Born in Middlesex.
From information supplied by his great-great-grand-daughter, a Miss Pat Barber, of Chingford, London, it is now [1986] known that he had transferred to the 14th Hussars as an Armourer-Sergeant on the 14th of August 1867, his regimental number being 1017.
His discharge documents show that he was born in the parish of St. Pancras, London. According to the baptismal registers of the 14th Light Dragoons, he was born on the 7th of November and baptised there on the 20th of December 1829, the son of Corporal Alexander John Houston of the 14th Light Dragoons and his wife, Ann. The officiating priest was the Revd. John Moore.
Enlisted into the 16th Lancers at Canterbury on the 5th of March 1847. Regimental No. 1685.
Age: 18. Height, 5' 9".
Trade: Armourer.
Transferred to the 4th Light Dragoons and promoted to Armourer-Sergeant on the 1st of June 1852.
His physical description on transfer was shown as being of a fair complexion, grey eyes and brown hair.
Went from the regiment to the Corps of Armourers at Woolwich on the 13th of August 1867.
He was discharged at Colchester on the 24th of August 1875; "Free, at his own request, after 28 years' service."
He had served a total of 28 years 161 days, being in Turkey and the Crimea, 1 year and 10 months.
His conduct and character were "Very good," and he was, when promoted, in possession of one Good Conduct badge and would, had he not been promoted, be in the possession of six.
In possession of the Turkish and Crimea medals, with clasps for Alma, Inkerman and Sebastopol and was also awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal on the 24th of August 1868, with a gratuity of £5.
Aged 47 years on discharge. Awarded a pension of 2/- per day.
To live, C/o. "The Tower of London."
1881 Census
No. 51 Gloucester Road, Islington, London.
The 1881 Census shows him as living at No 51 Gloucester Road, Islington, London, a Chelsea Pensioner, Civil Servant Armourer, Tower of London., aged 51, born in Marylebone, London, with his wife, Maria, aged 49, born at St. Clement's Norfok.. Seven children are shown, the eldst son being a Gas Fitter, the two eldest daughters as Milliners and the others as Scholars.
Pension increased to 32d. from the 13th of December 1892.
From known family sources he had married, at the Registry Office, Norwich, Norfolk, on the 12th of May 1850, at the age of 20 and his wife, Maria, nee Stubbs, as 18. He was then a Private in the 16th Lancers from the Barracks at Pockthorpe, Norwich, and Maria, a dressmaker, of Mill House, New Catton, Norwich. His father, Alexander, was given as an Innkeeper and Maria's father, Edward, as a Bricklayer. The couple are known to have had least ten children, and it was from their fifth known child, Emily Annette, that Miss Barber is descended.
His wife, Maria, died at Islington on the 9th of September 1894, aged 62 years, and he himself died at No. 71 Beresford Road, Hornsey, Middlesex, on the 31st of January 1896, at the age of 66 years.
His occupation was shown as "Late an Armourer in the Tower of London," and the cause of death was "Asthmatical Convulsions."
His father was Alexander John Houston, who was born in the parish of Frome in Somerset (this item of information which was passed on to Miss Barber, enabled her to trace three further generations back of the Houston family who had lived in the Frome area since the early 1700's) and was baptised there on the 20th of August 1803, the son of Alexander John Houston and his wife, Sarah, nee Stokes. He enlisted into the 14th Light Dragoons at Dorchester on the 22nd of May 1824 at the age of 18, and with the regimental number of 219. His physical description was given as being 5' 8" in height, with a fair complexion, brown eyes, light brown hair and a "shearman" by
Trade: (One can only assume this had something to do with sheep-shearing, possibly as one of a gang touring the country-side.)
From Private to Corporal: 4th of June 1828.
Corporal to Sergeant: 16th of March 1832.
Appointed to Troop Sergeant Major on the 28th of May 1833.
Discharged from Chatham Invalid Depot on the 25th of July 1848. — vide the Warrant of the 3rd of May 1847.
"Found unfit for further service. Medical Report — Troop Sergeant Major Houston has served for twenty-four years, during the latter part of which, from hereditary pre-disposition and aggravated by exposure in the performance of his military duty, he has suffered very severely from arthritic inflammation of the hands and feet. Not induced nor aggravated by vice or intemperance, but at length being quite unfit for the active duties of the service."
Served 24 years 71 days. (all on "Home service".)
Character and Conduct: "have been very good" and he has received the medal for meritorious conduct and length of service.
To live in the Exeter Pension District, but written across the front of his document's is "Bideford, Dorset," [sic] and this may have been where he actually lived, although he went to the Bristol District on the 1st of April 1852.
Awarded a pension of 2/- per day.
He was appointed a Yeoman of the Guard in 1851, and remained so until his death on the 8th of May 1866 at No. 10 Oakfield Place, Clifton, Bristol, at the age of 63 years.
His occupation was given as "Yeoman of the Guard" and the cause of death on his death certificate as "Disease of the Lungs — of long duration." (Certified.)
Alexander John Houston appears to have become a moderately wealthy man. According to his will he owned considerable property in the Clifton area, the house where he died, No. 10 Oakfield Place, being inherited by Charles Houston, and who bequeathed it in his own will, thirty years later. According to the Post Office Directory of 1866, one of the properties, No. 28 The Triangle, Clifton, was the premises of Houston and Burgess, milliners, but it has not yet been possible to discover exactly where this fits into the family story.
Enquiry of the Yeoman of the Guard archives re his father, Alexander John, brought no other information other than that already known, and of the Yeoman of the Tower of London archives that they could find no record of Charles Houston in the Byward Tower; that he had ever been a Yeoman Warder and could only assume that he was employed as an Armourer at the Tower after leaving the Army and did not actually become a Yeoman Warder. This is borne out by the fact that he was not living at the Tower at the time of his death in 1886.
Miss Barber made a search of Frome churchyard during a holiday in the area in 1986, but she could find no Houston family tombstones there. A visit paid to Clifton, Bristol, showed that No's 8-9 and 10 Oakfield Place, which Alexander John Houston had owned are still there. They form part of a small, now quiet, terraced street at the back of the main through streets and are pleasant, if plain, Victorian houses, being only a door and window in width, but tall, having a basement, ground, and two upper stories, complete with balcony. The house in Melrose Terrace, where his sister, Emily, lived, are part of a far more imposing terrace, standing back from the road, with long front gardens, and with an extra storey. No. 28 The Triangle, which was owned by both Alexander John and Charles Houston, no longer exists, at least in its present form, from its pre-Edwardian phase. The site contains an ornate edifice, now a Building Society branch, but probably it was originally a bank.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Inkerman and Sebastopol.