DUNDEE COURIER, TUESDAY 18TH MARCH 1884
DEATH OF MAJOR-GENERAL MERCER OF BALCRAIG
Intimation is made of the death of Major-General Charles McWhirter Mercer of Balcraig, near Perth, which took place at Shandon, on the Gairloch, on Thursday. He had been in delicate health for some time, and left his residence at Balcraig only on Wednesday last.
The deceased gentleman was the tenth child of George Mercer of Gorthy, Dryden and Mavisbank, and his wife Frances Charlotte, daughter of John Reid, of the Bengal Medical Service. His father commenced life as a midshipman in the naval service of the East India Company, and was afterwards engaged in mercantile pursuits in India.
The deceased early entered the Royal Bengal Horse Artillery, in which he served for upwards of thirty years, returning home about four years ago. His genial nature, agreeable manners, and social disposition gained him many friends, by whom he will be sadly missed. He occupied the position of R.W.M. in the Royal Arch Lodge of local Freemasons, the annual social meeting of which was to have been held last night, but, in consequence of the General’s death, has been indefinitely postponed.
It may be interesting to add that the deceased was a descendant of the younger branch of the Mercers of Adie and Meiklour, a family whose remote ancestor, John Mercer, Provost of Perth, dying about 1350, was interred in the vault under the Middle Church of Perth, and concerning which the rhyme runs: ‘Sae sicker ’tis than onything on earth, The Mercers aye are aulder than auld Perth.’
Shandon People and History 