98
RIDDELLS OF CAMIESTON, SCOTLAND.
actions fought with the rebels in the vicinity of Agra, and in the Eutawa
district toward Culpee, and on the Chumbal, and was in command of the
fort and garrison of Agra, in which was the only remaining magazine in
the upper provinces for some months, till after the fall of Delhi and the
arrival of a permanent brigadier.
General Riddell received the decoration of Companion of the Most
Noble, the Order of the Bath, and three medals, with one bar for Bhurt-
pore, Afghanistan, Cabûl, 1842, and the military campaign, and his services
were twice acknowledged in the government official Gazettes. He retired
from the army as full colonel, with rank of major-general, in December,
1861, after a continued service of upwards of thirty-eight years. He has
been heard to remark on the pleasure it gave an old soldier to know
when he came home to his native land that his services in the cause of his
queen and country had been appreciated when abroad. Gen. Sir Hope
Ĝrant and Sir William Gomm, late field-marshal, were all in turn con-
temporaries and companions in arms in those trying and mutinous times.
The medals received for his services were hung by the General, with a
kind of military pride, upon his breast, and worn on all great occasions
in connection with the volunteer meetings held at Melrose, throughout
the period of his residence at the "Anchorage.
""
While he had reaped many honors in the far-off fields of war, of which
he might truly be proud, he valued still more, perhaps, those distinc-
tions for which he was frequently complimented by the acting govern-
ment generals of the army forces, when they were inspecting the Border
Battalion Volunteers, and by others, for his having been a general of the
army, and yet simultaneously a full private in the ranks of the Third
Roxburgh Rifle Volunteer Corps.
He took an active and prominent part in the meetings of the Border
Rifle Associations, and in the social gatherings which frequently followed.
He was an active and honorary member of the council of the Border
Rifle Association; also, a Commissioner of Supply, and Justice of the
Peace. In the most of the public events of the town of Melrose, the
General, after his retirement from the army, and during his residence at
the "Anchorage," took a leading part, along with the principals of the
local authority. He was a director of the Exchange Company; took a
deep interest in the visit of the queen at Melrose in 1867.
He was an active and esteemed member of the Border County Associa
tion; and at the Scott Centenary, in 1871, was a managing committee, and
presided at the evening gathering at the Exchange. In politics he was
a staunch Conservative, although his principles and opinions were never
allowed to interfere with, or influence his dealings with those who held
Liberal, or even Radical, views. He took a deep interest in the Episcopa-
lian church in his neighborhood, of which he was an active supporter.
About two months before his death, which occurred June 22, 1875, he had
an attack of paralysis, in Edinburgh; some weeks subsequently he was
so far recovered as to walk in his garden; but repeated attacks followed,
and alarming tokens of his end were soon visible. He gently passed away
among his friends and the clergy present, as if entering into a placid
slumber. He was buried in the ancient family cemetery, in Bowden Parish.
He had issue nine children; he left a widow, one son, and four daughters.
Walter Riddell (2), second son of Thomas (3) of Camieston, was
born in Edinburgh, Aug. 4, 1807; married in 1830 to Elizabeth-Riddell
MacLauchlan, only surviving child of Lieut.-Col. Lauchlan MacLauchlan,
