A series of
caches highlighting some of the places of historical interest in
Comber. Carparking is available at Comber Square (if your lucky) or
beside the Bus Station in Killinchy Street.
The most
recognisable feature in Comber's main square is a statue of
’Rollicking Rollo’ - Sir Robert Rollo
Gillespie (1766-1814) was born in a large house on the
south side of the square. He soldiered in Ireland, the West Indies,
Java and Nepal, fought duels, acted as a secret agent against the
French and was killed in action. The statue was unveiled on 4 June
1845 (St. John's Day). Fifty lodges of the Masonic Order were
present, in what is believed to be the biggest Masonic gathering in
Irish history. It was calculated that 25,000 to 30,000 people
crowded into the town to witness the ceremony. The column is 55
feet high. At the foot of the column are many Masonic symbols and
his famous last words "One shot more for the honour of Down".
Gillespie would be surprised, if he came back, to see the figure
with his back to the house in which he was born and even worse to
see the sword in his right hand.
At the age of ten, Robert Rollo Gillespie’s parents wished
him to take up law, although Rollo announced that he wished to
become a soldier. His wish as usual, was granted and he became a
Cornet of the 3rd Horse, and his father paid out £1,102 for his
uniforms.
In 1786, at twenty years of age, he became entranced with Annabella
Taylor of Dublin aged 19, then visiting the Dean of Clogher, which
was where Gillespie was
stationed. When she returned to Dublin, he followed, met her again
and the couple eloped and were married in November 1786.
In the following Spring Gillespie’s troop moved to Athy in
Co. Kildare and after dinner one evening at Gillespie’s
house, when every man had had too much to drink, a violent quarrel
arose between Mackenzie, a brother officer, and William Barrington
a local squire, who knew Gillespie’s wife well. Oaths and
insults led to a challenge to a duel. Gillespie seconded Mackenzie.
Early next morning the two met, fired twice and missed and a
reconciliation was suggested. There are two versions of what then
took place and both are biased.
Sir Jonah Barrington, a brother of the duellist, states that
Gillespie objected to the reconciliation and having a fiery temper
and being insulted, shot the duellist, Barrington on the spot. The
other version is that Barrington, the duellist labelled Gillespie a
coward living amongst a regiment of cowards.
Gillespie, in extreme rage, whipped out his handkerchief, held one
end himself offering the other to Barrington, engaged to fight at
point blank range. Both fired simultaneously. The cock of
Gillespie’s pistol was knocked off by his opponent’s
ball. Barrington was shot through the heart and carried to a
neighbouring cabin. Gillespie, mortified, knelt beside his dying
opponent and beseeched a proof of reconciliation, without
avail.
In 1791 Gillespie’s father died and Gillespie receiving
promotion to Lieutenant in the 20th Light Dragoons in 1792 set sail
from Belfast for Jamaica. Within days of landing, Gillespie
contracted Yellow Fever, and it was two months before he
recovered.
The British gained control of most of the island and only the
capital, Port-au-Prince had not submitted. It was decided to demand
the surrender and Gillespie and a naval captain volunteered to
carry the summons. They swam ashore with swords in mouth and
finally reached the beach through heavy fire. On landing they were
immediately captured and taken to the Governor and charged with
spying. The situation was extremely dangerous, until Gillespie
noticed a Masonic emblem dangling on the Governor’s stomach.
Glillespie gave a Masonic sign and the attitude of the Governor
immediately changed. They were given a great dinner, the Governor
tasting the food before handing it to the visitors to show that it
was not poisoned. After the meal they were returned to their ship
safely but without the surrender of the town. It was not until June
that year, after fierce fighting in which Gillespie took part and
had the distinction of being mentioned for gallantry, that the
capital was taken.
Gillespie then returned to Comber in October, 1791, all military
operations having ceased.
In February, 1796 while waiting at Cork to return to San Domingo
and the West Indies, Gillespie was involved in a fracas and nearly
missed the boat. He was at the theatre and noticed that during the
playing of the National Anthem, his large-nosed heavily built
neighbour did not stand nor did he remove his hat. Gillespie
requested him to do so and when he refused the impetuous, fiery
Gillespie caught him by the nose and in the struggle broke it. The
lady to whom the man was engaged broke off the engagement, when she
heard of it and the outraged lover swore revenge - against
Gillespie. He took out a warrant against him for assault and
battery and law officers were looking for him. To get on board the
troopship, Gillespie disguised himself as a woman and carrying a
borrowed baby in his arms walked aboard without being discovered.
His small stature and youthful face stood him in good stead.
One night when Gillespie was recovering from a bout of malaria,
he heard his native servant screaming downstairs. Hastily he
snatched up his sword, rushed downstairs in his nightgown and found
the body of his faithful servant in a pool of blood. Behind it a
band of villains were brandishing their weapons and searching for
Gillespie’s room. Immediately the gang attacked the little
man awaiting them in night attire on the stairs. With great
dexterity and ferocity he attacked, killing six outright and the
other two turned and fled. One swung round and fired his pistol.
