Enlisted on the 16th of June 1854.
No other enlistment details are shown.
Joined the regiment in the Crimea on the 21st of May 1855.
From Private to Corporal: 6th of August 1855.
Reduced to Private by a Regtl. Court-martial on the 14th of October 1856.
Transferred to the 17th Lancers on the 10th of September 1857. Regtl. No. 74.
Embarked for India from Cork aboard the S.S. "Great Britain" on the 8th of October 1857.
Sick at Ramadoor, India, from the 1st of January to the 25th of February 1862, when he was invalided to England.
He was "Absent", 25th-29th of December 1862, and confined from the 1st-7th of January 1863.
Discharged, "invalided", from the Canterbury Depot on the 24th of July 1863.
Served 11 years 38 days.
Conduct: "good". In possession of one Good Conduct badge.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasp for Sebastopol and the Turkish medal.
Can find no trace on the Mutiny medal roll, neither is there any entry on the muster roll that he was ever on Field Service or on detachment to Sholapoor.
Not recorded by Lummis and Wynn.
1871 Census
Brompton, Cleveland.
The 1871 Census shows him aged 35, a domestic servant, born Frating, Essex, He was married to Elizabeth, 25, born Maidstone, Kent. One child, Elizabeth M., 7 is shown, also born at Maidstone. Two visitors are also shown. [RM]
Marriage registered
John Beckey's second marriage, to Annie Eleanor Whelan, was registered in December Quarter 1896 in the Castle Ward in Northumberland.
1901 Census
Coxlodge, Northumberland.
The 1901 Census shows a man of this name, born Colchester, Essex, aged 62, a "Brickworker". He was living in Coxlodge, Northumberland. The GRO records also show John Beckey as having died in the September quarter of 1901 aged 65 in the Castle Ward district of Northumberland (this includes Coxlodge). [RM]
1901 Census
5, Ash Street, Coxlodge, Gosforth.
also add Ann, wife, 49, born Newcastle.
A 13-year-old grandson is also shown.
Registration of marriage, and additional Census information for 1901, kindly provided by Chris Poole.