History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

3 i6 JOHNSTONS OF ECCLES
Monkstown, near Dublin, on June 7, 1770. " He was father of General James
Johnston, now Lieutenant-Governor of Minorca, and of the present Lady
Napier, and of Mrs Johnston of Hilton."
General Johnston gave up the command of Minorca before its capture
by the combined forces of France and Spain in 1782 ; but he published a
defence of General Murray and the officers who headed the little garrison,
stricken down by fever and want of the proper supplies. The Balearic Isles
had been offered to the Empress Catherine of Russia if she would assist Great
Britain in the war with America—an offer which seems almost incredible, but
will be found in the diplomatic memoirs of the day, for at that time it was our
only post in the Mediterranean east of Gibraltar. Even after her refusal the
garrison was not reinforced, and in this neglected condition it had no chance.
Patrick, another son of the Provost, was made a citizen of Edinburgh
in 1708.
The Johnstons of Eccles, Co. Berwick, also appear likely to be descendants
of one of the Lord Provost's nine sons. James Johnston of Eccles married
Miss Thomson, and died about 18 10. He farmed his land, and brought up
many children. The eldest, James, joined the 99th Regiment when it was
raised, and served in the Peninsular War with honourable mention. He
married his first cousin, Jane Trotter of Dunse, and she accompanied him to the
Mauritius, where several of their ten children were born, and where for some
years he held a command. He retired a Colonel in 1836, and settled at
Portobello, near Edinburgh. He died in 1850, aged seventy. Of his sons,
(1) Colonel Patrick Johnston, born April 10, 1822, died 1898, served with the
99th and 32nd Regiments, and in New Zealand, and left six sons and one
daughter; the eldest living is Matthew, M.D., born 1859, of Wribbenhall,
Shropshire. (2) William, died in Australia, leaving issue. (3) Margaret, married
Colonel Archibald Baldwin, Madras Army, left four sons, all in the Army, and
a daughter. (4) George, Lieutenant-Colonel Royal Marine Light Infantry, born
Feb. 23, 1838; died at Bath 1888. Married Laura Margaret Goding, and left
one son, George Arthur Johnston, born 1871, barrister-at-law (Trinity College,
Oxford), J. P. for Berks, author of Small Holdings and Allotments, and On the
New Agricultural Act. He married in 1894 Lilian Hooper, great-niece of
Archbishop Temple. They have two sons and a daughter.
Colonel James Johnston possessed the tattered colours of his regiment.
His son, Colonel Patrick Johnston, presented them to St. Giles' Cathedral,
Edinburgh, when H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge received them from his hands.
The elder Colonel's brother, Dr George Johnston, of Berwick-on-Tweed, was a
well-known writer on natural history. He married Miss Charles, the daughter
of a distinguished Peninsular officer, and left a son and two daughters—Mrs
Barwell Carter and Mrs Maclagan, the last married to a brother of Archbishop
Maclagan. Three of their sons are missionaries in China.
The elder Archibald Johnston's grand-nephews mentioned in his Will
(16 1 9)—Gavin, Andro, Robert, Thomas, and Wilkin—lived more or less in
Edinburgh, and were probably his employes. Some of their names, and those