Ensign Horatio De Quincey was a junior infantry officer in the British Army, who died at Stanley during the period of the First Opium War.
On 30 April 1841 Horace De Quincey received his commission to serve as an ensign in the 26th Regiment of Foot, a Scottish infantry regiment in the British Army, which was more popularly known as the 26th Cameronians.
In Spring 1842, Ensign De Quincey left the U.K., bound for China, to serve under Sir Hugh Gough in the First Opium War.
On 27 August 1842 Ensign De Quincey, recently arrived in Hong Kong and planning to join the conflict being waged in the north, died of malarial fever in the military encampment at Stanley.
It is perhaps interesting to note that this Opium War soldier was the son of popular British author of the day, Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) who had, some twenty years earlier, written the seminal work titled Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1823). I only make mention of this fact here as the observation struck me as containing the makings of a somewhat intriguing coincidence.
Is there a colleague in the Gwulo Community who knows where Ensign Horatio De Quincey might be buried and, better still, know how to obtain an image of his grave marker to be posted on the Gwulo site? Could his, by chance, be a very early burial at the Stanley Military Cemetery?
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Re: Horatio de Quincey
Timeline
30 APR 1841 - joined the 26th Cameronians
27 AUG 1842 - died at Chick Choo*, China
27 SEP 1842 - promoted to lieutenant posthumously
"Chick Choo" likely refers to Chek Chue (Stanley)
Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Notes_and_Queries_-_Series_11_-_Volume_12.djvu/281 (updated link)
According to the Antiquities and Monuments Office, the earliest Victorian grave at Stanley Military Cemetery is from 1843. It is unlikely that de Quincey's grave is at Stanley.
Source: https://www.aab.gov.hk/filemanager/aab/common/historicbuilding/en/981_Appraisal_En.pdf
Ensign Horatio De Quincey’s possible Stanley burial
Thank you “moddsey” for providing so much new information on this topic. Just about all I knew of Ensign Horatio De Quincey came from my reading of a University of East Anglia scholarly paper by Peter J. Kitson titled: The Last War of the Romantics: De Quincey, Macaulay, and the First Opium War with China, 1840-42.
I don’t dare click on that link with the monstrously long title, so I am very pleased to be able to read your summary of its contents. I will certainly make use of the 30 Apr 1841 date that you provided. I do agree with you that “Chick Choo” is a rather random Cantonese romanization for 赤柱 - “Chek Chue” in currently accepted usage. (even though I do prefer “Chek Jue” myself).
On reading your second link, my attention was drawn to mention of “old garrison burials” commencing “1841”, and pre-dating Colonial Cemetery burials. There is mention elsewhere of 127 British troops having died at Stanley by October 1842. Your link informs us that there are presently “89 old garrison graves in the cemetery”. It seems therefore that Ensign De Quincey is not the only lost British military soul unaccounted for at this time.
Thank you “moddsey”
Thank you “moddsey” for going to the trouble of updating your link to that 1915 article regarding Horace De Quincey, which was well worth reading in full. I found it both entertaining and informative. Those letters directed to the War Office from his sister and famous, though addicted, father, provide insights into the notion of purchasing a surprisingly expensive ensigncy with the expectation of turning a profit through the awarding of prize money accrued while serving in China. All quite worryingly mercenary really. I am now not so surprised to read how ill-led and ill-disciplined the troops stationed at the early Stanley military encampment appear to have been; and I would not be at all surprised if those many who had died of sickness and neglect might have been inadequately buried by their emaciated fellows in the most superficial of fashions.
Historian Geoffrey Sayer, quoting newspaper reports published around the time of Ensign De Quincey’s death, writes: “An August 1842 newspaper reports that the climate or too liberal potations of samshoo (the local alcohol) are causing the death of many of the soldiers of whom no less than 47 were buried last month. In September another report records much sickness among the troops stationed at Chek Chu (Stanley). At the end of October troops arrived in Hong Kong from the north, where, instead of finding a body of well drilled recruits, they found a mass of emaciated dying lads; 127 had already died."