1565, Private James BIRCH — 4th Light Dragoons
Born at Bromsgrove, near Worcester.
Enlisted at Westminster on the 11th of March 1853.
Age: 18.
Height: 5' 10"
Trade: Servant.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Hazel eyes. Brown hair.
At Scutari from the 4th of April — 11th of May 1855.
From Private to Corporal: 9th of December 1855.
Corporal to Sergeant: 10th of October 1857.
Transferred to the 18th Hussars on the 1st of March 1858. Regimental No. 12.
(A James Birch, Sergeant in the 18th Hussars, is shown in the marriage registers of St. Leonard's church at Heston as marrying Caroline Southin on the 23rd of August 1863.
He was then a bachelor, aged 28 years, of Hounslow Barracks, and she a spinster, of 28. His father was shown as John Birch, a farmer, and hers as Jacob Southin, a gardener.)
Re-engaged for 12 years further service at Norwich on the 2nd of May 1866. Appointed to Sergeant i/c. Musketry on the 19th of June 1867.
Discharged from the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, on the 24th of August 1869.
"Unfit for further service. Suffers from a hip injury. (medical terms not readable.) States that he received a kick from a horse in 1855 on the part now affected. It interferes with the fluidity of the joint. He is affected also with initial valve disease of the heart — but not yet in an advanced stage. Cannot contribute much towards earning a livelihood."
Aged 34 years 5 months on discharge.
Served 16 years 5 months.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 1 year 303 days. East Indies, 4 years 91 days.
Conduct: "very good".
In possession of four Good Conduct badges.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol.
A Crimean medal named to him, with four clasps, and a Turkish medal was sold a Sotheby's auction on the 21/22 of February 1912. This was from the "Alderman Richard Gillett" collection, Lot 174.
In 1998 a family descendant (from his brother, George) learnt of the existence of this medal as being in the Officers' Mess of the Royal Irish Hussars, and following protracted discussion, was given permission to exchange this for a Crimean medal to another ex-4th Light Dragoon (855 John Moore, see his record) as a goodwill gesture of the medal being returned to the family possession.
It is believed that this medal has been with the regiment since being sold at auction in 1912. The medal is now known to be with impressed naming to "Corpl J. Birch. 4th Lt. Dragns." (See photograph of this in the 4th Hussar files.)
Granted a pension of 1/- per day.
Died in the North London Pension District on the 18th of September 1870. St Catherine's House records his death, aged 34 years, in the St. Saviour's District during the July-September quarter of 1870.
His death certificate shows him as dying at No. 242 Old Kent Road, London, on the 18th of September 1870, aged 34 years, from "Hepatitis and Cardiac Disease. Dropsy." His occupation was shown as being that of a "Commercial Clerk."
An E. Southin, of Willows Creek, Chertsey, Surrey, was shown as being present at his death. (See copy of his death certificate in the "Certificates" file.)
His father was No. 54 Sergeant James Birch of the 14th Light Dragoons, born at Woody [sic], Hants., who had enlisted into the Royal Wagon Train at Croydon on the 3rd of March 1809, at the age of 17.
5' 6" in height, with a sallow complexion, grey eyes and brown hair, his trade was that of a labourer.
He transferred to the 14th Light Dragoons on the 1st of April 1810 and was promoted from Private to Sergeant on the 31st of July 1822.
He was appointed Troop Sergeant Major on the 18th of July 1831 but was reduced to Sergeant on the 10th of April 1833.
On the 10th of April 1835 he was discharged from Longford Barracks, Ireland:
,p>Entitled after the age of 18 years to reckon up to the 10th of April 1835 to twenty-five years and 183 days service. Conduct and character: "very good"."By Authority of the General Commanding-in-Chief as signified by the Deputy Assistant Adjutant General's letter, dated the 8th of April 1835 — he is hereby discharged on the modified rate of pension for the purpose of becoming a Drill Instructor in the Worcester Yeomanry Cavalry."
