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Christian Davies (1667 – 7 July 1739), born Christian Cavanagh, also known as Kit Cavanagh or Mother Ross, was an Irishwoman who joined the British Army in 1693 disguised as a man. She fought with the infantry in
Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
during the
Nine Years War The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between France and the Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial possessions in the Americas, India, and West Africa. Relat ...
until 1697, then with the 4th Dragoons, later the 2nd Royal North British Dragoons and finally with the Scots Greys in the War of the Spanish Succession from 1701 to 1706. The author
Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...
met her in old age when she was a
Chelsea Pensioner A Chelsea Pensioner, or In-Pensioner, is a resident at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, an Old soldiers' home, Old Soldiers' retirement home and nursing home for former members of the British Army located in Chelsea, London. The Royal Hospital Chelsea ...
and turned her story into a book entitled ''The Life and Adventures of Mrs. Christian Davies''.


Early life

Christian "Kit" Cavanagh was born in 1667 in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
,
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. Throughout her life, she would use the surnames: Welsh, Welch, Ross, Jones, and Davies. She was the daughter of a local brewer. Although her parents were Protestants, they supported
King James II James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685, until he was deposed in the 1688 Glori ...
during his campaign in Ireland. Her father served with the Jacobite Army, dying as a result of wounds at the
Battle of Aughrim The Battle of Aughrim () was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the largely Irish Army (Kingdom of Ireland), Irish Jacobitism, Jacobite army loyal to James II of England, James II and the forces of Will ...
. Her family's property was confiscated as a result of their support for the Jacobite cause. As a teenager, she became involved with a relative of her mother's.Marian Broderick, ''Wild Irish Women'', (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), p. 92 Unable to care for her - some accounts have her fleeing her mother - Kit Cavanagh went to live with her aunt who ran a
public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
in Dublin. Soon, she met and married Richard Welsh (some sources have him down as Richard Walsh), a servant of her aunt's. After her aunt's death, she inherited the pub. Despite her relative youth, she ran the pub as her own, with Richard being one of the waiters.History of the Scots Greys
retrieved fro
Regiment Art
on 19 October 2009.
They had two children, and she was pregnant with a third when suddenly Richard disappeared in 1691.


Searching for her lost husband


Infantryman

Under circumstances that are unclear, her husband ended up in the British Army. Some accounts have him volunteeringCharles Dickens,
All The Year Around
', vol. 10, (London: Messrs. Chapman and Hill, 1873) p. 86
while others have him being pressed into the army.Edward Almack, ''The History of the Second Dragoons: The Scots Greys'', (London, 1908), p. 32. In either event, he apparently attempted to write to her to inform her of his situation. Eventually, one of the letters made it to her, telling Cavanagh that he was in the British Army serving in Holland. Unwilling to simply lose her husband, Cavanagh placed her children in the care of her mother, cut her hair, and disguised herself as a man to join the British Army to find her lost husband. Initially, Cavanagh joined Captain Tichborne's company of foot under the name Christopher Welch. As an infantryman, she fought at the
Battle of Landen The Battle of Landen, also known as Battle of Neerwinden took place on 29 July 1693, during the Nine Years' War near Landen, then in the Spanish Netherlands, now part of Belgium. A Kingdom of France, French army under François-Henri de Montmor ...
. There she was wounded and captured by the French. In 1694, she was exchanged and returned to the British Army, who were still unaware of her true sex. After being exchanged, she continued to soldier on in the British Army, still looking for her husband. She remained a member of Tichborne's company until she became embroiled in a dispute with a sergeant of the company, whom she killed in a duel over a woman. Following the duel, and possibly as a result of it, Welch was allowed to be discharged from the army.


