The Reay Fencibles, or Lord Reay's Highlanders (1890) - Searchable PDF & Surname Index

Trace Your Clan Mackay & Sutherland Ancestors in the Rare 1890 War Office History of the Reay Fencibles (1794–1802)

Originally compiled by John Mackay of Hereford and published in Glasgow in 1890 for the Clan Mackay Society, The Reay Fencibles, or Lord Reay's Highlanders is the definitive primary-source regimental chronicle of the 800-man Highland corps raised in October 1794 across Dùthaich Mhic Aoidh ("Lord Reay's Country" in northwestern Sutherland). Drawn directly from British War Office muster rolls, pay lists, casualty returns, and 18th-century estate correspondence, this enhanced Fairbairn's Crests Digital Research Edition restores every historical page to a crisp, pure white (#FFFFFF) archival background with full-text OCR searchability and a newly compiled Alphabetical Surname, Parish, Battlefield, and Regimental Index.

What's Inside This Enhanced Fairbairn's Crests Digital Edition:

• Complete Merged Digital Edition (69 Pages Total): Combines 4 pages of Newly Written Historical & Genealogical Front Matter (Pages i–iv), all 57 retained pages of the original 1890 Glasgow first edition, and an comprehensive Back-of-Book Surname, Parish, and Military Index.
• Archival Pure-White (#FFFFFF) Page Restoration: All unprinted blank leaves (Source scan pp. 28 & 30), dark edge shadows, yellowed paper tones, and Google Books digitizer watermarks have been scrubbed so every page reads and prints with razor-sharp contrast.
• Every-Word Searchable OCR Layer: Instant Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (Mac) searchability across all historical pages, plus an exact Page Offset & Spelling Variation Guide.
• Verbatim War Office Muster Rolls & Officer Biographies (pp. 42–52): Detailed service records for every Commissioned Officer, Captain-Lieutenant, Ensign, Surgeon, Chaplain, Adjutant, and Quartermaster—recording exact dates of rank, sick-leave periods in Scotland, recruiting tours, Irish detachment stations, and transfers into regular Line regiments.
• 1798 Casualty Lists by Company (pp. 37–38): Extracted directly from regimental pay lists, naming the non-commissioned officers, drummers, and private soldiers killed in action at Dunboyne, the Battle of Tara Hill, and summer engagements in 1798.
• Lord Reay's 1794 Estate Recruitment Letters (pp. 56–59): Full transcripts of the Hon. Eric Mackay's 4 November 1794 letters to the Rev. John Thomson of Durness and the Sutherland tacksmen, promising preferential leases on the Reay Estates to families whose sons enlisted.

Historical & Regional Overview

When King George III issued the Royal Warrant of 24 October 1794 to raise a Fencible regiment from the Clan Mackay territories of Farr, Tongue, Durness, Eddrachillis, Reay, and Strathnaver, 800 Highlanders—700 of whom bore the prefix Mac—assembled within weeks. Embodied at Fort George in March 1795 by General Sir Hector Munro and commanded by Major-General Mackay Hugh Baillie (grandson of the Hon. Colonel Hugh Mackay of Bighouse) and the beloved Lieutenant-Colonel George Mackay of Handa and Bighouse ("Father George"), the regiment deployed immediately to Ireland.

Stationed first in Belfast and Ulster, the "honest Reays" played a pivotal role in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. On 26 May 1798, three companies under Captain Hector Maclean (a veteran of the 42nd Black Watch) and Captain Aaron Blanche stormed a 4,000-strong insurgent army atop the Hill of Tara in County Meath, breaking the northern offensive against Dublin. Later that summer, following General Humbert's French landing at Killala Bay, General Gerard Lake marched his trusted Reay Highlanders four days and four nights to force the French surrender at Ballinamuck (8 September 1798). The regiment subsequently garrisoned Athlone, Longford, Galway, Tuam, Ballinasloe, Loughrea, Athenry, Gort, Granard, and Ennis before returning to Stirling, Scotland, for disbandment in October 1802.

Surnames & Families Indexed in This Volume:

Acheson (Viscount Gosford), Ali (Hyder), Anderson, Asher, Baillie (Mackay Hugh Baillie, Lamington Baillie, Arthur Baillie, William Baillie), Ballantine, Blake, Blanche, Bonaparte, Bourbon, Boyle, Bulkeley, Cameron, Campbell, Campden (Camden), Chapman, Chatham (Pitt), Clarke, Coates, Coote, Cornwallis, Craddock, Crawford, Cumberland, Dhu (Roderick), Dick, Donn (Rob Donn Mackay), Duncan, Evans, Ferdinand, Fingall (Plunkett), Forbes, Fox, Frend, George III, Glandire (Glandore), Gore, Gosford, Graham, Grant, Holmes, Humbert, Hunter, Innes, Kerr, Lake, Logan, Macarthur, Macartney, Maccallum, Macdermid, Macdonald, Mackay (MacKay, Mhic Aoidh, Mackays of Bighouse, Handa, Scotstown, Reay, Strathnaver, Tongue, Durness, and Farr), Mackenzie, Maclaren (Maclann), Maclean, Macleod, Macpherson, Macqueen, Matheson, Maxwell, Meiklejohn, Molloy, Morison (Morrison), Munro, Musgrave, Nasmyth, Nisbet, Nugent, Orange, Packenham (Pakenham), Pitt, Portland, Preston, Reay (Lord Reay), Roach (Roche), Roden, Ross, Scobie (Scobies of Melness), Shaw, Smith, Stephens, Stewart (Stuart), Stronach, Sutherland, Taylor, Teeling, Thomson, Tippoo, Tod, Todd, Veitch, Vyse, Wellesley (Wellington), Windham, Yorke.

Parishes, Townships & Settlements Indexed:

Scotland: Bighouse, Clyde, Durness, Dùthaich Mhic Aoidh (Lord Reay's Country), Edinburgh (Edinburgh Castle, High Street, Piershill, St. Giles, Tron-Kirk), Farr, Fort George, Glasgow (Buchanan Street), Handa, Melness, Musselburgh, Peebles, Perth, Reay Parish & Churchyard, Scotstown, Stirling, Strathnaver, Sutherland, Tay, Tongue. Ireland: Athenry, Athlone, Ballinamuck (Ballimuck / Ballina Muck), Ballinarush, Ballinasloe, Belfast, Castlebar, Cavan, Chapelizod, Cloone, Connaught, Dublin (Dublin Castle), Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin (Dunshauglin), Enard, Ennis, Galway, Gort, Granard, Kells, Kildare, Killala, Killala Bay, Laughlinstown, Longford, Loughrea, Louth, Maynooth, Meath, Monaghan, Mount Kennedy, Navan, Roscommon, St. Johnstown, Tara Hill (Taragh-hill), Tipperary, Tuam, West Meath, Wexford. England & International: Harrogate, Hereford, Hull, London (Court at St. James), Plymouth, Alma, Argaum, Assaye, Canada, Delhi, Egypt, Fontenoy, Germany, Hindostan, Laswaree, Lucknow, Mangalore, Porto Novo, Quebec, Seringapatam, Ticonderoga, Waterloo, West Indies.