Frederick Traill-Burroughs

Sir Frederick Traill-Burroughs KCB CMG
File:Frederick Traill-Burroughs.JPG
Rank	Lt-General

Lt-General Sir Frederick William Traill-Burroughs KCB CMG (1831 – 9 April 1905) was a British army officer. He was born in India, fought in Crimea at the Battle of Alma, at the siege town of Lucknow in India and in the North West Frontier. After a spell in command at Edinburgh Castle he retired from the army. On his return from India, he visited Rousay, Orkney, where he built a large house at Trumland; he had inherited much of the island and gradually bought more of it, carrying out many improvements. He died in London and is buried there in Brompton Cemetery.

Early life

He was born in 1831, the eldest of five children, to General Frederick William Burroughs and Caroline de Peyron, at Fatehgarh (a military post) on the banks of the Ganges not far from Cawnpore, India.

Military career

Aged 17, he joined the 93rd (Highland) Regiment, as an ensign.

In 1854, he went to Crimea with the regiment. He fought at the Battle of Alma where the 93rd were part of The Thin Red Line. Despite many casualties caused by fever, cholera and dysentery as well as enemy action, his own health was good. The regiment was in the front line at Sebastopol when the war ended. They were preparing to assault the town - it is said with Burroughs leading the first wave of the Highland Brigade - but discovered next morning that the enemy had withdrawn during the previous night so he missed his moment of potential glory.

Burroughs was also one of the first - if not the very first - through the breaches at the besieged town of Lucknow in the 1857 Rebellion in India, for which he was recommended by the men of his Regiment for a VC, although due to internal military politics this was not awarded.

In 1864 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and commanded the regiment in bitter fighting in the North West Frontier. He and the regiment returned home in 1870 and after a spell in command at Edinburgh Castle he eventually retired from the army in 1873.

From 1897-1904, he was Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers.

Rousay

On his return from India, he and his wife, Eliza (Lizzie) D’Oyley Geddes, visited Rousay, Orkney in July 1870. Traill-Burroughs had inherited much of the island and gradually bought more of it. He also built a large house at Trumland, designed by David Bryce of Edinburgh. From 1870-83, there were a large number of improvements; the building of Trumland pier, island schools, a public market, the first steamship service, a post office, and the first resident doctor. He was known locally as 'the little general' as he was a man of short stature and the poet Edwin Muir recalled in a memoir of his childhood seeing the little general walking around his estates.

Throughout the 19th century, Rousay landlords demanded higher rents from crofters, many of whom were moved in a series of clearances to the far side of Rousay, ordered by previous landowner George William Traill. Frederick Traill-Burroughs continued this attitude towards his tenants. For example James Leonard was elected chairman of the tenants' committee, which gave evidence against General Burroughs to Lord Napier, as well as the Royal Commission, when they came to Rousay, in order to discuss tenants' concerns. After hearing James expressing his and other local tenants' views, General Burroughs evicted James and another local man, James Grieve, along with their families. Details of this and other incidents can be found in William P.L. Thomson's book "The Little General and The Rousay Crofters". (ISBN 9780859765312) <http://www.aroundrousay.co.uk/sourin.shtml>

Burroughs was appointed a Vice-Lieutenant of Orkney and Shetland on 17 January 1900.

Later life

Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London

Traill-Burroughs died in London on 9 April 1905, and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.

There is also a memorial to him in Kirkwall Cathedral.

Personal life

He married Eliza (Lizzie) D’Oyley Geddes (1850 - 1 February 1908).