Though Yules of sorts are still to be found in Scotland, the present writer is the only member of the Fentoun Tower family now left in the country, and of the few remaining out of it most are to be found in the Army List.
[2] The literary taste which marked William Yule probably came to him from his grandfather, the Rev. James Rose, Episcopal Minister of Udny, in Aberdeenshire. James Rose, a non-jurant (i.e. one who refused to acknowledge allegiance to the Hanoverian King), was a man of devout, large, and tolerant mind, as shown by writings still extant. His father, John Rose, was the younger son of the 14th Hugh of Kilravock. He married Margaret Udny of Udny, and was induced by her to sell his pleasant Ross-shire property and invest the proceeds in her own bleak Buchan. When George Yule (about 1759) brought home Elizabeth Rose as his wife, the popular feeling against the Episcopal Church was so strong and bitter in Lothian, that all the men of the family—themselves Presbyterians—accompanied Mrs. Yule as a bodyguard on the occasion of her first attendance at the Episcopal place of worship. Years after, when dissensions had arisen in the Church of Scotland, Elizabeth Yule succoured and protected some of the dissident Presbyterian ministers from their persecutors.
[3] General Collinson in Royal Engineers' Journal 1st Feb. 1890. The gifted author of this excellent sketch himself passed away on 22nd April 1902.
[4] The grave thoughtful face of William Yule was conspicuous in the picture of a Durbar (by an Italian artist, but not Zoffany), which long hung on the walls of the Nawab's palace at Lucknow. This picture disappeared during the Mutiny of 1857.
[5] Colonel Udny Yule, C.B. "When he joined, his usual nomen and cognomen puzzled the staff-sergeant at Fort-William, and after much boggling on the cadet parade, the name was called out Whirly Wheel, which produced no reply, till some one at a venture shouted, 'sick in hospital.'" (Athenaeum, 24th Sept. 1881.) The ship which took Udny Yule to India was burnt at sea. After keeping himself afloat for several hours in the water, he was rescued by a passing ship and taken back to the Mauritius, whence, having lost everything but his cadetship, he made a fresh start for India, where he and William for many years had a common purse. Colonel Udny Yule commanded a brigade at the Siege of Cornelis (1811), which gave us Java, and afterwards acted as Resident under Sir Stamford Raffles. Forty-five years after the retrocession of Java, Henry Yule found the memory of his uncle still cherished there.
[6] Article on the Oriental Section of the British Museum Library in Athenaeum, 24th Sept. 1881. Major Yule's Oriental Library was presented by his sons to the British Museum a few years after his death.
[7] It may be amusing to note that he was considered an almost dangerous
person because he read the Scotsman newspaper!
[8] Athenaeum, 24th Sept. 1881. A gold chain given by the last Dauphiness is in the writer's possession.
[9] Dr. John Yule (b. 176-d. 1827), a kindly old savant. He was one of the earliest corresponding members of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and the author of some botanical tracts.
[10] According to Brunet, by Lucas Pennis after Antonio Tempesta.
[11] Concerning some little-known Travellers in the East. ASIATIC QUARTERLY, vol. v. (1888).
[12] William Yule died in 1839, and rests with his parents, brothers, and many others of his kindred, in the ruined chancel of the ancient Norman Church of St. Andrew, at Gulane, which had been granted to the Yule family as a place of burial by the Nisbets of Dirleton, in remembrance of the old kindly feeling subsisting for generations between them and their tacksmen in Fentoun Tower. Though few know its history, a fragrant memorial of this wise and kindly scholar is still conspicuous in Edinburgh. The magnificent wall-flower that has, for seventy summers, been a glory of the Castle rock, was originally all sown by the patient hand of Major Yule, the self-sowing of each subsequent year, of course, increasing the extent of bloom. Lest the extraordinarily severe spring of 1895 should have killed off much of the old stock, another (but much more limited) sowing on the northern face of the rock was in that year made by his grand-daughter, the present writer, with the sanction and active personal help of the lamented General (then Colonel) Andrew Wauchope of Niddrie Marischal. In Scotland, where the memory of this noble soldier is so greatly revered, some may like to know this little fact. May the wall-flower of the Castle rock long flourish a fragrant memorial of two faithful soldiers and true-hearted Scots.
[13] Obituary notice of Yule, by Gen. R. Maclagan, R.E. Proceedings, R. G. S. 1890.
[14] This was the famous "Grey Dinner," of which The Shepherd made grim
fun in the Noctes.
[15] Probably the specimen from South America, of which an account was
published in 1833.
[16] Rawnsley, Memoir of Harvey Goodwin, Bishop of Carlisle.
[17] Biog. Sketch of Yule, by C. Trotter, Proceedings, R.S.E. vol. xvii.
[18] Biog. Sketch of Yule, by C. Trotter, Proceedings, R.S.E. vol. xvii.
[19] After leaving the army, Yule always used this sword when wearing uniform.
[20] The Engineer cadets remained at Addiscombe a term (= 6 months) longer than the Artillery cadets, and as the latter were ordinarily gazetted full lieutenants six months after passing out, unfair seniority was obviated by the Engineers receiving the same rank on passing out of Addiscombe.
[21] Yule, in Memoir of General Becher.
[22] Collinson's Memoir of Yule in R. E. Journal.
[23] The picture was subscribed for by his brother officers in the corps, and painted in 1880 by T. B. Wirgman. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1881. A reproduction of the artist's etching from it forms the frontispiece of this volume.
[24] In Memoir of Gen. John Becher.
[25] General Patrick Yule (b. 1795, d. 1873) was a thorough soldier, with the repute of being a rigid disciplinarian. He was a man of distinguished presence, and great charm of manner to those whom he liked, which were by no means all. The present writer holds him in affectionate remembrance, and owes to early correspondence with him much of the information embodied in preceding notes. He served on the Canadian Boundary Commission of 1817, and on the Commission of National Defence of 1859, was prominent in the Ordnance Survey, and successively Commanding R.E. in Malta and Scotland. He was Engineer to Sir C. Fellows' Expedition, which gave the nation the Lycian Marbles, and while Commanding R.E. in Edinburgh, was largely instrumental in rescuing St. Margaret's Chapel in the Castle from desecration and oblivion. He was a thorough Scot, and never willingly tolerated the designation N.B. on even a letter. He had cultivated tastes, and under a somewhat austere exterior he had a most tender heart. When already past sixty, he made a singularly happy marriage to a truly good woman, who thoroughly appreciated him. He was the author of several Memoirs on professional subjects. He rests in St. Andrew's, Gulane.
[26] Collinson's Memoir of Yule.
[27] Notes on the Iron of the Khasia Hills and Notes on the Khasia Hills and People both in Journal of the R. Asiatic Society of Bengal, vols. xi. and xiii.
[28] Mr. (afterwards Sir) George Clerk, Political Officer with the expedition. Was twice Governor of Bombay and once Governor of the Cape: "A diplomatist of the true English stamp—undaunted in difficulties and resolute to maintain the honour of his country." (Sir H. B. Edwardes, Life of Henry Lawrence, i. 267). He died in 1889.
[29] Note by Yule, communicated by him to Mr. R. B. Smith and printed by
the latter in Life of Lord Lawrence.
[30] And when nearing his own end, it was to her that his thoughts turned
most constantly.
[31]