According to Canon Lummis, Robert Briggs was born at Beccles, Suffolk, but his documents and funeral report show this to have been in the parish of St. Paul's, Norwich.
Enlisted at Norwich on the 10th of June 1850.
Age: 19.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: Dyer.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Dk. grey eyes. Dk. brown hair.
1851 Census
Queens Barracks, Ipswich.
Robert Briggs, 20, Private 11th Hussars, born Norwich.
EJB: He is said [by e.g. Lummis & Wynn] to have saved the life of Sergeant Seth Bond during the Charge, but no documentary evidence for this can be found.
[PB: Indeed, it may have been the other way round. See Garry Farmer's comments in Further information, below.]
Discharged, "by his own request after the termination of his first period of limited engagement", from Dublin on the 13th of June 1862.
Served 11 years 360 days. In Turkey, the Crimea and Bulgaria, 2 years.
Conduct and character "has been very good", and he is in possession of two Good Conduct badges.
Aged 31 years on discharge. To live in Bank Street, Norwich.
Awarded a "Special Campaign Pension", but no date is shown.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1879.
Attended many of the Annual Dinners.
He was living at 9, Nimkin's [sic] Court, St. Giles's Plain, Norwich, on the 3rd of April 1897, when he acknowledged the invitation of T.H. Roberts to attend the Jubilee Celebrations at the latter's Fleet Street offices.
Copy of a letter written on his behalf to T.H. Roberts regarding going to London for the Jubilee celebrations:
St Giles's Vicarage,
Norwich,
May 25th 1897.
Dear Sir,
Mr Briggs has asked me to answer your kind invitation for him to see the Jubilee procession, staying from Monday to Wednesday, as your guest.
He wishes me to thank you most heartily and say how pleased he will be to come. He would be grateful to be met, for although he is hale and hearty for his years, he does not know London and would not easily reach you. Please let me add my thanks also.
I do not think the country as a whole cares enough for its heroes, but you are giving them a unique treat to meet each other again on such an occasion.
Believe me,
Yours truly,
(Signed) J.A. Lloyd.
A hoof of his horse was said to have been made into an inkstand and later given by a Beccles tradesman named Steer (who had bought it at an auction) to a Mr. John Tracey.
A letter sent to the Norwich Mercury was printed on the 8th of June 1895:
Robert Briggs and the Balaclava Fund/p>
To the Editor, 9 Ninham's Court,
St. Giles's, Norwich.
Sir,
I am thankful to say that the kind influence and interest of my many friends in trying to obtain for me a pension has been crowned with success, an allowance of 7/- per week being granted to me from the Light Brigade (Balaclava) Relief Fund.
The grant is with effect from the 1st of April last, and with the official notice I also received a money order for one quarter to the 30th of the month. For this, amd all that has been done on my behalf I feel extremely grateful, and especially must I state my indebtedness to the Mayor (Sir Peter Eddon), Mr. J.P. White and Mr. Hoare, M.P.
Robert Briggs,
Late, 11th Hussars.
Briggs lived in Beccles after his discharge and was coachman to a Miss Lillistone, of New Market, Beccles. He is said to have been a familiar figure in the town, and always wore his medals on Sundays and other special occasions.
1871 Census
Cross Street, Lakenham, Norwich.
Robert Briggs, 40, Coachman, born Norwich.
Ann, 38, born Lamas.
Three children are shown: James 8, Robert 5, Ellen A. 1.
A lodger is also shown.
1881 Census
New Market [full address?]
The 1881 Census shows him living at New Market, aged 51 years, a Coachman (Domestic Servant), born at Norwich, with his wife, Anne, a Charwoman, 50, born at Burton, Norfolk.
Four children are shown: two sons, James, 18, a Tailor in a Clothing Shop, Robert, 15, a Bookbinder's Apprentice, and two girls, both Scholars.
1891 Census
Thunder Lane, Thorpe next Norwich, Norwich.
Robert Briggs, 66, Gardener, Norwich.
Ann, 58, born Lamas.
6, Clarence Road, Thorpe Hamlet.
Jemima Briggs [daughter of Robert and Ann], 19, General servant, born Beccles.
1901 Census
9, Ninhams Court, St Giles, Norwich.
Robert Briggs, 75, Pensioner 11th Hussars, born Norwich
Ann, 74, born Lamas.
Plus 2 boarders.
1911 Census
The Great Hospital, Bishopsgate Street, Norwich.
Ann Briggs, 78, Widow, born Lamas.