Dragoon

Once discharged, she promptly re-enlisted, this time in 2nd Royal North British Dragoons (known at the time (and later) as the Scots Greys) in 1697. As a dragoon, she took part in the fighting until the Peace of Ryswick. Demobilized at the end of the war, she had yet to find her husband. Still looking for her husband, she would eventually re-enlist with the Scots Greys when the War of Spanish Succession began in 1701. Somehow, she managed to conceal the fact that she was a woman. As Marian Broderick noted, "Amazingly, she managed to do this without being discovered: she ate with them, drank with them, slept with them, played cards with them, even urinated alongside them by using what she describes as a 'silver tube with leather straps'. No one was ever the wiser."Broderick, p. 93. She was so successful at passing herself off as a man that a prostitute claimed she was the father of her child. Rather than give proof that this was impossible, Cavanagh paid child support to the woman. During her time as a dragoon, Cavanagh grew to enjoy the life of a soldier. She particularly seemed to enjoy the marauding and looting that followed in the wake of battles. For a woman who had been successful in business, she was alleged to be just as successful a marauder. Fighting with the Scots Greys, she was wounded at the
Battle of Schellenberg The Battle of Schellenberg took place on 2 July 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The engagement was part of the John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Duke of Marlborough's campaign to save the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg capital ...
. Not willing to be sidelined by the musket ball that remained in her upper thigh, she was with the regiment at the
Battle of Blenheim The Battle of Blenheim (; ; ) fought on , was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. The overwhelming Allied victory ensured the safety of Vienna from the Franco-Bavarian army, thus preventing the collapse of the reconstituted G ...
. After the battle, she was assigned to guard French prisoners. There she found, after 13 years of searching, her husband. Richard Welsh was then a private in the
1st Regiment of Foot First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
. According to some accounts, she recognized him while he was trying to pick up a Dutch woman. Welch claimed he had sent her numerous letters, none of which ever reached her. Having found her husband with another woman, she refused to go back to him, preferring to remain a dragoon in the Scots Greys. Despite her anger at having found her husband cheating, the two remained somewhat close. The pair agreed to not reveal her identity, instead pretending to be brothers. The deception worked, with no one in the regiment suspecting her of being a woman, even though she was known as the "pretty dragoon". Welch's life as trooper continued until 1706 and the
Battle of Ramillies The Battle of Ramillies (), fought on 23 May 1706, was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. For the Grand AllianceAustria, England, and the Dutch Republicthe battle had followed an indecisive campaign against the Bourbon armies of K ...
. There she was again wounded, this time fracturing her skull. When the regimental surgeon treated her, he discovered that Christian Welsh was in fact a woman. The news of the discovery soon spread through the British cavalry brigade. Eventually Lord John Hay, the Scots Greys brigade commander, intervened, having Cavanagh's husband brought from the 1st Regiment of Foot. After hearing the whole story from Cavanagh, he ordered that her pay be continued while she remained under the care of the army.


Sutleress

Once she was well enough, Cavanagh, now back to being called Mrs Welsh, was formally discharged from the Scots Greys. As part of her discharge, the officers of the Scots Greys paid for a new wardrobe for Mrs Welsh. Some sources have reported that she fought openly as a woman; however, this is unlikely. She was, apparently, carried on strength as a wife and a sutler. After the Battle of Ramillies, there is no evidence that she continued to serve as a dragoon. She was allowed to remain with the army as an official wife on strength with the 1st Foot as a
sutler A sutler or victualer is a civilian merchant who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp, or in quarters. Sutlers sold wares from the back of a wagon or a temporary tent, traveling with an army or to remote military outposts. Sutler wa ...
ess. Although accounts list her as being a faithful wife, her husband's reputation is the opposite. Even after being reunited with his wife, Richard Welsh continued to see other women. When Cavanagh discovered one of his mistresses was still following the regiment, Cavanagh attacked the woman, cutting off her nose.Broderick, p. 95. However, at the
Battle of Malplaquet The Battle of Malplaquet took place on 11 September 1709 during the War of the Spanish Succession, near Taisnières-sur-Hon in modern France, then part of the Spanish Netherlands. A French army of around 75,000 men, commanded by the Duke of V ...
, her husband died. Cavanagh spent much of the day after the battle searching for her husband's body, turning over as many as two hundred bodies before finding him so that she could bury him. After the death of her husband, she became involved with a Captain Ross of the Scots Greys. Forever afterwards, she was known in the regiment as "Mother Ross". She never married Captain Ross, instead marrying another dragoon of the Scots Greys, Hugh Jones, three months after the Battle of Malplaquet. Jones would die at the Siege of Saint-Venant in 1710.


Return from the continent

In 1712, as the
War of Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish ...
was winding down, Cavanagh returned home with the troops. Because of her extraordinary tale, she was presented at court to Queen Anne. Queen Anne granted her a bounty of £50 and a shilling a day for the rest of her life as a pension. Finally returning to Dublin in 1713, she married for the third and final time. Her third husband, like the rest, was a soldier. His name was Davies. She lived in Dublin for some years, opening a new pub, but her years in the army had left her and her husband unsuited to settled life. For many years, they moved about England and Ireland, making a living through a variety of jobs as well as her celebrity status among the military. Eventually, she was admitted to the
Royal Hospital Chelsea The Royal Hospital Chelsea is an Old soldiers' home, Old Soldiers' retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British Army. Founded as an almshouse — the ancient sense of the word "hospital" — by King Charles II of Eng ...
as one of its pensioners. Retrieved 19 October 2009. Mrs Davies was buried, at her request, with full military honours with other military pensioners at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Christian 1667 births 1739 deaths Female duellists Female wartime cross-dressers Women in the British Army 17th-century Irish businesswomen 17th-century Irish businesspeople Women in 17th-century warfare Royal Scots Greys soldiers 18th-century Irish businesspeople Chelsea Pensioners Irish duellists Military personnel from Dublin (city) 18th-century British Army personnel