Born at Poplar, London, c.1823.
Enlisted at London on the 3rd of July 1841.
Age: 18.
Height: 5' 6".
Trade: Clerk.
From Private to Corporal: 11th of December 1846.
Corporal to Sergeant: 22nd of January 1848.
Appointed to Troop Sergeant Major on the 22nd of June 1849.
Killed-in-action at Balaclava.
(See record of 1274 John Howes for a statement he later made in which he mentions Troop Sergeant Major Herbert (who was killed) as being involved in the attempt the former made to recover a Russian gun from the field. It does not specify whether Herbert was killed at this time.)
[PB, August 2017: Follow up Wendy Leahy's comment: "Re your entry on 782 George Hunt. You mentioned a man who tried with Hunt to destroy the guns. I wonder if it might be TSM Francis Herbert who, according to Farquharson, 'dismounted to spike a gun but before he could do so he was hacked to pieces by the Russian gunners.' I don't think Hunt was mentioned in this account though."]
Next of kin: Wife, Mrs. Mary Anne Herbert, living, c/o. Mrs. Seeley's, Athlone, Ireland.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava and Sebastopol.
This medal was known to be in a Canadian collection in 1976.