Thomas Guerin, b. in Scarriff, 1766. Still alive 1868.

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Sduddy
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Thomas Guerin, b. in Scarriff, 1766. Still alive 1868.

Post by Sduddy » Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:10 pm

Clare Journal,Thur 10 Dec 1868:
A Clare Centenarian. We copy the following paragraph from the Brighton Gazette, which has been kindly forwarded to this office, doubtless with a view of having it placed before our readers, to many of whom it will probably be of interest:
“Royal Bounty. The Keeper of her Majesty’s Privy Purse, Major-General Sir Thomas Biddulph, has sent a donation from the Queen to Dr Tuthill Massy, for the old soldier, Thomas Guerin. Guerin was present at the capture of Seringapatam in 1799; at Corunna, in 1809, he received two gun shot wounds; at Vittoria, a severe sabre cut in the head. He escaped through Waterloo and entered Paris with the victorious army; was discharged, invalided, from the 71st Highlanders in 1819, with 114 days’ pay, but without pension. He is now in his 103 year, both poor and helpless.”
Guerin was born on the 14th of May, 1766, at Scariff in this county, from which he went to Waterford where he held an excellent situation as clerk; but unhappily one evening while out on a spree he enlisted, and continues to mourn this foolish action since 1796. It would be interesting to collect the ages and trace back the lineage of the Guerins of Scarriff.
It’s clear from this that the letter posted to the Clare Journal, enclosing the Brighton newpaper cutting, also gave some information about Mr Guerin – otherwise the editor would not have been able to describe his early life, or say that he mourned his foolish action.
It appears that Thomas Guerin was living in the vicinity of Brighton at the time this piece was published. It will be impossible, I think, to link Thomas to any particular Guerin family; I put the news item here just as a little vignette, or as one piece of a patchwork quilt.

Sheila

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