Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 6 clasps, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse (G. M. Cary, 2nd Lieut., 95th Foot) silver buckle on ribbon, edge bruising, otherwise better than very fine £2500-3000

George Marcus Cary was born in Ireland in 1795. He entered the army as an Ensign in the King’s County Militia in March 1812. He volunteered to the 95th Rifles in the following June and was appointed Second Lieutenant on 2 October 1812. He served with the 3rd Battalion in the Peninsula from November 1812 until April 1814 and was engaged in the affairs and actions of San Munoz, San Millan, Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Vera, Bidassoa, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Tarbes and Toulouse.

In November 1813 the 95th were involved in a series of actions in and around the villages of Arcangues and Bassussari. Cary is mentioned in connection with these actions in The History of the Rifle Brigade ..., by Sir William H. Cope, Bart.

‘The houses so often taken and evacuated were retaken next day by another company of the 3rd Battalion, who held them in spite of all attempts of the enemy to dispossess them. In taking them a young officer, George Cary, then a Second Lieutenant, advanced with his men on the enemy, who withdrew for some distance without much resistance; but on reaching a hedge some way in front of the principal house, they called to him to come no further, or they would fire. Cary, having placed his men under cover, called out to them (for he spoke excellent French) that they might begin their fire when they liked; but that he must have the house. They made no more resistance; but walking off planted their sentries within about forty yards of it.

This is but one of many instances of the good and chivalrous feeling that existed between the Riflemen and the French troops on outpost duty.’

On 18 September 1815 he embarked for America with five companies of the 3rd Battalion Rifles, and served throughout the American expedition, including the battle of New Orleans on 8 January 1815.

Cary was placed on the half-pay of the 95th with the rank of Captain on 25 December 1818. He appears subsequently to have been residing in France and was married to Anne Eliza at Bordeaux in July 1824, with whom he had two daughters. In 1836 he signed a memorandum of agreement to serve a term of five years as manager of an experimental farm to be established at the Red River settlement, Manitoba, by the Hudson Bay Company. The third and most ambitious of the company’s experimental farms, this one was intended to be an example for the settlers, to assist them in the adaptation of modern agricultural practises, and eventually to produce crops appropriate for an export trade.

Hudson Bay Company governor, George Simpson, had high hopes for Cary, describing him as ‘a Gentleman who understands both the theory and practise of those branches of agriculture’ to be implemented at the farm. Despite considerable investment the farm was not a success, being handicapped by the opposition of the Red River settlers. According to one writer in the Nor’-Wester, ‘Capt. Cary exercised his agricultural talents in raising wheat, barley, potatoes and turnips - articles which everyone in Red River had for sale, and for which there was no market’.

In 1841 the experimental farm was abandoned and Cary was allowed to take over part of it as a private concern. He continued to cultivate this property, adjacent to Upper Fort Garry, Winnipeg, on the Assiniboine River. Whilst not a successful agriculturalist, Cary did play a prominent role in the public life of Red River. From 1837 to 1847 he was a member of the Council of Assiniboia, serving on its board of public works, committee of economy, and committee of finance. He was also appointed Justice of the Peace for the upper district in 1837. In the spring of 1847 he retired to London Township, Upper Canada, homesteading on the fifth concession until his death on 4 February 1858. He is buried in St John’s Cemetery, Middlesex County, Ontario.