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Kay's Originals Vol. 2

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BI 0 GRAPH1 CAL SKETCHES. 263 and again, in 1794-5, when he was also chosen Deacon Convener of the Trades. He took much interest in city affairs ; and was distinguished as an active and energetic member of the Town Council. Frequently in opposition, he was conspicuously so when the ‘‘ levelling of the High Street ” was first proposed ; in the Print of which, formerly given, he figures as a principal opponent. Dr. Hay resided first in Strichen’s Close ; again at the head of Blair Street, in the house next to Messrs. Smith and Co., purveyors of oils and lamps ; and latterly in George Street, where he died on the 11th of April 1816. He married Miss Jean Graham, sister of the late Lieut.-General Grahaql Deputy- Governor of Stirling Castle, and left several children, John Hay, Esq., late member of the Medical Board, Madras, being the eldest, and Dr. David Hay, of Queen Street, the youngest. A memoir of SIR JAMES STIRLING has already been given in the first volume of this Work. From accurate information, we may here state that his father, Alexander-son of Gilbert Stirling, Esq., and Margaret, daughter, of Alexander Cumming, Esq., of Birness, cadet of the family of Altyre, Aberdeenshire- was a merchant of much respectability in Edinburgh, having a shop in the Luckenbooths, for the sale of cloth and other goods. His mother was a daughter of James Moir, Esq., of Lochfield, in Perthshire, cadet of the family of Moir of Leckie. The honour of a baronetage was conferred on Sir James in 1792, as expressly stated to him by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, as a mark of his Majesty’s most gracious approbation of his conduct during the riots in that year, when (according to the statement of his friends), so far from taking refuge in the Castle from the fear of personal consequences, he remained there at great inconvenience to himself, in order that the military should have a civil magistrate ready to accompany them when called on, which he did on more occasions than one. The other two sons, Jarnes and William, died in infancy. Sir James left only one son, who succeeded him in the baronetcy. In Stewart’s Mil&wy Sketches the following remarkable circumstance is related of General Graham, then a Lieat.-Colonel, and on service in the West Indies :-“A ball had entered his side three iuches from the back-bone, and, passing through, had come out under his breast ; another, or perhaps the same ball, had shattered two of his fingers. No assistance could be got but that of a soldier’s wife (of the 42d regiment), who had been long in the service, and was in the habit of attending sick and wounded soldiers. She washed his wounds, and bound them up in such a manner, that when a surgeon came and saw the way in which the operation had been performed, he said he could not have done it better, and would not unbind the dressing. The Colonel soon afterwards opened his eyes, and, though unable to speak for many hours, seemed sensible of what was passing around him. In this state he lay nearly three weeks, when he WBS carried to Kingston, and thence conveyed to England. He was still in a most exhausted state, the wound in his side discharging matter from both orifices. He went to Edinburgh with little hopes of recovery, but on the evening of the illumination for the battle of Camperdown, the smoke of 80 many candles and flambeaux affecting his breathing, he coughed with great violence, and, in the exertion, threw np a piece of cloth, left, no doubt, by the ball in ita passage through his body. From that day he recovered as by a charm.”- Colonel Graham was at this time residing in Blaii Street with his brother-in-law, Dr. Hay.
Volume 9 Page 350
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