Served four years in the Peninsula and the remainder at home (see his service in America, of which no mention is made.) and was present at the several engagements from the battle of Busaco on the 27th of September 1810 to the battle of Toulouse on the 10th of April 1814.
Although Busaco was specifically mentioned on his documents, he does not appear to have been awarded the clasp for this. Intended place of residence, Bromsgrove, Worcester.
A great-great-grandson of John Birch and great-great nephew of James Birch) has provided the following extract from the Doncaster Chronicle" for Thursday the 7th of December 1933: (See also copies of the photographs which accompanied the article, in the 4th Hussar file.)
A Doncaster link with Napoleon. Why John Birch and the Veterans were so "peeved".. The Charge of the gallant Six Hundred... How they "just went out and came back..." John Birch, Jnr. — Last of a soldier family... Old World memories. When Napoleon and his battling hordes first swayed before a mighty British onslaught, faltered, and were finally vanquished on the memorable day in 1815 at Waterloo, there was one Englishman, at least, who received the news of that victory with mixed feelings, and half-wished that the great event had been deferred by some months.
Somewhere in Jamaica, John Birch, soldier, of the 14th Light Dragoons, was fighting, with some thousands of others, against those who sought to secure their independence, after many years under the British flag.
There was a respite — one of those times when each soldier is waiting for the other to attack — when suddenly two words went running through the whole length of the British lines; two words which set the whole of the army aglow — the news of Wellington's victory in France...
These veterans of many scars were bewildered. That the "Green Troops" (as most of the Army under Wellington were called) should win their first engagement was something short of incredible — because the "Greeners" had been laughed at by the veterans some months before because of their smart equipment and uniform, their well-combed whiskers and good manners should triumph in the absence of the "fathers of the Army — whose uniform and whiskers (such an important part of a soldier's equipment) were anything but well-groomed — seemed a distinct gesture of defiance to the Elders. It made them a little peeved, but no more did they laugh...
John Birch, senior, was a soldier to the backbone, and that is why, perhaps, all his six sons, except one, took to the Army in one form or another as soon as they were old enough to do so. He had the truly great record of half-a-century in the service of his country, had served under three Kings and a Queen — George the Third, George the 1Vth, William the 1Vth and Queen Victoria — and had fought through many a terrible battle with the vigour of a great fighter.
His medals were many, and he left the Army with the cryptic words "Very Good." written on his discharge documents.
He was 75, and as he lay dying in his bed with his family by his side, he lifted up his proud old head — a head still fine and erect like a soldier's yet bearing the unmistakable traces of the tramellings of a hard world. He addressed his family. To his soldier sons he spoke quickly and fiercely, and with a strange light in those hard old eyes. "Fight, my boys... Fight for your Queen and country..."
And each of those sons bowed before their soldier father.
Then they stood stiffly at attention, their hands touched their foreheads. The old man did likewise. A last salute. Only the sobbing of the women broke the silence of the room and John Birch, Junior, then a mere lad, unaccustomed to such a scene, was filled with a strange sadness.
"Come here, Johnny boy," said his father, and he breathed in short sharp gasps. Johnny hurried, and knelt by the side of the bed. He looked fixedly into his father's face, a little wondering perhaps...
"Don't fight, Johnny boy, don't fight. Follow your desires, but don't fight....." These were the last words he uttered. John Birch, soldier, was dead...
They gave him a military funeral. His mortal remains were born on a gun-carriage to the grave, and the newspapers of the county gave a full description of his military service and his bravery in battle.
That, John Birch will tell you, was his father's end. He died as he least would have wished to have done — without his mighty sword in hand, and the cry "For Queen and Country" on his lips.
But John Birch carried out those last words of his parent, Sixty-six years have flown since he died with kindly words of advice on his lips, and we return to the onrush of civilisation to see John Birch, "junior," now a man of 79. A fine old man, moreover, who has inherited the bearing and face of his soldier father. John is a bachelor ("Just didn't marry," he told me) and if you had come to his house in Jubilee Road Doncaster, you would almost thought you had stepped back into the pages of olden history. Take John himself — his leggings and his tam-o-shatter, looking like an old-world fisherman. Take his front room, with its old-world fragrance, its paintings, its tapestry chairs and quaint china.
