Enlisted at London on the 14th of February 1852.
Age: 19.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: None shown.
Tried by a Regimental Court-martial on the 14th of March 1853, for "being asleep on his post" and then originally sentenced to 10 days imprisonment, but this sentence was remitted.
"Deserted" from Hounslow on the 19th of August 1857.
Can find no further trace to 1865.
[PB: There is a reference below to an account in Illustrated Bits, 9th of September 1909. There is also this account, in Answers Magazine", [date?] 1912, but it really doesn't seem genuine, does it?]
"In the morning of October 25th. 1854, I took part in the Balaclava Light Brigade Charge and at the word of command off we went down through 'The Valley of Death'. As we neared the Russian battery I plainly saw the Turks [LC: ?] running away from their guns, but we advanced in face of the cannon blazing on every side. The smoke was so thick that I saw very little of the real battle. l remember quite clearly that dreadful return. I saw Sgt.-Major Bentley surrounded by half a dozen Cossacks. Lieut. Dunn, of the 11th, went to his assistance and, after cutting down four of the Cossack, had the pleasure of getting the sergt.-major back in safety to his comrades For this act of gallantry the Lieutenant was awarded the coveted V.C."
[Answers Magazine, 26 Oct 1912, 327, courtesy of Glenn Fisher and Paul Burns, in Crider, 3rd edition, 2011, p.229.]
.
Entitled, according to the medal roll, to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Inkerman, Sebastopol and the Turkish medal.
Although not having the clasp for Balaclava, he would appear to have been confirmed as having ridden in the Charge, although 1521 John Parkinson "thought it very doubtful if he had ridden, although under fire. He was in the Commissariat Dept." The Balaclava period monthly muster roll states, "In hospital."
He attended the Annual Dinners in 1906 and 1909-10 and was photographed with a group of survivors in 1906. (There is a copy of this photograph in the 11th Hussar file.)
Accepted by T.H. Roberts as genuine, he received a total of £242 from the Roberts Fund up to 1911.
He had the nickname of "Doctor", from his initials
Extract from the United Services Gazette for the 28th of November 1907:
"Amongst the applicants at the Thames Police Court on the 25th inst., was John Briers, a fine-looking man, seventy-five years of age, who asked Mr. Chester Jones, the magistrate, to witness his declaration of service prior to making an application for a special compassionate allowance, as he was now entirely without means and he had not served long enough to obtain a pension. Briers stated that he had joined the 11th Hussars in 1852 and served throughout the Crimean campaign. He was present at the battles of the Alma, Balaclava (where he took part in the Charge) Inkerman and the siege of Sebastopol, and had obtained a medal with four clasps. He served under Lord Cardigan and Colonel Douglas, and Lieutenant-General Sir Roger Palmer would vouch for his identification. The applicant also stated that whilst in the Crimea he had worked hard enough for some reward. Mr. Chester Jones witnessed the application."
An article about him appeared in the Illustrated Bits, 9th of September 1909. After speaking of his part in the Charge: [FIND THIS ACCOUNT! AND CHECK THE TEXT BELOW.]
"What 'ave I dun since. Well, I worked at the docks from 1856 to 1901 an' then I got too old to do the 'eavy work, for you see, Guvnor, I wuz seventy an' you can't carry 'eavy weights when you gits to that age. Then I got a job as a messenger for a year, but I could'nt slip about quick enough, so I lost that job at the end of 1902, an' I ai'nt dun nothin" reg'lar since. There is some sort of work I can do even now. I can make picture-frames an' I'm a good chair-maker. My old woman used to be a rattlin' good 'un at seatin' cane-chairs, but somehow she ain't up to it now. "Ow do we live. Well, I 'as five shillin' a week from the parish of Poplar an' ten shillin' a week from your Balaclava Fund, and then my wife earns one week with t'other all the year round. She's a trow'ser finisher an' gits 2d a pair, 'though she 'as ter find 'er own needles an' cotton. It takes 'er three 'ours to make a pair. "Ow many pairs." Well, if she c'ud get 'em I s'pose she'd make 'bout eighteen pairs if she worked ten 'ours a day an' stuck to it all week. But p'raps she'd git six pairs this week, me'be only three next, so if it was'nt for the 'elp I gits there'd be nothin' in this world but the work'ouse. But you never know what might turn up.
Please Gawd, we're goin' away in September, 'oppin." Mr. White, in Kent, 'as giv' us a job for the last few years — me, as a bin-man, for 18/- a week an' the wife pickin' at 2/- or 2/6 a day. We gits a nice lit'le thatched tent lent to us, an' we can make o'erselves pretty comfortable for old 'uns. Of course, there's on'y the fresh earth for a bedstead, but the fresh air an' the smell of the 'ops does us both good. But before we goes we must arrange with the parish people 'bout renewin' our five bob a week for when we come's back. I des'say they will, for they know's we're both triers. If I can settle it with 'em a'right we shall git a piece of bacon an' some tea an' sugar and take it down with our blankets an' saucepans an' things, an' if we 'as the luck to 'ave fine weather we shall come back all the bet'er to face the winter.
No, I 'ai'nt never bin in the work'ous, thank Gaw'd, but I've bin very near it sometimes. Still, me an' my dear old woman git's on som'how. At seventy-four and' seventy-six we can't expect to last much longer, an', 'pon my word, Guv'nor, sometimes w'en I'm a bit down on my luck, I feels that the sooner us goes the bet'er. If I cu'd git somethin' reg'lar to do as a care-taker or somethin' of that sort — if it was on'y 'bout ten bob a week — I'd be thankful, be'cos then my dear old missus need'nt do them trow'sers. That's w'ot bothers me, Guv'nor, to see 'er porin' 'er old eyes over "em. I'm seventy-four, but I've got a good 'eart, an' I'm as willin' as a boy, but w'en people sees my grey 'airs..."
A report in the East End News, 4th of October 1912, records that:
"We regret to announce the death, which took place on Friday (the 27th of September) of Mr. Daniel John Regan Briers, at his home in Upper North Street, Poplar. He was 81 years of age, and in his younger days served in the 11th Hussars and was one of the "Six Hundred" who took part in the famous Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, from which he came out of unscathed. He was in receipt of a pension, and an installment would have been due on Tuesday, had he lived. The pension, however, dies with him, and his widow, Mrs. Regan Briers, who is 83 years of age, is unfortunately left without this source of income. Mr. Regan Briers, is to have a military funeral, which will take place today, leaves by his death only three [sic] survivors left of the veterans who took part in the famous charge."
(There is a copy of a photograph of his funeral procession in the 11th Hussar file, this picture originally appearing in The Daily Graphic of the 5th of October 1912. The cortege is passing by the what was then the Trinity Congregational Chapel in the East India Dock Road, (see picture below that of the cortege, taken in 1936) but after being completely destroyed by enemy action on the 3rd of August 1944, was rebuilt in 1951 as the Trinity Methodist Church.)
What cannot yet be explained is that there is no record of his death in the appropriate quarterly Deaths Register at the Family History Centre and neither is there any similar record held in the local authority archives. His place of interment cannot be found either in the local cemeteries, i.e., the East London Cemetery, City of London or Tower Hamlets.
[RM: Cannot be found on any census record between 1861-1901.]