LIVES OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
The E.J. Boys Archive

PARTLY EDITED

817, Private Robert GRANT — 4th Light Dragoons

Birth & early life

Born c.1813 at Chatteris, near March, Cambridgeshire, the son of John and Sarah Grant, and christened there on the 29th of August 1813.

Enlistment

Enlisted at Queen's Square, London, on the 9th of October 1835.

Age: 19 years 4 months. [PB: He would have been 2+ years older if born 1813.]

Height: 5' 8".

Trade: Servant.

Appearance: Fresh complexion. Grey eyes. Brown hair.

Service

Tried by a Detachment Court-martial on the 27th of September 1836 for "absence" and sentenced to 30 days' imprisonment.

Tried by a Detachment Court-martial on the 30th of May 1837 and sentenced to 20 days' "solitary confinement."

Returned to England aboard the "Mary" on the 12th of March 1842, having left Bombay on the 13th of December 1841.

His horse was shot under him during the Charge and he was rescued by 1382 George McGregor, 4th Light Dragoons.

Robert Grant's account of the Charge, unknown source, cutting in EJBA 4LD file vol.3. TO BE TRANSCRIBED.

(Click on image to enlarge)

[PB: Robert Grant's vivid account of the Charge was published in the Illustrated London News, 30th of October 1875, p 439. Is this the same as above, in the EJBA 4LD vol.4?]

An adapted version can be read here. This is based on Roy Dutton's transcription, which is available online as a pdf here (accessed 11.9.2013).

Lawrence Crider's transcription is available in his In Search of the Light Brigade, 3rd edition, pp 64-65.

Crider also quotes a passage from A Victorian RSM, p 244:

Corporal R. Grant, 4th Light Dragoons

"When we charged into the guns I dismounted and could have used some gun spikes had I had them, but unfortunately none had been issued. I never saw a gun spike. We then disabled as many of the gunners and drivers as we could, to prevent them taking away the guns, feeling they were ours.

After some little time I found myself in the rear almost alone, the greater portion of my regiment having retreated. Seeing the 11th Hussars coming up the valley pursued by the Russian Hussars, I galloped towards them. In tacking on to their rear, a sergeant of the Hussars galloped at me and tried to cut me down, but I defended myself.

I did not see Lord Paget at this time, in fact I had not seem him since the moment we were approaching the guns. At the time I had been 19 years in the service."

Discharge & pension

Discharged from Dublin, "To Out-pension, by his own request — having completed 24 years' service", on the 16th of October 1860.

Served 24 years 308 days.

In Turkey and the Crimea: 1 year 10 months

In India: 3 years 11 months.

Conduct and character: "a good soldier".

In possession of five Good Conduct badges. Twice tried by Court-martial.

Aged 44 years 3 months on discharge.

To live at Slade End, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire.

Medals

Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol.

Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. It is not known just when, or under what circumstances he received this, but his pension of 1/1d per day on discharge was increased to 1/7d. per day on the 1st of June 1862 for "Gallantry on the Danube".

He was recommended for the D.C.M. on the 5th of February 1855 and was granted it with a £5 gratuity. He is known to have ridden in the Charge, and the award was most probably given for his conduct at the time.

Awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal on the 7th of January 1861 with a gratuity of £5. This was after he had left the Army. Probably the reason that the award was not recorded on his documents is that the medal was sent to the Staff Pensions Officer at Cambridge, to be presented to him.

His documents only confirm the award of the D.C.M., Crimean, and Turkish medals.

Further detailed medal information archived.

Commemorations

As Corporal R Grant, member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in both 1877 and 1879 [CP].

His portrait and account of the Charge appeared in the Illustrated London News for the 30th of October 1875. (See copy in the 4th Hussar file.)

Extract from "The Golden Penny" for the 29th September 1900, following a visit by a journalist to Chelsea Royal Hospital, in which, having interviewed and photographed several of them, he wrote of the conditions under which the pensioners lived:

"One of the two survivors in the Hospital at present is Sergeant Robert Grant (late 4th Light Dragoons) who was discharged in 1860. I also succeeded in taking a photograph of Robert Grant, which is reproduced herewith.

He was Orderly to Lord Paget on the day of the Charge and went right through it unhurt, although he had one horse shot under him and had another killed by a splinter from a shell.

He was born in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, in 1816, so is now in his eighty-fifth year, and, as can be seen from the photo, is a fine old man. He has the Turkish and Crimean medals and also the medal for Distinguished Conduct in the Field and a gratuity that goes with it. Altogether he served over 25 years in the cavalry."

(There is a copy of this photograph in the 4th Hussar file.)

Commemorations

Life after service

Admitted as an In-Pensioner at Chelsea Royal Hospital on the 2nd of December 1869, as a "Special Case". It was then stated that he was 53 years of age, had "no family ties", and possessed a "good character". He was formerly living at No. 17 Francis Street, College Street, Chelsea.

1871 Census

Her Majesty's Royal Hospital for In-Pensioners, Chelsea.

Robert Grant, 54, unmarried, Inmate, Chelsea In Pensioner, Born Chatteris.

1881 Census

Royal Hospital, Queens Road, Chelsea.

Robert Grant, Sergeant, unmarried, 64, In-Pensioner, born Chatteris.

1891 Census

Royal Hospital, Chelsea.

Robert Grant, single, 74, In-pensioner, born Chatteris.

Death & burial

Death registered

Robert Grant, aged 84 years, March Quarter 1901, Chelsea.

Robert Grant died at Chelsea Royal Hospital on the 15th of January 1901, aged 84 years, and was buried in the Royal Hospital Plot in Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking, in Grave No. 14435, Plot K4, on the 19th of January. No headstone was erected.

Extract from the Army and Navy Gazette for the of January 1901:

"Robert Grant died at the Royal Hospital Chelsea on the 3rd of January [sic]. He was One of the Gallant 600 and had the Crimean and Turkish medals and those for Long Service and Good Conduct and Distinguished Service in the Field. Grant was born at Ely on the 5th of August 1813 [sic]."

[PB (11.9.2013): presumably there's more in the original, though not in EJB's notes.]

The Royal Chelsea Hospital Ground in Brookwood Cemetery covers roughly two acres. There is a large memorial bearing the words:

On one side:

"The original Burial Ground at Chelsea Hospital having been closed in 1854, a plot in the Brompton Cemetery was used between 1855 and 1893 when this Cemetery was acquired.

'For though the British soldier has entered many countries as a conqueror, there are few that he has not quitted as a friend.'

This monument is erected in their honour by the Lords Commissioners and Governors of the Royal Hospital Chelsea."

On the other:

"The ashes of In-Pensioners are interred here. Their names are in the 'Book of Remembrance'."

No individual names are recorded on this and only a relatively few modern stones are in one corner of the plot, as well as a few individual stones to high-ranking officers of the Hospital who are interred on the border strip.

(There are photographs of the area, and of the memorial itself, in the 4th Hussar file.)

References & acknowledgements

Additional Census information for 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891, membership of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1877, and death registration, kindly provided by Chris Poole.