Gardiner

Gardiner, COLONEL JAMES, son of Captain Patrick Gardiner, was born at Carriden, in Linlithgowshire, January 11, 1688, and when only fourteen years old obtained a commission in a Scots regiment in the Dutch service. In 1702 he passed into the English army, and in 1706 was severely wounded at the battle of Ramillies. Gardiner fought with great distinction in all the other battles of Marlborough. In 1715 he was made first lieutenant, then captain of dragoons; and in the same year he gave a conspicuous proof of his courage, when, along with eleven other daring fellows (eight of whom were killed), he fired the barricades of the Highlanders at Preston. From an early period Gardiner was noted for his licentiousness; but in the year 1719 a vision of Christ on the cross transformed the brave but wicked soldier into a pious and exemplary Christian. In 1724 he was raised to the rank of major, and in 1726 he married Lady Frances Erskine, daughter of the fourth Earl of Buchan, by whom he had thirteen children, only five of whom survived him. In 1730 he became lieutenant-colonel of dragoons, and in 1743 colonel of the Enniskillens. Deserted by his dragoons at the battle of Prestonpans, fought close to his own house, he put himself at the head of a handful of infantry, and fought till, cut down with a Lochaber axe, he was borne to the manse of Tranent, where he died in a few hours, September 21, 1745. See his Life by Dr Doddridge (1747).