A FEMALE SCOTS GREY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 6 October 1942, Page 1

A FEMALE SCOTS GREY

FOUGHT WITH FAMOUS REGIMENT The annals of the Scots Grey Regiments show that for some time « woman fought in then ranks. Mrs Christian Davies was a native of Ireland. Her husband having entered the Army, she assumed male attire and followed him. They did not. however, meet till after the Battle of Blenheim, when they agreed to pass as brothers. But at Ramillies Mrs Davies was wounded and her sex was discovered. “I escaped,” she says in her narrative, "unhurt, though in the hottest part of the battle, till the French were entirely defeated, when un unlucky shell from a steeple, on which they had planted some mortars, struck the back part of my head and fractured the skull. I was carried to Meldre. but I did not recover in less than ten weeks. No sooner had they discovered my sex but they acquainted Brigadier Preston that his pretty dragoon <for so I w'as called) was a woman. The news spread far and near. and. reaching my Lord John Hayes’s ear. he came to see me. as did my former comrades; and my lord called for my husband. He gave a satisfactory account of our first acquaintance, marriage, and situation, with the manner of his having entered the service, and my resolution to go in search of him. My lord seemed very well entertained, and ordered that my pay should be continued while under care. When his lordship heard that I was well enough to go abroad lie generously sent me a parcel of linen. Brigadier Preston made me a present of a handsome silk gown; every one of our officers contributed what was requisite for the dress of my sex. and dismissed me from the service with a handsome compliment.” Mrs Davies remained with the Army, and became the regimental sutler. After the peace of Utrecht she returned to England, and Queen Anne allowed her a pension of a shilling a day.