Caledon

The Pringles of Caledon, County Tyrone, Ireland

The Pringles of Caledon are believed to descend from the Pringles of Torsonce. The John Pringle of Lyme Park who migrated to Ireland with Hamilton is believed to be the youngest (4th) son of James (2) Hoppringill of that Ilk. This John Pringle was born circa 1642 and was at one time the factor of the Earl of Lauderdale. If so, he would be the youngest brother of George Hoppringill of that Ilk and uncle to John, the last Hoppringill of that Ilk who died in 1737.

Pringle of Caledon, co. Tyrone (Coat of Arms according to Burkes General Armory):
Granted by Betham, Ulster, to JOHN PRINGLE, Esq., of that place, Deputy Governor of cos. Armagh and Tyrone.
Arms – Ermine on a bend sable three escallops erminois.
Crest – An escallop, as in the arms.
Motto – Amicitia reddit honores.
[These arms are a differenced version of the arms of Pringle of that ilk and Torsonce, implying that they descend from that family.]
Note that the picture of the Arms of Pringle of Caledon, see above, the helmet is wrong. It shows a Knights helmet (forward facing) instead of a Gentleman’s helmet (facing to the side).

Lineage of the Pringles of Caledon, Co. Tyrone

MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY PRINGLE OF CALEDON.

Henry was the second son of John Pringle of Lyme Park, Co. Tyrone. In 1747 he became Ensign in Otway’s Regimenon Irish half pay, in 1750 Lieut,. in Blackeney’s Regt. (Enniskilllngs), in 1756 Major in the 56th Regiment, in 1779 Lieut.-Col. in the 51st Foot, in November 1782 Major-General (S. M.). In January 1782 General Murray, while defending Port St Philip in the Island of Minorca, which was besieged by the French, declared to his officers that he would never surrender until driven to the last extremity, and they, including Colonel Henry Pringle, replied that they would obey his orders. In February Governor Murray writes as to the unhappy differences between the Lieut.-Governor and himself relative to the surrender of the Island to the French. Later, a complaint having been presented against Murray, it was found that the case could not be tried for want of Colonel Pringle who was left hostage for the transport vessels. In 1767 Henry married a daughter of the Rev. Dr Godley, Ireland (G. M.). He had issue, a daughter Caroline, who in 1797 marr. Robert, son of the late Sir Richard St George, Bart.; also a son William-Henry (G. M.).

Whilst serving as a captain in the 27th Foot (Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers), Henry fought alongside his friend Major Robert Rogers of the Rangers at the Battle on Snowshoes in 1758.

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM-HENRY PRINGLE, G.C.B,, M.P.,

son of the above Major-General Henry Pringle who in 1792 entered the army as Cornet in the 16th Dragoons, in 1809 became Colonel m the army, and on 1st January 1812 Major- General, in which year he was appointed to the staff of the Peninsular army ; and he commanded a Brigade at the battles of Salamanca, the Pyrenees, and Nivelle. He received the thanks of the House of Commons in person after the former battle on 10th February 1813, and two votes of thanks after the battles of the Pyrenees, Orthes, and Nivelle on 24th June 1814 (G. M.). In February 1814 he was severely wounded in France. In May following he was appointed Colonel of the Newfoundland Fencibles. In 1816 he was promoted to the 64th Foot, and having attained the rank of Lieut.-General in 1825, to the 45th Foot in 1838. He was made a K.C.B. in 1815, and later advanced to the Grand Cross (G. M). He married in 1806 Hester-Harriet Pitt, granddaughter of Lord Eliot and his wife Harriet Pitt niece of William Pitt the great statesman (Annual Register). William-Henry died at Stratford-place, London, on 23rd December 1840, aged 68 ; and there in October 1842 died his widow. They had issue : John-Henry Pringle; and Ann-Elizabeth, Catherine-Harriet-Frances, and Hester-Margaret.

Major-General Sir William-Henry Pringle

by Plimer?

Major-General Sir William-Henry Pringle

Staffordshire Regimental Museum

COLONEL JOHN-HENRY PRINGLE (1809 - 1868),

son of the above Sir W. H. Pringle, G.C.B., entered the army in 1825 as Ensign and Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards, became Captain in 1830, Lieut.-Col. in 1842, Colonel in the army on retiring in 1854. Ilk 1839-40 he and Mr Taylor published The Correspondence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, their great grandfather, in 4 vols. (Quarterly Review). In 1846 John-Henry Pringle published a volume of poems, Algiers, The Warlike (pp. 127, Ollivier, Pall Mall): He married in 1841 a daughter of J. Ramsbottom of Clewer Lodge (G. M.). On 26th July 1868 he was accidentally killed, while residing with his family at Bex on the lake of Geneva. He went for a walk on the hills around, and, not returning, next day the authorities sent a hundred men to search for him, but it was not until eight days afterwards that his body was found at the bottom of a ravine. He had fallen over a perpendicular precipice 200 ft. high (The Times, 19th August 1868).

  1. The Correspondence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (volume 1), Edited by Wiliam Taylor and John Henry Pringle
  2. The Correspondence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (volume 2), Edited by Wiliam Taylor and John Henry Pringle
  3. The Correspondence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (volume 3), Edited by Wiliam Taylor and John Henry Pringle
  4. The Correspondence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (volume 4), Edited by Wiliam Taylor and John Henry Pringle

Rear-Admiral John Eliot Pringle (1842 - 1908)

Obituary in The Times, 21 March 1908, p. 7, reads: REAR-ADMIRAL JOHN ELIOT PRINGLE, of Broke-hall, Nacton, who died recently at Bordighera of heart failure, was a son of the late Lieutenant-Colonel Pringle of the Coldstream Guards. He was born in 1842, entered the Royal Navy in 1855, and in the same year saw active service in the Baltic at the bombardment of Sveaborg, in the Gulf of Finland. He was promoted to commander in January, 1876. When in command of the Vulture on the East Coast of Africa he attacked with the boats of the ship and captured, after a desperate resistance, 15 piratical dhows near El Khatif on October 11, 1876. During the Egyptian war of 1882 he commanded the Faloon and received the Egyptian medal, the Khedive’s bronze star, and the Medjidiah of the third class. For the able manner in which he quelled a disturbance at Port Said in 1883, landing a detachment of seamen and Marines for the purpose, he received a letter of thanks from the principal inhabitants. He was promoted to captain in 1884, and in 1888 received from the Sultan of Turkey the Medjidiah of the second class, a promotion in the order. As a midshipman when in the Gorgon he was awarded the bronze medal of the Royal Humane Societ for jumping overboard at sea and supporting a boy in the water until assistance arrived. In 1892 he retired and in 1899 was promoted on the retired list to flag rank. He was a J.P. for Herts. Married Eliza Inez Hulbert in 1886. No issue.

See also:

http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/pringle-sir-william-1771-1840

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb133-engms1273 – Correspondence of Sir William Henry Pringle

http://www.dreweatts.com/cms/pages/lot/20623/219 – Order of the Bath robes of Sir William Henry Pringle

http://www.eliotsofporteliot.com/pringles/index.html – The Pringles of Caledon and the Eliots of Port Eliot.