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SOUTH AMERICA - CONNAUGHT RANGERS Journal kept by Lieutenant Henry McDermot of the 88th Foot, the 'Connaught Rangers', being a detailed daily record of his voyage to South America with the regiment aboard the transport ship Nereia from Portsmouth to Montevideo, 13 September 1806 to 4 June 1807 image 1
SOUTH AMERICA - CONNAUGHT RANGERS Journal kept by Lieutenant Henry McDermot of the 88th Foot, the 'Connaught Rangers', being a detailed daily record of his voyage to South America with the regiment aboard the transport ship Nereia from Portsmouth to Montevideo, 13 September 1806 to 4 June 1807 image 2
Lot 61

SOUTH AMERICA - CONNAUGHT RANGERS
Journal kept by Lieutenant Henry McDermot of the 88th Foot, the 'Connaught Rangers', being a detailed daily record of his voyage to South America with the regiment aboard the transport ship Nereia from Portsmouth to Montevideo, 13 September 1806 to 4 June 1807

11 November 2015, 13:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

£600 - £800

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SOUTH AMERICA - CONNAUGHT RANGERS

Journal kept by Lieutenant Henry McDermot of the 88th Foot, the 'Connaught Rangers', being a detailed daily record of his voyage to South America with the regiment aboard the transport ship Nereia from Portsmouth to Montevideo via Palma, Santiago, Porto Praya, the Cape of Good Hope and St Helena, to take part in British military operations on the River Plate, giving detailed accounts of the vagaries of the weather, life aboard ship and places and people visited along the way, in a neat hand and written in a lively and at times amusing style, concluding on 4 June 1807, a week before the fleet reached Montevideo, 47 pages interleaved with blotting paper, ownership inscription, one leaf removed, minor dust-staining etc., some leaves of blotting paper torn with losses, original limp calf, small tear to upper and lower spine, 8vo, 13 September 1806 to 4 June 1807

Footnotes

'THE DEVIL'S OWN' REGIMENT EMBARKS ON THE ILL-FATED INVASION OF THE RIVER PLATE. Henry McDermot, scion of an ancient Irish Catholic family from Co. Sligo, was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 88th Foot, having previously seen service in Jamaica and Haiti with Pitt's 'Irish Brigade'. The 88th Foot, raised in 1793 by the Earl of Clanricarde, became known as 'The Devil's Own' on account of their reputation for indiscipline and fearsome fighting and, in 1807 joined with several other battalions including the 95th Rifle Regiment on the expedition intended to conquer Chile from the French. It was a military disaster, with the Rangers suffering heavy losses. The assault on Buenos Aires ended with Colonel Craufurd's surrender after General Whitelocke forced a retreat from the city. Later that year the regiment embarked for the Peninsular and, after recovering from serious injuries at Bussaco in 1810, McDermot was killed at the Battle of Orthez on 27 February 1814.

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