But that is by the way, I am dealing with John. John is a personality. He breathes romance. He is deaf (an attack of influenza a short while ago dulled his hearing away) but his voice is as sound as ever, and he is more than usually active for one of his age, (take his advice when you are 80 and touch your toes a few times a day.) John can captivate and thrill you.
He believes that — in Doncaster at any rate — he is the only man whose father served in the Peninsula War — and is right proud of the fact. Those tales of battle which were passed on to him in his youth are thrilling in the extreme. Five brothers there were in this great soldiering family and only he remains — a link with Napoleon. All the sons of his father, except he, had served in the Army, and all had their records. John can trace them all, for he still has a great regard for olden-time relics — he still has his father's great sword, his discharge papers, his photograph and similar relics of his soldier brothers.
I spent a very happy couple of hours with John in the kitchen at the back of his home and he told me the tale of them all. There was Thomas, the eldest, who was born nigh on a hundred years ago. He was apprenticed to the needle-making trade, but the Army called and he joined up at a very early age. Serving under Lord Raglan, he was present at the historic siege of Sebastopol. You have heard of that horrible winter, when the men died off in their hundreds and wore rags instead of clothes. Thomas died very young in life, in Barbados, just after the Indian Mutiny, he was 29 then, but he also died as he would have least wished it; not by a bullet or sword of the enemy, but by the plague of cholera. (Thomas Birch was born at Temple Longford, Ireland, on the 14th of July 1834, and was baptised on the 8th of August 1834 by the Revd. Alex Hudson — the son of John Birch, Sergeant in the 14th Hussars and his wife, Dorcas.)
John, the next son, was perhaps in historical importance, the most famous of them all. "'Twas he who served in the Light Brigade, and was one of the 33 survivors of that gallant "600" immortalised by Alfred, Lord Tennyson:
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them,
Volleyed and thundered,
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Into the jaws of hell,
Rode the six hundred..."
James was about 19 when he joined the Army, and of that gallant charge, all he said at home was simply, "We just went and came back..." But at what terrible cost did the remnants of that army" come back." The charge of the "4th" will be an everlasting memory of what English soldiering stands for. James was 34 when he died. And, by grim irony, he died, not in battle, but as the result of being kicked by a horse [sic] at Aldershot.
Then there was Frederick, of whom his father said he would never make a soldier as he was too round-shouldered. He was apprenticed to a wheel-wright, and he was so well liked by his master that he was left the business at his death. He kept this business all his life, dying at the grand old age of 81. But the Army called him also, and although he was never engaged in any active fighting, he served for several years in the Yeomanry.
We now come to George, the devil-may-care of the family (he was said to be the grandfather of the Mr. M.J. Birch of Leamington Spa, who provided this information, but further enquiry showed him to have been the great-grand-father, his grandfather being Frederick George Birch, believed to have been the only son of George Birch, who was born in November of 1876 and baptised at Colchester Barracks on the 17th of March 1877) and was apprenticed to the watchmaking trade, but ran away at the age of 19 to "join up." He was in the same regiment as his brother James, the 18th Hussars — but how, like a true soldier, he did curse his luck. For he never went further afield than Ireland, and was never engaged in any active service, although he served for 21 years. (Frederick George, son of George and Harriet Birch, born on the 25th of November 1876, was christened in the Garrison church at Colchester on the 25th of February 1877. His father was shown as a Sergeant in the 18th Hussars and the officiating priest was the Revd. G.C., Chaplain to the Forces.)
William, the other son, was, like his younger brother, a gardener by
Trade: He had his share in the service of his Queen however, for he joined the Volunteers in his youth and served for about three years. And now we come to the youngest of the soldiering family — the namesake of its famous head.
