Born at Beaulieu, Hampshire, on the 27th of January 1820.
Enlisted at Canterbury on the 27th of March 1839.
Age: 19.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: None shown.
From Private to Corporal: 22nd of December 1842.
Corporal to Sergeant: 6th of February 1847.
1851 Census
Cavalry Barracks, Pockthorpe, Norwich.
George Bull, 31, Sergeant, born Southampton, Hants.
Promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major on the 6th of August 1851.
Rode on the left of "D" Troop in the Charge, his horse being killed under him.
Gazetted as Cornet in the 11th Hussars on the 15th of December 1854.
Returned to England on the 9th of July 1855.
Adjutant in the Royal Horse Guards from the 8th of January 1856.
Lieutenant: 2nd of February 1858.
Retired from the service by the sale of his commission, on the 23rd of December 1858.
He wrote from 18, Canton Street, Southampton on the 17th of September 1858, requesting to be allowed to retire from the service "owing to his extreme ill-health".
Colonel Forrester, commanding the Royal Horse Guards, on the 30th of September 1858, wrote supporting his application:
"...but there being no Lieutenant in the Regiment willing to accept the post of Adjutant, he requested to be allowed to recommend a very deserving non-commissioned officer in the Regiment, Q.M Corporal-Major Robert McAlpine, and the appointment should be made without delay, the services of an efficient Adjutant being required immediately for the continuation of interior discipline and general efficiency, the Regiment having been deprived, through continuing sickness, of the services of Lieutenant and Adjutant George Bull for a period of nearly eleven months".
A Medical Report being called for, three Surgeons of the Army Medical Department reported on him as follows:
"We hereby certify, after taking the usual obligation, to have carefully examined Lt. and Adjutant George Bull, Royal Horse Guards, and find that he has been labouring under chronic disease of the chest since last Christmas, attended with occasional haemoptysis, rapid pulse and wasting. Physical examination shows that the apice of both lungs are more or less consolidated, and judging from his physical appearance and the history of the case, we are of the opinion that there is little probability of his ever again being fit for Military Duty within a reasonable period. We do not, however, feel ourselves warranted in giving a decisive opinion as to the further progress of the case."
George Bull was offered the sum of £1250 in recompense for the sale of his commission, and this he accepted, writing on this occasion from 2, Dorset Street, Southampton, on the 26th of October 1858.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Served in Turkey and the Crimea from the 4th of July 1854 to the 9th of July 1855.
George Bull married Frances Amelia Gould on the 9th of February 1856. From the GRO records, their marriage took place in the Southampton District at Trinity Church, Southampton. He was then 36 years of age and his bride was 24. The ceremony was conducted by the Revd. William H. White, and the witnesses were James Haddon and Emma Gould.
Two children were known to have been born into the family up to the time of his leaving the Army, Fanny and Eliza, (possibly twins) who were both baptised at Trinity Church, Southampton on the 19th of March 1857.
(From the terms of his will only one daughter was still alive at the time of his death, but which is not known.)
George Bull died at Southampton on the 7th of March 1859. In his will, made on the 7th of January 1859, he left his entire estate (of under £1500) to his widow, Frances Amelia, and on her death or re-marriage to go to his only daughter, (name not shown). The executors of his will were William Ennis, formerly a Captain in the Army, and his son, William Ennis the Younger, of Somerset House. William Ennis was at that time living at No. 17 Gloucester Grove, West Kensington, London.
From the Cemetery records he was buried in Grave No. 451/7 in Southampton (Old) Cemetery, Hill Lane, the grave having a stone in the form of a cross over it. He was brought from 2, Dorset Street, Southampton, for interment. There are said to be three other interments in the same grave, but it is not known who they were.
By 1988 it was known that although he was the first interment in the family-bought plot in Southampton (Old) Cemetery, neither he nor a third person named Gould (possibly from his wife's family) are named on the erected stone. This reads:
"In loving remembrance of Frances Amelia, wife of G.T. Adams and widow of the late Lieut. George Bull, who fell asleep January 11th 18-- (the year is indistinct) aged 48."
"For God giveth his beloved sleep."
"Also Fanny Eliza Bull, only daughter of the above, who died March 18th 1882, aged 25."
"Thy will be done."
There is a photograph of this stone in the 11th Hussar file.
The year of his wife's death was almost certainly 1881, by the age shown at the time of her marriage in 1856. The fact that one of the interments is shown as the "only daughter" casts some doubt too on the number of children from his marriage, unless she was the surviving twin.
Census information for 1851 kindly provided by Chris Poole.