Born at Gloucester [or Trowbridge] in 1833.
Brother of 1151, Trumpeter James Hefferon — 8th Hussars.
For information about their father, 165 Sergeant Luke Hefferon, 8th Hussars, see James Hefferon's entry.
Enlisted at Brighton on the 8th of November 1850.
Age: 17 years 5 months.
Height: 5' 6".
Trade: Servant.
Embarked for the Crimea aboard the H.T. "Shooting Star" on the 25th of April 1854.
Sent to Scutari on the 20th of September and to rejoin the regiment on the 20th of October 1854.
Killed-in-action at Balaclava, October 25th 1854, having been struck by a shell.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Balaclava and Sebastopol.
Killed-in-action at Balaclava, October 25th 1854, having been struck by a shell.
1209 William Bird made a reference to Thomas Hefferon in an article which appeared in the "Illustrated London News " for the 30th of October 1875:
"The comrade who covered me was Tom Hefferon: he had only come up from the hospital at Scutari two days before, and, poor fellow, was very ill.
As soon as we began to charge he said, "By God, boys, do you have this firing every morning?"
I answered, "This is nothing to what we usually have", little thinking of what it would lead to."
In his "Descriptive Account of the Charge" [PB: date?], 1121 John Doyle refers to Thomas Hefferon's manner of death:
"We had not advanced far before a comrade on my left, named Hefferon, was struck by a shell which exploded at the time, blowing his body up into the air, but his hips remained for a long time in the saddle. I was covered with his remains."
[PB: A small discrepancy, but in a letter in January 1891 chiefly concerning Thomas's brother James Hefferon, Doyle writes that Thomas was on his right: "His brother, Thomas, was shot on my right during the Charge; a shell met him and exploded and blew his body into the air."