GLEIG,
a surname derived from the Scottish word gleg, quick of
apprehension, sharp-sighted, read at the uptake. Those of this name have
for a crest a falcon holding a partridge. In the 17th
century, Mr. James Glegg, a native of Dundee, and one of the professors
of St. Andrews university, but who resigned his chair for the rectorship
of the grammar school of his native town, was the author of some elegant
Latin poems, preserved in the Poetae Scotigenae.
The Right Rev.
George Gleig, LL.D., bishop of Brechin, and primus of the Scots
Episcopal church, who died at Stirling, March 9, 1840, in his 87th
year, was for more than 60 years distinguished as a scholar and critic.
Ordained a priest in 1773, he was in 1808 elected by the clergy of
Brechin co-adjutor to their aged bishop, Dr. Strachan, and consecrated
at Aberdeen in October of the same year. On the death of Bishop Strachan,
in 1810, he was preferred to the sole charge of the diocese, and, on the
death of Dr. John Skinner, in July 1816, chosen to succeed him as
primus. He was the author of ‘Papers on Morals and Metaphysics;’
‘Account of the Life and Opinions of Archibald, Earl of Kellie,’ Edin,
1797, 4to; ‘Account of the Life and Writings of William Robertson, D.D.,’
8vo; ‘A Supplement to the third edition of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica,’ Edin. 1801, 2 vols. 4to; ‘Occasional Sermons,’ Edin. 1803,
8vo; ‘A Charge delivered at Stonehaven to the Episcopal Clergy of
Brechin,’ 1809, 4to; ‘Buonaparte and Benhadad delineated; in two
Sermons,’ Lond. 1814, 8vo; ‘Directions for the Study of Theology, in a
Series of Letters from a Bishop to his Son, on his admission into holy
orders,’ London, 1827, 8vo, and other publications.
His son, the
Rev. George Robert Gleig, M.A., born in 1796, was educated at Oxford. In
his youth he left the university to join, as a volunteer, a regiment
then marching through Oxford, on its way to Lisbon, and soon obtained a
commission in the 85th regiment of light infantry. He served
in the peninsular war, and in 1825 published his military reminiscences
in an interesting narrative styled ‘The Subaltern.’ In the American war
of 1812-13, he was wounded at the capture of the city of Washington.
Subsequently, he retired from the army on half-pay, married, and took
orders, and in 1822 was presented by the archbishop of Canterbury to the
living of Ivy church, Kent. In 1844, he was made chaplain of Chelsea
Hospital, and in 1846 became chaplain-general to the forces. Having
devised a scheme for the education of soldiers, he was appointed
Inspector General of Military Schools. In 1848 he was appointed a
Prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Author of ‘Campaigns of Washington
and New Orleans,’ 1821, 8vo; ‘The Chelsea Pensioners,’ 1829; ‘The
Country Curate,’ 1830; ‘Germany Visited;’ ‘Military History of Great
Britain;’ ‘Two volumes of Sermons;’ ‘Soldier’s Help to Divine Truth,’
London, 1835, 12mo; ‘Chronicles of Waltham;’ ‘Family History of
England,’ 1836, 2 vols. 16mo; ‘The Hussar,’ 1837; ‘Traditions of Chelsea
Hospital,’ 1837; ‘Memoirs of Warren Hastings,’ 1841, 2 vols.; ‘Chelsea
Veterans;’ ‘Stories of Battle of Waterloo,’ 1842; ‘The Light Dragoons,’
1843, and a variety of other works.
