Born in Newington, London c.1834.
[PB: I have not been able to find a plausible birth registration for any "Walter Canning".
EJB wrote "Stoke Newington" (which is in north London) but Newington (south London) seems correct. LC says his discharge documents say "Newington".
For information about "William Henry Cory", see here].
Enlisted at London on the 30th of October 1853.
Age: 19.
Height: 5' 7".
Trade: Clerk.
[PB: CR says 3rd of October 1853. Possibly a typo?]
"Canning first appears on the 11th Hussars muster rolls in the 4th quarter of 1853 on form 7, which lists new recruits. The musters indicate that he enlisted in London on 3rd October 1853 at age 19. It also lists his height as 5' 7" and shows him receiving pay from 20th October."
EJB: Lummis and Wynn record Canning as having "Died in the Crimea on the 7th of September 1855", but obviously this was not so. He was discharged in November 1856 (see below).
Laurence Crider has collected some useful information about Walter Canning:
Canning first appears on the 11th Hussars muster rolls in the 4th quarter of 1853 on form 7, which lists new recruits. The musters indicate that he enlisted in London on 3rd October 1853 at age 19. It also lists his height as 5' 7" and shows him receiving pay from 20th October...
From subsequent musters we learn that he was at sea — May 1854; at Varna — June 1854; on Battalion Duty — January 1855; in Hospital — February 1855; on Guard Duty — March 1855; in Hospital — April 1855; and at Baidar — July 1855.
Lummis' contention that he died on 7 September 1855 is disproved by subsequent muster entries.
He was in confinement from 29 February through at least 31 March 1856 (I do not have the musters of the months following to see if confinement continued.)
Canning was discharged on 7 November 1856, as Roy notes, for "bad character and on the reduction of the regiment". Also noted on the Form 24 at the time of his discharge is the fact that he was born in Newington. The medal rolls record the award of A, B, I, and S clasps on pages 391/398, 408, and 415 respectively.
[Source: Laurence Crider, "Walter Canning (1604), 11th Hussars", War Correspondent, April 2006, p.43. His article can be viewed here.
Tried by a District Court-martial on the 5th of March 1855 for "Disgraceful Conduct: Theft". Given 50 lashes and sentenced to 84 days' imprisonment, with hard labour. Also to forfeit all claim to past and future service. This lost service was restored by War Office Authority, dated the 22nd of March 1856.
Discharged, "as a bad character and the Reduction of the Regiment", from Newbridge, Ireland, on the 7th of November 1856.
Served 3 years.
Conduct: "Bad". Not in possession of any Good Conduct badges.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Walter Canning is believed to have emigrated to America and served in the Confederate Cavalry. After enlisting into one Kentucky regiment, he deserted and then joined another. He had changed his name to "William Henry Tyson". His descendants and greater family changed their name from Tyson to "Cory", and claim to still have his Crimean and Civil War medals and a diary. His trade on enlistment was that of a clerk, but he described himself in America as a barrister.
If they are indeed one and the same man it would appear that he changed his name, or reverted to his real one, before going to America. A letter to The Times (published 10th of February 1857) was written at a time when there was a great controversy (prompted by the publication of Somerset Gough Calthorpe's ??) as to whether Lord Cardigan had, or had not, ridden in the Charge.
"Wandsworth Road,
February 7th [1857]
Sir,
I was in the Light Cavalry Charge at Balaclava. The assertion that Lord Cardigan retired between the advancing squadrons of the 8th Hussars ad the 4th Light Dragoons is palpably untrue, and for this reason.
His Lordship was in front of the whole Brigade, leading, and when these two regiments forming the second line passed the guns simultaneously with the first and becoming instantly engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict would not have observed the compact order of their advance for him to have retired between them had it been at all possible for him to extricate himself so easily. When the Brigade, riding for their lives in the retreat, came back, the different squadrons were so intermingled that but their uniforms no one would imagine they were more than one corps.
I am Sir,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) William H. Cory.
Late 11th Hussars, (P.O.A.)"
[PB, December 2015: The context was the publication by Somerset Gough Calthorpe of his Letters from head-quarters; or The realities of the war in the Crimea (1856). Tony Margrave has written about this in his January 2016 Newsletter. Add notes.]
It would seem from an inscription on a family gravestone that the family claimed William Cory had ridden in the Charge. The gravestone of the Cory family was apparently in the West Norwood Cemetery, and was said to have been destroyed in a landscaping exercise in 1980. Besides that of his father and mother, brothers and sisters, the stone commemorated his own death. The inscription on this part of the stone read:
"William Henry. Died Jan. 29th 1893, aged 61 years, and is interred at Beaufort, South Carolina, U.S.A. One of the 600 in the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, Oct. 25th 1854."
(There is a photocopy of a picture of this memorial family gravestone in the 11th Hussar file.)
[PB: Sources for all this info? Can we find the photocopy?
See The War Correspondent, Vol. 23 number 4 [Jan 2006] for article and photograph of Cory headstone in Beaufort SC, USA.]
[PB: Is this EJB's research, or someone who corresponded with EJB — if so, who?]
Enlisted [PB: name?] aged 30 on 21st April 1861 as a Private at Norfolk, Virginia. Enlisted in Company B, Virginia 5th Cavalry Regiment on the 21st of April 1861, mustered out on the 1st of May 1862. Transferred to Company F, Virginia 15th Cavalry Regiment, on 01 May 1862, mustered out on the 26th of June 1863.
Served in 9th Kentucky cavalry and 2nd Kentucky cavalry.
A "William Gaston Tyson" appears on the roster for both these regiments during the Civil War period.
Records also show a "William G Tyson" also serving in F Company 15th Virginia Cavalry, A Company 14th Virginia Cavalry Battalion (Burrough's)
Dortch's 2d Battalion Kentucky Cavalry is a different unit from the 2d Battalion Kentucky Mounted Rifles. Dortch's Battalion was a field organization of the men that did not go or escaped capture during Morgan's Indiana-Ohio Raid in July 1863. After the unsuccessful raid, Col. Adam R. Johnson reorganized Morgan's men into two separate battalions. Those men in the First Brigade were organized into Kirkpatrick's 1st Battalion Kentucky Cavalry, which was commanded by Capt. John D. Kirkpatrick. Those men in the Second Brigade were organized into Dortch's 2d Battalion Kentucky Cavalry, commanded by Capt. John Baker Dortch, formerly of the 7th Kentucky Cavalry.
The 2nd Consolidated Cavalry Battalion was assembled in August, 1863, and contained men from five different regiments of J.H. Morgan's dispersed command. It was assigned to B.W. Duke's Brigade in the Department of Western Virginia and East Tennessee, and saw action in several conflicts in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. During January, 1865, only 32 effectives were present and the battalion disbanded. Captain John B. Dortch was in command.
[PB, December 2015: LC wrote an article about William Henry Cory in the War Correspondent January 2006. At that time he did not know that Cory may have been Canning. RM responded at some length in April 2006. LC added further comments in the same issue. I notice there has been some some interesting-looking correspondence about Cory (with additional Census info.) in RootsChat. For information about "William Henry Cory", see here].