The bullet passed through Gillespie’s hair and severed the
temporal artery. The night patrol heard the shot and hurried to the
spot to find Gillespie in a dead faint on his bed. Medical
attention was procured and Gillespie soon recovered.
Gillespie wished to go to India for a change of scene. This was
in 1805 and from this time on his wife Annabella is never
mentioned, although she was a widow for 19 years after
Gillespie’s death. He obviously had domestic troubles, caused
no doubt by being an over gallant man and also most extravagant,
which left him without adequate cash resources. He made his way to
India, overland, in 1805 and had various adventures on the way.
In 1807 the Light Dragoons left for England, but Gillespie
stayed in India and transferred to the 8th Royal Irish Regiment
stationed at Cawnpore.
The party encamped amongst sylvan surroundings at a place called
Mornee. The local Rajah, being at enmity with the Sikhs, had need
of a military commander of merit. At this time India was filled
with military adventurers ready to sell their services to the
highest bidder. Whether the Rajah of Mornee mistook Gillespie for
one of these men or whether he had heard of his reputation, is not
known. He approached Gillespie with the offer of the command.
Gillespie of course refused. The Rajah was furious and surrounded
Gillespie’s camp with troops and threatened to use force.
Little did he know the man with whom he was dealing. Gillespie,
sitting in his tent, the flap open wide, sent out an order for the
leader of the armed forces to appear before him. The leader arrives
and stands before him. For a full minute or more Gillespie stares
at the hill man. Under the solemn survey of those brown eyes of
Gillespie, the left eye large and compelling, the right eye
threatening from a slight droop in the upper lid - the hill
man’s glance wavers. Nervously the toes of the bare feet
wriggle on the matting floor of the tent. Finally Gillespie speaks.
Pulling out his watch and setting it on the camp table before him,
he says, “Go tell the Rajah, your master, that if in half an
hour he does not recall his men from around my tents, I shall take
his fort and expel him from the country.”
GILLESPIE’S LAST ATTACK
On the 18th October, Gillespie’s force occupied a fort called
“The Dun” and on the 22nd entered Debra, a charming
little town, without meeting any resistance, as the Gurkhas had
retired to Kalunga, a fort strongly posted on a hill about 600 feet
high and covered with intricate jungle. Lord Moira, who had
insisted on combining the offices of Governor-General and
Commander-in-Chief was directing operations from far-distant
Lucknow, and had given explicit instructions that in no case were
attempts to be made to storm places which should be reduced by
artillery. Lieutenant-Colonel Mawbey, sent ahead by Gillespie to
take Kalunga, decided as it was so strong a defensive fort, to
return to Debra and await the arrival of Gillespie. Gillespie
arrived on the 26th and decided to storm the position regardless of
the Commander-in-Chief’s instructions. Gillespie decided this
so that he could keep to an arrangement that his force would join
another British force on November, 1st. On 29th October he issued
orders for the attack - orders so thorough and with such detailed
forethought - yet which were to prove to be his last orders. His
plan was to seize the plateau some eight hundred yards south of the
fort and there establish his batteries for his guns. By dawn of the
31st. the guns opened up on the fort and three attacks converging
from different points were to be launched simultaneously. At 2.00
a.m. the three columns moved out on their separate routes. At 7.00
a.m. the gun signal was fired, warning all troops that two hours
later the general assault was to be made, but was found later not
to have been heard. Just before nine o’clock, the hour set
for the assault, an enemy detachment, which during the night had
occupied a hill outside the fort, made an attack on
Gillespie’s flank. They were driven back to the fort by
Gillespie’s force, which followed them right to the foot of
the fort wall. Here, however, was a serious check as the Gurkha
Commander had cleverly sited a gun to enfilade the gateway to the
fort. The British troops were thus forced back to the shelter of
scone huts. The time for the general assault was long past, but
still there was no sign of the converging columns. At 10.00 a.m.
the troops in the huts were reinforced with two guns, three
companies of English Infantry and the rest of the Royal Irish
Dragoons. The guns were within twenty-five yards of the fort walls,
there was still no sign of the converging columns, so Gillespie
decided that a personal example was what was needed. He turned to
Kennedy, a Horse-Gunner and a fellow Ulsterman and said, “Now
Charles, now for the honour of Down”. (Charles Kennedy, ninth
son of John Kennedy of Cultra Manor, Craigavad., Co Down had later
written on the back of a portrait of his that Gillespie’s
last words were, “Now Charles, now for the honour of
Down.” This is much more likely than “One shot more for
the honour of Down”, which was quoted by Colonel Cairns at
the unveiling of the statue in The Square, Comber, in 1845, and is
engraved on the memorial. The date of his death is given on the
memorial as 24th October, 1814 whereas it should be the 31st.
Gillespie, far in advance, called to his men, cajoled them then
cursed them to come on. He could be seen waving his hat in one hand
and the sword of the Royal Irish in the other, followed only by his
faithful Dragoons, until he reached the very entrance to the wicket
gate of the fort. Suddenly, the hat descended; abruptly the sword
no longer glinted above.
Gillespie fell, shot through the heart, on the threshold of the
position he had sworn to take or die for.
The cache is a nano ( you know by now what that means )
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