Born at Wickham. (County not shown.)
Enlisted at Athlone on the 2nd of March 1850.
Age: 19. Height 5' 8".
Trade: Labourer.
At Scutari from the 4th of April — 11th of May 1855.
Discharged, "time expired", from the Curragh Camp on the 10th of August 1862.
Served 12 years 5 days.
Conduct and character: "Bad". Not in possession of any Good Conduct badges.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol.
Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal with a gratuity of £5., being recommended for it on the 5th of February 1855 and awarded it on the 26th of March 1856.
He is known to have ridden in the Charge, and the award was most probably given for his conduct at the time. [P]At the commencement of the Crimean War there was no provision for an award for a particular act, or acts of gallantry for Corporals or Privates, while for Sergeants the Meritorious Service Medal was of indeterminate status, and could be given either for general conduct or for a particular act. This carried an annuity not exceeding £20. By a Royal Warrant dated the 4th of December 1854 it was promulgated that;
"One Sergeant in each Regiment of Cavalry and Infantry and one of each Battalion in the Foot Guards and Rifle Brigade serving in the East, in the Crimea or elsewhere, shall be selected by the Commanding Officer and recommended to Us for the grant of an annuity not exceeding £20, The Annuity so granted is to be at the disposal of such Sergeant although he may still be in Our Service. The Sergeant to be selected for the annuity of £20 is to be the Individual whom you may consider most deserving of such a Reward...
A further proposal was made in the same Royal Warrant to extend the provisions and recommend (in particular for the cavalry, but an increased number for the Infantry and Guards Regiments) to:
"One Sergeant, two Corporals and four Privates, to receive a Medal and Gratuity, this to be in the instance of a Sergeant, £15, for a Corporal £10 and for Private £5. This Gratuity is to be placed in the Regimental Savings Bank, there to remain on Deposit at Interest until His Discharge from Our Service and to be deemed his Personal Property... I am further directed to observe that in selecting individuals for the Gratuities to be awarded for Distinguished Service or Gallant Conduct in the Field, you are not to be fettered in your selection by any consideration as to the Length of Service, the General Good Conduct of the Individual (and especially in the late operations) being alone the qualifications to entitle him to the Award."
By July of 1859 this Gratuity Fund was exhausted and no further awards were made for the Crimean War. Since the original recommendations made by the Commanding Officers have not survived it is impossible to say what standards were applied in selecting men for awards. When the inscription on the medal was being considered it was accepted that the medal could be given for some distinguished service, not necessarily in action, and it can be read as meaning that gallantry was more appropriate to awards with gratuity, than those with an annuity.
However, on the 17th of March 1856 a Memorandum from the Horse Guards stated:
"The latter part of the Warrant referred to, relating to Medals and Gratuities for Non-commissioned Officers and Privates has been invariably interpreted to apply only for "Distinguished Conduct in the Field" (as is inscribed on the Medal) and no Non-combatant has accordingly received them, however exemplary may have been the performance of his duties,
The Medal accompanying the Annuities already bestowed on Non-Combatant Sergeants and inscribed "For Distinguished Conduct in the Field" have been, if the known arguments are correct, erroneously conferred, and the cases should not be made a precedent."
By the date of the Memorandum seven Hospital Sergeants from all arms had received the medal and annuity and no doubt these were the cases to which the Adjutant-General referred, All in all though, it seems likely that the great majority of awards for the Crimea were, however, made for acts of gallantry.
Attended the first Balaclava Banquet in 1875.
Member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1879.
The 1881 Census shows a man of this name as being an Inmate of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, as an In-Pensioner, aged 50 and born in Ireland.