J. (John) Kincaid

Born in January 1787 near Falkirk, John Kincaid was educated at Polmont School and served for a time in the North York Militia before joining the 95th Regiment, later the Rifle Brigade, as a second lieutenant in 1809. He went on to serve in the Peninsular War and the Waterloo campaign, experiences that shaped the writing for which he is now remembered.

Kincaid’s best-known books are Adventures in the Rifle Brigade (1830) and Random Shots of a Rifleman (1835). What makes them stand out is not just the battles, but the tone: observant, witty, and refreshingly direct. He wrote as someone who had been there, giving readers a soldier’s-eye view of marches, hardships, comradeship, and combat.

After his military career, he became a captain, retired from the army in 1831, and was later knighted in 1852 while serving as senior Exon of the Yeomen of the Guard. No clearly suitable portrait image could be confirmed from the sources reviewed, so none is included here.