital. The Polygar War of 1801 (wounded), and the Maharatta Wars of 1802-04, including the Siege of Asseerghur (wounded), the Battle of Argaum, and the Siege and Storming of Gawilghur, before being ordered home in 1804 as a consequence of the severe wounds received in all the different actions from 1799 to 1804 .... but he continued as Captain in the 94th and went to the Spanish Peninsula.

The Maclaine's Earned A Lot Of Medals

Amongst Murdochs medals, are his regimental marked silver whistle and chain which its believed he carried when he met his death at Maida, in southern Italy. Remarkably the medals, portrait paintings and artefacts of all the brothers were all kept together by the family for around 200 or so years, but time has altered their fortunes and the medals were auctioned off in September 2020. The sale made a combined total of £104,780 (US $146,547), against a pre-sale estimate of £58,000. 

However, whilst the Maclaine's were an upper-class family, there were other families, perhaps not so blessed in wealth, but who also fought at this time, and one, the Fernyhough's from Lichfield, also sent its four sons to serve during the Napoleonic Wars. 

They were junior officers, and Thomas Fernyhough served as an Ensign with the King's Royal Rifle Corps (60th Foot) in Barbados, but like many of his fellow soldiers, he found that his health had been damaged by the general conditions (malaria etc), and "after a short and severe service," he was returned to Europe and pensioned to half-pay with the 40th Foot. He lived and had a family ... he was known in the family as 'the survivor.'

His brothers Henry and John, both served with the Marines, and were equally unlucky ... Henry was appointed to the Royal Navy frigate 'Argo', which was despatched to convey the Mamlouk chief, Elfi Bey, out of Egypt to escape the returning Ottomans. But during the voyage he received an accidental injury on his side, and it turned into an abscess, which sadly proved fatal, He died of the infection aged twenty one. John was a made a Lieutenant with HMS Donegal, but was drowned during a battle with, and capture of, the Spanish vessel Rayo in 1805.

There was a happier career outcome for the other brother Robert Fernyhough, who also started his career with the Marines with his brothers, but was sent to the southern oceans, where he fought in the capture of Cape Town (Battle of Blaauwberg) on 8 January 1806 ... he was with the marines when they stormed ashore in an amphibious landing in "tremendous surf". This battle established the first stages of British rule in Southern Africa. 

He then took part in invasion of the River Plate in South America in 1806-7, and the Walcheren expedition in Europe in 1809. He then left the navy marines in August 1810, when he applied to join the 95th Rifles, and was granted permission to join the first battalion (later transferring to the third). In June 1812 he embarked for the Spanish Peninsular, but returning in May 1813, and although he saw action, he missed the major battle of Salamanca (22 July 1812).

Even so, his time on the Peninsular was not without incident, he was taken grievously ill and he later recounted that when his unit was overrun by a group of French Hussars "they stripped me, tearing my clothes into shreds... tore a gold ring from my finger... I lay in this miserable state two days and nights" ... somehow he survived this, and returned to England to recover from illness. In 1819 the Third Battalion was stationed in Dublin, and Robert Fernyhough was put on half-pay as there was no war. Unfortunately he died suddenly in 1828. 

Military Memoirs Of Four Brothers

The surviving brother Thomas, later put all their letters and history into a book: Military Memoirs of Four Brothers, (Natives of Staffordshire) and copies of this occasionally turn up for sale, but recent reprints can be bought for a few pounds.