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

Added 3.12.12. Minor edits 11.4.14.

IN PROGRESS — NOT FOR PUBLICATION

714, Private James HAWKES — 8th Hussars

Birth & early life

Born c.1820?.

Enlistment

Enlisted at Gloucester on the 29th of April 1841.

Age: 41. [PB: presumably 21?]

Height: 5' 8".

Trade: None shown.

Service

Embarked for the Crimea aboard the H.T. "Wilson Kennedy" on the 2nd of May 1854.

From Private to Corporal: 18th of December 1855.

Embarked for India from Cork aboard the S.S. "Great Britain" on the 8th of October 1857.

Died in Mount Abo Sanatorium on the 1st of July 1860.

Next of kin: Wife, Mary Hawkes.

Two children are known to have been born to him and his wife, Mary: Charles, born at Weymouth in 1854, and another (Christian name unknown) at Dundalk in 1857.

Medals

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

Mutiny medal with clasp for Central India.

Served at Kotah and Gwalior.

The Returned Medal book states: Mutiny medal returned to the Mint. A later entry shows it as "Issued" — no date is shown.

Commemorations

Death & burial

Died in Mount Abo Sanatorium on the 1st of July 1860.

Next of kin: Wife, Mary Hawkes.

The India Office records show him as dying of "Catarrh Chronic" at Mount Abo Sanatorium on the 1st of July 1860, aged 39 years. He was buried on the same day by Lieutenant Augustus Senneckey, 8th Hussars.

In his manuscript diary, James Rawlins records:

"July 1st. We had another death. A poor old Soldier — just 20 years a soldier, poor fellow, he left a wife and three young children behind, and an old friend of mine, Jas. Hawkes, Corpl. 8th Hussars."


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