Life
1667-1739 [alias Mother Ross]; b. Dublin; enlisted in British Army as
Christopher Welsh; fought at Battle of Blenheim, 1704; wounded and her
sex discovered at Ramilles, 1706; dismissed and pensioned; thrice married
to soldiers; wrote an autobiography, The Life and Adventures of Mrs
Christian Davies (1740). DNB GBI DIB
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Notes
Henry Boylan, Dictionary of Irish Biography (Dublin: Gill
& MacMillan 1988); inherited Dublin inn at 21, m. Richard Welsh, one
of the waiters; set out in search of him when he wrote that he had been
pressed into the army in Flanders; enlisted as Christopher Welsh; fought
at Nijmegen, Blenheim, and other battles; found her husband after 13 years
separation, accompanying him till his death at Malplaquet; m. Hugh Jones,
a grenadier who then was mortally wounded at St. Venant (1710); received
pension of a shilling a day from Queen Anne, to whom presented; returned
to Dublin and m. soldier called Davies; died in Chelsea, 7 July 1739;
an autobiographical work [prob. by her], The Life and Adventures of
Mrs Christian Davies (1740); a contemporary record of 7 July 1739
notices her death, attaches her to the Royal Inniskilling, and recounts
her being wounded in the Williamite wars in Ireland, causing her discovery,
after which she marries and accompanies her husband to Flanders.
Adaptation recently staged at the Gate Theatre, Dublin [c.1990].
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)