John Birch, junior," did not go against the last wish of his father. Do not think for a moment that the blood of a soldier was not in his veins, for it was. But his parents words were sacred, and so for a career he chose gardening, — his second love. He had a little of the soldier's roaming spirit however, for in his early days, after his apprenticeship, he was always "on the move." His Doncaster connections began about 50 years ago, when he came to be gardener to the late Sir William Cooke, at Wheatley Hall. It was in Jubilee year that he started up on his own account, and he had a stall in the market until about nine years ago. Doncaster was different then, John will tell you. He will tell you how he loves the place because of its solid buildings,, and its ancient entrance at Bennetthorpe and how he almost deplores this trend of modernisation. But as long as he has his plot of land where he can pass the hours of the day away, he is happy. For John Birch still loves the garden with its flowers, (he has been a member of the Chrysanthemum Society since its inception and has won a prize at every show).
He likes a good tale as well as anyone, and he has a warm corner in his heart for the little terrier that yaps at his feet.
His soldier blood made him love horses, and that is why he has seen every one of the St. Leger races since 1883, when he backed the Duke of Hamilton's "Ossian", and that is also why, perhaps, his occasional sixpences or shillings on the important races always reap him a good reward.
For John Birch, last of a line of soldiers, is notoriously lucky."
George Birch enlisted into the 4th Dragoon Guards on the 28th of October 1857 at Birmingham at the age of 18 years and 1 months. He was 5' 6" in height, with a fair complexion, grey eyes and dark brown hair. His trade was that of a watchmaker.
His place of birth was shown as Tandibigg [sic] Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.
He transferred to the 18th Hussars on the 30th of November 1858, his Regimental nunber being 747.
He became Corporal on the 24th of June 1859 but "being absent without leave" from the 30th of April — 4th of May 1862 caused him to be tried by a Regimental Court-martial and reduced to Private on the 5th of May 1862.
Again promoted to Corporal on the 1st of June 1865 and to Sergeant on the 1st of February 1867.
Re-engaged for 12 years further service on the 7th of September 1867 and was finally discharged from Woolwich on the 24th of September 1878 with a final service of 20 years 308 days "At own request, to a modified pension after 18 years' service" under Article 1279 of the Royal Warrant, dated the 1st of May 1878."
Conduct and character: "very good".
In possession of one Good Conduct badge and would now have been in the possession of four.
He is in possession of the medal and gratuity of £5 for long service and good conduct.
His name appears four times in the Regimental Defaulters' book. Once tried by Court-martial.
Served "Nil" years abroad.
Aged 39 years and 9 months on discharge.
To live C/o. Mrs. D. Birch, near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.
The Army Chaplain's Baptismal register and the muster rolls of the 18th Hussars show the following:
Maria, born at Canterbury. (The birth certificate of Maria shows — Born on the 12th of September 1868, the daughter of Sergeant George Birch of the 18th Hussars and his wife, Harriet Adeline. Baptised in the Garrison Church at Canterbury on the 21st of September 1868 by the Revd. C.J. Goar.)
Amy, born at Canterbury.
James, born at Canterbury.
Dorcas, born at Canterbury, (Known to have been during the April-June quarter of 1875.)
Frederick George, born at Canterbury.
His brother, George Birch, is shown in the parish records of Tardebigge and not Tandebigge as it would appear from his documents) as having been baptised there on the 27th of December 1838, the son of John and Dorcas Birch.
His father was described as being a "Sergeant of Cavalry."
George Birch is further shown in the muster rolls of the 18th Hussars for the period as having been appointed Troop Sergeant Major on the 27th of March 1877 (when the Regiment was at Aldershot) and going to the Oxford Yeomanry Cavalry on the 19th of October 1877. Such a promotion and transfer does not appear on his documents.
His father, John Birch, senior, went to America with the 14th Light Dragoons on either the 31st of August or the 10th of October 1814.
