Qualla: Amos Norcott

Amos Norcott: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Arthur Wellesley once paid off his friend's gambling debts in India. The friend was Amos Godsell Robert Norcott, a young officer of the 33rd Foot, and he repaid the kindness by surviving Corunna, Waterloo, Jamaica, and three decades of British soldiering before settling, finally, at Marysboro House outside Cork. He died there on 8 January 1838, commander of the Cork District, a man whose career had bent around the whole shape of the early nineteenth century.

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Amos Norcott: A Boy Born After His Father Died

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Norcott was born in Westminster on 3 August 1777. His father, Lieutenant Amos Norcott of the Green Horse Regiment - the 5th Dragoon Guards - had already shipped out for Barbados and died en route. The son grew up knowing his father only as a story. He entered the British Army in ...

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Amos Norcott: India, Spain, Waterloo

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The 33rd Foot sent Norcott to India, and India is where he became friends with Arthur Wellesley. The friendship would last. When Norcott ran up gambling losses, Wellesley settled them. In 1802 Norcott transferred to a regiment that did not yet quite exist: the newly formed 95th R...

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Amos Norcott: Honours, Jamaica, Cork

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Promotion came slowly in the long peace after Waterloo. Norcott's lieutenant-colonelcy was confirmed in September 1819 with the brevet rank of full colonel of the 8th Foot Regiment. He reached major general in July 1830. On 13 September 1831 he was knighted at St James's Palace a...

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Amos Norcott: The Last Posting

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Norcott returned to Britain and was given command of the Cork District, a major garrison area in the south of Ireland that included the gunpowder mills at Ballincollig and the network of forts ringing Cork Harbour. He took up residence at Marysboro House near Ballincollig and die...

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