Mercer Memorial Lisburn Cathedral

Sacred to the Memory of Annie born August 6th 1851, died April 26th 1852.

John William Lake, born July 25th 1854, died August 10th 1854. The infant children of John Henry MERCER Esqr, Captain Royal Marines and Annie his wife the daughter of William Lake Esqr of Woodstreet House near Sittingbourne Kent. S.M. also of Elizabeth Frances the infant daughter of Captain Arthur Hill Hasted MERCER and Elizabeth Ann his wife daughter of Major R.H.Ord K.H.Deputy -Lieutenant for the County of Essex who died June 5th 1849. S.M. also of Captain John Henry MERCER second son of Colonel Edward Smyth MERCER, R.M. (Royal Marines) late Commandant of the Plymouth Division who died July 22nd 1855 leaving a wife and daughter to lament his loss.

Sacared to the memory also of Captain Henry MERCER Royal Artillery youngest son of Colonel Edward Smyth MERCER who fell in action at Rangiriri New Zealand on the 20 November 1863 while leading in forlorn hope his escort of Artillerymen to retrieve the losses of that disastrous day aged 38 years. “ I deeply deplore in common with all under my Command the loss the Service has sustained in the death of Captain Mercer, Commanding Royal Artillery in this Colony who died from the effects of the wound received whilst gallantly leading his men to the assault on the Redoubt. I regard it as serious misfortune that the force should be deprived at such a moment of the services of so able and energetic and Officer” Extract from Despatched dated camp Rangiriri Nov 26th 1863, of Major General Sir Duncan CAMERON, K.C.B. to the Right Honorable the Secretary of State for War.

He fell after being struck by a ball in the jaw. He was allowed to remain, in a dying condition close by the redoubts, for hours, till a trench had been run up to the point where he was. He was visited by Dr Temple and Lieutenant Pickard, R.A. Troops had dug a trench to the spot for the purpose of taking him away.

There was a Court of Inquiry into the death of Late Captain Henry Mercer Mercer, of the Royal Artillery who was killed by undue and useless exposure at the battle of Rangiriri, New Zealand, November, 1863 on the Order of Major General Cameron. Captain Mercer had a brother in the same regiment and battle who in court defended his late brother. The following is a small extract from a long statement. “When I (his brother) was informed of the increased pension being granted, I was asked by my brother’s widow thenceforth to observe a strict silence in regard to every circumstance connected with him. But I, the only near surviving relative who is in a position to take part of his defender cannot accept this condition. My other brother is in the army and whatever his opinions may be-and what they are I do not know-upon him silence in imposed. But I am free to speak and act; and General Cameron is already aware that, come what will, I shall hold him personally responsible for the fatal order he gave my brother to do an impossible act in the face of certain death. The world is wide and if he so will it, we can settle our differences in France of the United States or some other foreign territory, where he will be as free as myself from any restraint which the shackles of the service might be supposed to impose upon him. Whatever instructions he might have received to put Captain Mercer to extraordinary test of courage, he had no right to sacrifice him as he did”

The above extract was taken from the following link. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=aeu.ark:/13960/t6b28fx8m&view=1up&seq=31&size=125

Just in case above link does not work clock on below. https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collections-research/collections/record/am_library-catalogq40-20972?p=4&plc=Toronto&ordinal=4

Battle of Rangiriri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rangiriri

Shows war memorial. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/rangiriri-army-nz-wars-memorial

John Henry MERCER Esqr, Captain Royal Marines Born 1819, christened 25 August 1819 at Frindsbury Higham Kent to Colonel Edward Smyth and Frances Maria Mercer Promoted to 1st Lieutenant 3 November 1841 1851 with his wife at Star Lane, Rochester, Kent, Lieutenant, Royal Marines.

Edinburgh Gazette dated 7 November 1851. Admiralty November 3, 1851. Corps of Royal Marines promoted from 1st Lieutenant to Captain.

Edinburgh Gazette dated 3 May 1853. Admiralty, 26th April, 1853. Corps of Royal Marines. Captain John Henry Mercer, resigned.

Died 22 July 1855 aged 36. He was late Commandant of the Plymouth Division Royal Marines Laid to rest 25 July 1855 at Monkton Kent

Captain Arthur Hill Hasted MERCER D.L. 60th King’s Royal Rifles Born 12 May 1824 at Portsmouth Hampshire to Edward Smyth and Frances Maria Mercer nee Prebble. Husband of Elizabeth Ann Ord Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Essex 1891 with his wife at 17 Dacre Park parish of Lee London, Retired Major, Army Officer Died 9 February 1898 in Bournmouth Southampton

Major Robert Hutchinson Ord, Royal Artillery, Woolwich Kent Born 24 Aug 1789 in Bradfield Combust, Suffolk, England to Craven and Mary Smith Ord, nee Redman. Commissioned into the Royal Horse Artillery in 1805 Appointed 2nd Lieutenant Royal Artillery 1805. 1st Lieutenant 1806, Captain Lieutenant 1816. 2nd Captain 1817. Brevet Major 1819. Served in Spain and Portugal during the Napoleonic Wars and in 1813 was appointed Brigade Major on the Staff of the Army. Died 1828

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

You are free:

• to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
• to remix – to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:

• attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
• share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0CC BY-SA 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 truetrue