There is no indication of the regiment being in Jamaica from the muster rolls, although it is known from the Regimental History that:
"On the termination of the War (in the Peninsula) the Regiment returned home and thence proceeded to Jamaica to take part in the projected descent upon Louisiana. Two dismounted squadrons distinguished themselves by their conduct during an attack on New Orleans on the 8th of January 1815.
The Regiment returned to England when peace was concluded and remained in various quarters. It subsequently proceeded to Ireland."
John Birch (senior) died at Bentley Pauncefoot, Worcestershire, on the 15th of November 1867, at the age of 75 years, from "Senile Decay." A John Tongue (who had to make his mark) and also of Bentley Pauncefoot) was shown as being present at his death. John Birch was described as being a "Soldier." (A "John Tongue" is shown in the 1861 Census Returns as living with his wife, Mary Ann, in Upper Bentley, (Bentley Pauncefoot contained the hamlets of Upper and Lower Bentley, He was then aged 68 years and a cordwainer by
Trade: He was later buried in Tardebigge churchyard, (and where a stone was erected to him.) No stones can be found for any of the Birch family there.
The Census Returns for 1841-51-61 and 1871 show the following.:
1841. Bank's Green, Webheath.
John Birch. 45. Drill Sergeant
Dorcas Birch 30. Wife.
Thomas Birch. 7. Scholar.
James Birch. 6. Scholar.
Frederick Birch. 5. Scholar.
George Birch. 3. Infant.
Ann Birch. 1. Infant.
Susan Harris. 13. House servant
John Birch and his wife were shown as "Not born in the County," Thomas as "In Ireland," and the remainder of the family and the servant as in the "County of Worcestershire."
[1851]Bank's Green, Webheath. [near where?]
John Birch, 58, Head of household, Drill Sergeant and Army Pensioner, Born at East Woodhay, Hants.
Dorcas Birch, 40, Domestic duties, Deal, Kent.
Thomas Birch, 16, Needle-finisher.
James Birch, 15 Apprentice to a needle-maker.
George Birch, 12, Scholar.
Ann Birch, 10, Scholar.
William Birch, 5, Scholar.
Maria Birch, 5, Scholar.
Hannah Birch, 4, Scholar.
Theresa Birch, 1, Infant.
1861, Bank's Green, Webheath.
John Birch, 68, Head, Army Pensioner.
Dorcas Birch, 50, Wife.
Hannah Birch, 16.
Maria Birch, 14.
Theresa Birch, 11, Scholar.
Dorcas Birch, 8, Scholar.
John Birch, 5, Scholar.
1871, Newell Lane, Webheath.
Dorcas Birch, 60, Annuitant.
Dorcas Birch, 18, Un-married, Employed as a house-maid, (Visiting,)
John Birch, 15, Agricultural labourer.
Dorcas Birch died at Tardebigge on the 18th of November 1879, aged 69 years.
Hannah Birch married at Tardebigge on the 27th of November 1879, aged 35 years. The witnesses were Frederick and Anne Birley.
A check of the baptismal records for East Woodhay (pronounced as "Woody") Hampshire, shows no trace of the baptism of John Birch. There were however, some ten or twelve children born to other families of this name between 1780 and 1800 but none with the Christian name of John.
One possibility lies in the marriage of Richard Burch (some records show this as Birch) to Deborah Dines at St. Margaret's Church, East Woodhay, on the 15th of October 1780.
Both were shown as being "of this parish", the wedding being after banns." The witnesses were Robert Mannings and Arthur Dines.
No children can be found recorded of this marriage, nor indeed anyone of the name of Birch before this period.
The family of Dines was a well-established one, possible ancestors of Deborah being John Dines, who had married Susannah Pe on the 27th of December 1748, William Dynes, who had married Sarah Gaines on the 20th of July 1721, and another William Dynes, who had married Elizabeth Harne on the 1st of November 1685.
A Stephen Birch is shown in the Burial registers on the 8th of September 1813, aged 60, a John Birch on the 28th of January 1834, aged 79 and a Richard Birch on the 26th of December 1843, aged 82 years. (This could have been the Richard Burch of the 1780 marriage.)