From Bugler to Lieutenant Colonel: Alexander Joseph Wolff

Lieutenant Colonel Wolff in later life.

One of the joys of having written a regimental history is that I still get contacted by descendants of the men I wrote about, long after the book has been published, and I get to learn a little more about the riflemen and their later lives. This week a great great grandson of a rifleman who served in the 5th Battalion 60th Foot sent me his ancestor’s obituary:

In our issue of the 10th instant, it is our painful duty to announce the death of one of our best known and most respected citizens, Alexander Joseph Wolff, J.P. of Valcartier, formerly Adjutant of the 5th Battalion of H.M. 60th Rifles and Lieut. Col. Of the 11th Battalion of Quebec Militia. Col. Wolff was born in Vienna, in the Empire of Austria, and at the early age of thirteen entered the British Army. In 1801 he was in Egypt with Sir Ralph Abercromby whose name is sacred to every British soldier. He was with the force dispatched from Cork in 1808 under the command of the Duke of Wellington (then Sir Arthur Wellesley) and fought under the great General against the French at the battle of Rolica and Vimeiro in Portugal, on the 17th & 21st of August of that year. He was with the army which crossed the Douro in May 1809, under Sir Arthur and which defeated Marshal Soult and took Oporto from the French. He continued with the troops stationed in Portugal until they advanced into Spain and commenced operations against the French to complete their expulsion from the Peninsula. He was at the battle of Talavera in July 1809; at Fuentes d’Onora, when Marshal Massena made his impetuous but unsuccessful attack upon the British; at Albuera in May 1811; at the storming and taking of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812; at the siege and capture of Badajoz in April; at the battle of Salamanca in July and at the battle of Vittoria in June 1813. He served during the whole campaign in the Pyrenees, and mountain passes of which had become the scene of fierce encounters. He was at the battle of Nivelle and Nives in November 1813; at the battle of Orthez, in France, in the Lower Pyrenees in February and finally, at the taking of Toulouse in April 1814, from the French under Marshal Soult. He was wounded on five several occasions, that is, at the storming and taking of Ciudad Rodrigo, and of Badajoz, and at the battles of Oporto, Salamanca and Orthez. As a reward for his military services, he received the war medal with thirteen clasps, being entitled to sixteen, and three remaining to be sent to him. The latter part of his life was spent in the retirement of the country and occupied chiefly in improving and managing his property at Valcartier. There, in the bosom of his family he passed many years beloved and respected by all around him, making himself useful by the faithful discharge of his duties as the commander of a Battalion of Militia and as an active and upright magistrate. Col. Wolff possessed an excellent understanding and was distinguished by suavity and modesty of manner and most benevolent disposition and by a conscientious attention to his religious duties as a sincerely attached member of the Church of England.

The Morning Chronicle (Quebec) December 12th 1863

In Riflemen I had already traced some of Wolff’s career but had not discovered any details of his later life, and the obituary gave me an excuse to do a little more research especially as Wolff’s descendent also sent me a link to some family research on him, which, with what I already knew and a little more research in the records of the National Archives enabled me learn even more about him, but there is much that is still unclear. During his time with the army he seems to have used Joseph as his first name, but later swapped to using Alexander.

In the 1851 census Wolff listed his place of birth as Austria, however in 1806 it was entered on an army form as Poland. The town his mentions is not clear, but might be something like Dubrinca. Central Europe has undergone many border changes and I think it is likely that he was born in a town that was part of Poland in the late 18th century, but later became part of Austria, and now could well be part of the Czech Republic or another state.

His age is also uncertain, the family suspects he was born in the late 1780s and that his father was an officer in the Austrian army who was killed at the first or second Battle of Stockach (1799 or 1800). He was orphaned and the oral family history says he was adopted by British officer. I think any formal adoption is unlikely but around this time agents of Prince Lowenstein Wertheim were in the region raising a regiment of jägers for British service. The rank and file were mainly Polish, with German and Walloon NCOs, and German or French officers. The commander of the unit was to be Lieutenant Colonel Charles Schoedde, formerly of the 60th Foot. It’s possible that Schoedde, or his son James, took the young Wolff under their protection. What is known for sure is that he joined the Lowenstein Jägers as a bugleman. The family history suggests he was 13 when this happened but on a much later army form Wolff lists his age when going the army as just 10.

The Jägers embarked at Trieste in May 1801, sailed for Malta and then were sent to reinforce the British army besieging Alexandria in the latter stages of the campaign to evict the French from Egypt, where they saw action and enabled Wolff to later claim the first of the 13 clasps to his General Service Medal. On the signing of the short lived Peace of Amiens the Lowenstein Jägers were disbanded on the Isle of Wight and just over 250 men then transferred to the 5th Battalion 60th Foot, sailing to join their unit at Halifax, Nova Scotia. This would be the start of Wolff’s long association with the country that became Canada, and the 60th Foot.

