Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ross, Andrew
ROSS, ANDREW (1773–1812), colonel, born at the manse of Soulseat, Inch, near Stranraer, in 1773, was the second son of Andrew Ross (1726–1787), minister of Inch, of an old Wigtonshire family, by his first wife Elizabeth (1744–1779), daughter of Robert Corsane, provost of Dumfries. Admiral Sir John Ross [q. v.] was a younger brother. Andrew Ross was educated at the manse by Peter Fergusson, the successor of his father, who died on 14 Dec. 1787. In 1783 an ensigncy in the 60th regiment of foot had already been obtained for Andrew. In March 1789 he was ordered to join the 55th regiment as ensign at Glasgow, and at the end of December 1790 he was ordered to the north of Ireland, where serious disturbances were imminent. He was gazetted lieutenant in the 55th Westmorland regiment of foot on 21 May 1791. At the end of 1792 he was at Stranraer with the design of raising an independent company of foot. In this he was assisted by Major Alexander Ross (1742–1827) [q. v.], an officer of the 14th regiment, who obtained the king's consent under certain conditions. Captain Ross and his company, of which he was gazetted captain on 21 April 1793, were then attached to the 23rd regiment in Ireland. War had been declared with France in February 1793, and on 12 March 1794 George III issued to Ross a ‘beating order,’ i.e. leave to enlist recruits ‘by beat of drums or otherwise.’ He was promoted major on 12 June 1794. In October following he was appointed to a company in the 95th regiment, for which he had raised many recruits. He was one of the first volunteers in November 1794, and was attached to the 2nd foot at Portsmouth, but was not sent on active service. In May 1795 he accepted the appointment of aide-de-camp to General Sir Hew Whitefoord Dalrymple [q. v.] in Guernsey, but resigned in April 1797. He was appointed to the Reay fencibles, and was sent to Maynooth and Longford in view of the disturbances in Ireland. Here he came into contact with Sir John Moore, then commanding the troops in Ireland, and a warm friendship ensued. Ross left Ireland in the winter of 1799 to command the second battalion of the 54th regiment, which was present at Aboukir. He was gazetted lieutenant-colonel on 1 Jan. 1800. In 1802 his regiment, with several others which had been in action against Napoleon, was sent to Gibraltar. Here Ross rendered great service in suppressing the mutiny of the artificers, the royals, and the 25th regiment, who anticipated the passive assistance of the queen's, the 8th, and the 23rd regiments. The plot aimed at seizing the person of the Duke of Kent, then commanding the garrison, and at taking him on board a vessel. The attempt failed, and the duke wrote on 30 April 1805, on the eve of his departure, to express his high appreciation of the services of Colonel Ross and of his regiment, the 54th, which had taught the world that Irishmen could, after all, be as loyal as any other subjects of the king. Ross in a letter to Sir John Moore gave the most complete extant account of the Gibraltar mutiny. In September 1809 Ross was obliged to take a voyage to Madeira on account of ill-health. On 25 Oct. he was made colonel, and on 27 Oct. the Earl of Suffolk wrote that Sir David Dundas had received the king's command to appoint him aide-de-camp to the king. Ross died of fever at Carthagena in 1812, at the age of thirty-nine.
[Army Lists; Andrew Ross Papers.]Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.239
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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