Born in the parish of Wadsworth, near Heptonstall, Yorkshire. His age given on enlistment suggests birth c.1813, but his age reported at death implies c.1809.
A "Removal Order" HAS: 68a/586, dated 4th of May 1833, indicates that a Jonathan Naylor and his wife, Mary, and their children, John, Joseph and James, were "Removed from Wadsworth to Midgley".
A removal order was in affect a form of inter-parish "repatriation" practised prior to the pre-1834 Poor Law. If an individual or family became reliant for relief on a parish in which they were currently living, but did not fulfil various strict guidelines for "legal settlement" there (e.g. birth to legally settled parents, renting or paying taxes on a property worth more than £10 per annum, being hired by a legally settled inhabitant for a continuous period of 365 days), Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor could send them back to their last place of "legal settlement", i.e. another parish. After 1834, the sick and destitute were more likely to be removed to a workhouse. [PB]
Enlisted at Leeds on the 10th of January 1834.
Age: 21 years 9 months.
Height: 5' 9".
Trade: Weaver.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Grey eyes. Sandy hair.
Embarked for India on the 9th of June 1835.
Returned to England aboard the "True Briton" on the 28th of April 1840.
Tried and imprisoned by a Regimental Court-martial, 12th-18th of May 1845 (offence not specified.)
1851 Census
Piershill Barracks, Leith South, MidLothian.
James Naylor, 39, soldier, Private, born York,
Wounded in action during the Charge, but "sent on board ship without being seen by the surgeon".
Sent to Scutari: no date shown, but he was at the Depot from the 31st of October and sent to rejoin the regiment on the 23rd of November 1854.
Sent to Scutari again, "for invaliding", on the 5th of May 1855. Sent to England aboard the "Hydraspes" on the 19th of June, and was at Chatham Invalid Depot from the 21st of July 1855.
A letter relating to James Naylor, and another man from the regiment, was sent to the Military College, Sandhurst in January 1857:
"Horse Guards,
9th January 1857.
Sir, — By the desire of the General Commanding-in-Chief I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th ultimo and to acquaint you that His Royal Highness has been pleased to select the men named in the margin for the Riding Troop about to be formed at the Military College, at Sandhurst and to request you that you will hold them in readiness to proceed to Sandhurst early in the ensuing weeks according to the route which you will receive from the QuarterMaster's Department.
I am, etc., etc.
G..A. Weatherall,
DAG."
EJB: Similar letters were sent to the Officers Commanding the 4th Light Dragoons, 8th Hussars, 11th Hussars, and the 17th Lancers, listing the names of the men selected.
Discharged from Dublin on the 1st of November 1858:
"This soldier has been twice in hospital in India, once with jaundice and again with rheumatism. After the Regiment returned from India in 1840 he was twice in hospital for short periods — once with gonorrhoea and again with stricture.
He went with the Regiment to the East and was two months in hospital at Balaclava and for another two months at Kontati with fever, being then sent home sick, and remained six weeks at Chatham, when he was discharged to join the Depot.
He is no longer effective as a soldier, and has for some time been doing duty as a policeman."
Aged 46 years 6 months on discharge.
Served 24 years 290 days.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 1 year 1 month. In India: 4 years 6 months.
Conduct and character: "good".
In possession of three Good Conduct badges. Once tried by Court-martial.
Intended to live in Halifax, Yorkshire.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
1861 Census
Vale Terrace, Todmorden.
James Naylor was living with his brother Henry's family.
Henry Naylor, 47, Cotton Winder.
Mary Naylor, 45.
Seven children are shown, aged 1-18: Sarah, Thomas, Edmund, Greenwood, Crossley, William Henry, and Emma.
Jas [sic] Naylor, 50, brother, unmarried, H.M. Pensioner, born Wadsworth, Yorkshire. [CP]
Death registered
James Naylor, June Quarter 1863, Todmorden.
His death certificate shows that he died, aged 54 years, at Vale Terrace, Todmorden, on the 31st of May 1863, a Pensioner of the 13th Light Dragoons, from "Phthisis" [PB: lung disease with progressive wasting of the body, probably pulmonary tuberculosis]. His brother Henry Naylor, of the same address, was present at, and the informant of, his death.
There is a copy of the death certificate in the 13th Light Dragoons "Certificates" file.
Extract from the "Deaths" column of the Halifax Courier, 6th of June 1863:
"Naylor — On the 31st May 1863, James Naylor, Vale Terrace, Todmorden, aged 54."
"Vale Terrace"
The address given at the time of his death is not shown on any modern maps. An old guide-book of the area, however, refers to Bridge End Farm, now all demolished. A bobbin-mill, once built on the farmland, was burnt down in 1867 and the site used for the building of the parish church of St. Michael and All Angels at the turn of the century, a nearby street being called Bridge End Street.
It goes on to say that a double row of single cottages were built there many years before, adjacent to the farm property. These cottages were back-to-back dwellings, those facing Todmorden being called Shackleton Street and those facing the farm property being called Bobbin Street. The original name of the double row was Vale Terrace. [EJB]
Census information for 1851 and 1861 kindly provided by Chris Poole.