Robert Briggs died on the 18th of December 1901 after a long illness, at Ninhams's Court, St. Giles, Norwich.
He was buried in Earlham Road Cemetery, Norwich, on the 23rd of December 1901, aged 71 years.
His funeral was attended by the Norfolk Volunteers Association and a detachment of the Norfolk Regiment.
Shown in the Cemetery records as being of St. Helen's parish, the grave site is in Section 45, Grave No. 6O9. No memorial stone was erected.
The funeral was paid for by the Roberts Fund, from which Briggs also received a total of £63/0/6d. during his lifetime.
Although it is a common grave, his wife, Ann, was buried with him in the same grave on the 29th of February 1912, aged 79 years, she too having been brought from the parish of St. Helens. (There is a photograph in the 11th Hussar file of the area which contains their grave-site.)
There are copies in the 11th Hussar file of his obituary and funeral notices taken from the Eastern Daily Press for the 19th and 23rd of December, and of his funeral report (taken from the same paper for the 24th of December), and a copy of his photograph (in civilian clothes and wearing his medals).
His death certificate shows that he died at 9, Ninham Court, St. Giles, Norwich, on the 18th of December 1901, aged 71 years, a Pensioner of the 11th Hussars, from "Aneurism, Asthenia." His son, J. D. Briggs, of Chapel Lane. Thorpe St Andrew, was in attendance and the informant of his death.
(The initials of the son present at his death would imply that this was the son who had served in the Norfolk Regiment in Burma. See "Further information", below.)
There is a copy of the death certificate in the 11th Hussars "Certificates" file.
His funeral report records a son, James Briggs, who had received the Burma medal, as one of the family mourners.
A man of this name had served in the Norfolk Regiment as No. 820. Enlisting at Norwich on the 15th of April 1884 he first went to the Norfolk Regimental Depot at Yarmouth, to the 1st Bn. on the 30th of June, on a draft for the 2nd Bn. at Sitagur, India, on the 21st of November 1885, joining the regiment on the 17th of December 1885.
Returning with the Regt. to England, he is shown on the Pay List of "E" Company at Colchester on the Parade State taken on the 1st of April 1891. He is not shown on that taken on the 1st of October 1891, so it can only be presumed that he was discharged between these dates.
A check of several other men with Regimental serial numbers around about his shows no trace of them either. Actual discharges (and dates) do not appear to have been recorded, only the fact that a man was no longer on the Pay List. He was entitled to the IGS medal with clasp for Burma, 1887-1889, having served in the field from the 17th of November 1888 to the 31st of March 1889.
It is not certain whether or not this man was his son, not being able to find any documentary proof, but many of the known facts would fit. There were three other men named Briggs serving in the regiment at the same time, but from what can be ascertained there does not seem to be any family connection.
In 2013, the Archive was contacted by Mr Garry Farmer with information about Robert Briggs. Mr Farmer, who had corresponded regularly with EJB, wrote:
"According to Honour the Light Brigade, by Lummis & Wynn, it is stated that Briggs saved the life of Sgt Seth Bond 11th Hussars. In fact, according to Seth Bond [in A Warwickshire Hero at The Charge of the Light Brigade, by Richard Stirling] it was the other way around.
Bond ... caught a riderless horse on the field ... for Sgt Pickworth of the 8th Hussars, who had called out for it.
Briggs, who had also been unhorsed, beat him to it, mounted it, and between Bond and Briggs, Sgt Pickworth held onto the stirrups of each and they galloped back to the British lines.
Briggs is then continuously present with the regiment according to the muster rolls, serving in England and Ireland.
He sailed from Ireland to Devna in Turkey en route to the Crimea. He was present for all musters and was in possession of 2 good conduct badges.
From 7th November 1855 Briggs was detached [PB: attached?] to the Hospital at Scutari, where he remained until May 1856 when he boarded the Orinoco for England. He then remained with the Regiment serving in England and again in Ireland until 12 June 1862 when he took his discharge at Dublin.
Briggs returned to live in Beccles, Suffolk where he became a coachman. He was a member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society 1879 and signed the Loyal Address in 1887. He attended the Annual Dinners in 1892, 1897 & 1899. Courtesy of the T.H. Roberts fund from which he received financial assistance, he also attended the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London [1897].
He died 18th December 1901, the funeral on 23rd December 1901 being paid for from the TH Roberts fund. His funeral was attended by the Norfolk Veterans Association and a detachment of the Norfolk Regiment were present."
Census information for 1851, 1871, 1891, 1901, & 1911 kindly provided by Chris Poole.