William Duff
(circa 1792-1833), Sergeant-MajorSitter in 1 portrait
by John Kay
etching, 1816
NPG D32356
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Nancy Cotter Drennan
07 April 2016, 02:44
This is a portrait of my gr-gr-gr-grandfather. Family history has it that he and his brother were the tallest men in the Black Watch at the time. I am assuming that you have much of his story which is recorded in John Kay's Originals along with the portrait. His first wife died after only a short marriage. He was posted to Ireland and married my gr-gr-gr-grandmother, Miss Mary Ann Haycroft. Their three daughters were born in Doneraile, Co. Cork. The youngest, my Gr-gr-grandmother Bellamira, was only an infant when her father, who had been wounded in battle, died in 1833. He is buried in Ayr, Scotland. Lord Wellington appealed to Queen Victoria on behalf of the 25 year-old widow, for William, a well regarded soldier, had died only a short time before new benefits would have taken effect. The Queen instead sent only a small sum. The young widow took up dressmaking / millinery in Doneraile to support her children, her own family being "none too good to her" for marrying her British soldier. She and at least two of her daughters emigrated to New York in the mid 1840's.