23/05/2026
William Hone and I have been neglectful of late… well, I have. I can’t really share blame with William as he shuffled off this mortal coil well over a century ago.
Anyway, in his 1826 Book of Days, he tells us this is the anniversary of the Battle of Ramilles in 1706. Although a grand victory for the Duke of Marlborough, a 19-year old ensign stole some of the limelight.
James Gardiner(pictured below courtesy of Wikipedia) ‘…received a shot in his mouth, from a musket ball, which, without destroying any of his teeth, or touching the fore part of his tongue, went through his neck and came out about an inch and a half on the left side of his vertebrae. He felt no pain, put dropped soon after and lay all night among his dying companions…’ Hone relieves us by sharing that the young man recovered in an ‘almost miraculous manner’.
This fortunate young man from Scotland went on to lead a distinguished military career and fought in several historical battles, including the 1745 Jacobite uprising, at which his final efforts were lost at the Battle of Prestonpans.