By 1806 the 5/60th were back in Britain and Wolff was now a private, aged perhaps 16 or 17. When the battalion landed in Portugal as part of Sir Arthur Wellesley’s force tasked with liberating Portugal from the French Wolff was a corporal in Captain John Wolff’s company. As far as I can tell the two Wolffs were not related, and Captain Wolff had been with the 5/60th long before the Jägers joined, but perhaps the similarity in names could be the root of the family story about adoption by a British officer. The 5/60th was one of only three units to be present for the whole of the Peninsular War, and the younger Wolff stayed with them throughout. In December 1809 he was promoted to sergeant, and then in April 1812 he became sergeant major, the senior NCO of the battalion. He was still in his early twenties, possibly as young as 23 or 24.

Wolff married Hana Kasel Ehlert (the spellings of her name vary) on 13 January 1811 in Azambuja, Portugal. Given her Germanic name it is unlikely that she was a local girl and was therefore probably either a widow or daughter of another soldier, but I can’t match the name to any in the 5/60th. However, there were other mostly German units with Wellington’s army. Their first daughter, Margaret was born 30 January 1812. Margaret survived the rigours of campaigning (she died in 1893) and was later joined by five siblings, only one of whom died in infancy.

Wolff’s obituary states that he was wounded at Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Oporto, Salamanca and Orthez. However, his record of service lists wounds received at Vimeiro, Badajoz (by a grapeshot), the Pyrenees and Toulouse. When the General Service Medal was awarded in the 1840s he received clasps for Egypt, Roliça, Vimeiro, Talavera, Bussaco, Fuentes d’Onoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Orthez and Toulouse. There are four Peninsula clasps he was not awarded: Corunna, Albuera, Nivelle and Nive. The 5/60th were not at Corunna, so that leaves the other three as the ones that he might have been claiming in addition to the 13 he was awarded. The Battles of Albuera and Fuentes d’Onoro happened within days of each other in different parts of Spain. However, Major John Galiffe and Private Daniel Lochstadt were awarded medals for both because a detachment of the 5/60th marched from Fuentes d’Onoro and reached Albuera in time for the battle, so it is possible, but unlikely, that Wolff was at both. By 1813, as sergeant major, Wolff would have normally been attached to the battalion’s headquarters in the 3rd Division, rather than one of the detached companies. The division was engaged at both the Nivelle and the Nive and the pay book does not list Wolff as being absent or sick during that period, so why he wasn’t awarded those medals is a bit of a mystery. Had he been awarded the full 16 that the obituary seems to think he was entitled to then that would have been more than any other soldier in Wellington’s army. Daniel Lochstadt was the joint highest with 15 clasps, along with a soldier of the 45th, but given that the medal was awarded so long after the campaign and had to applied for it is likely that there were many soldiers eligible clasps they never received.

Wolff stayed with the 5/60th after the war. The battalion was disbanded in 1818 but Wolff, along with many of the men, transferred to the 2/60th, which after more battalions were disbanded became 1/60th and was stationed in Canada. Wolff was commissioned as an ensign in December 1821, something that happened to almost all the 5/60th’s sergeant majors, and then in 1823 was appointed adjutant of his battalion. In 1824 the decision was taken to convert the 60th from a foreign corps to a British one and most of the remaining foreign men were discharged. The foreign officers were given the choice of being placed on half-pay or selling their commissions. Many men of the 1/60th chose to remain in Canada. Wolff was one of those men, and had already taken up a land grant of 50 acres in 1821.

He settled at Valcartier in Quebec, and many other men of the 60th also settled nearby. A Political and Historical Account of Lower Canada published in 1830 stated:

In 1824, when a population of 315 were living on 1,670 acres of land, Adjutant Alexander Wolff, late officer of the 60th Regiment, settled in the district with his family. Adjutant Wolff was a very popular officer, and a great number of his men also settled in Valcartier, after receiving their discharges from the British Army.

Wolff joined the Quebec Militia and rose to command one of its battalions as a lieutenant colonel. Life for his family was still tough, with the land having to be cleared, but he became a magistrate and his children married and rose to prominence in the growing community. His original homestead seems to have been abandoned and he died at a place called Crescent Farm near Quebec City, after a long and very full life.

My book, Riflemen: The History of the 5th Battalion, 60th (Royal American) Regiment – 1797-1818, is available direct from the publisher, Helion, and other booksellers.