Born in Glasgow, c.1833
Enlisted at Manchester on the 2nd of February 1855.
Age: 22.
Height: 5' 6".
Trade: House-painter.
Fair complexion. Blue eyes. Lt. Brown hair.
Joined the Regiment in the Crimea on the 14th of June 1855.
Transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Military Train at Brighton on the 1st of November 1856. Regimental No. 739.
In the Guard Room, 13th-15th of January 1858. "In cells", 15th of January — 6th of February 1858. After being tried by a Regimental Court-martial was confined in Lewes Military Prison, 7th of February — 9th of July 1858.
Transferred to the 5th Battalion of the Military Train on the 1st of January 1859.
Embarked for China on the 14th of November 1859.
From Private to Corporal: 18th of December 1860.
"In arrest", 1st-2nd of April and reduced to Private by a Regimental Court-martial on the 3rd of April 1862.
Returned to England aboard the freight ship "Albuhera".
Transferred to the 6th Battalion of the Military Train on the 26th of March 1865.
Sent to the Woolwich Depot on the 13th of March 1866.
Discharged, "time expired", from Aldershot on the 26th of August 1867.
[PB: If he is indeed the John Glen Cairney below, this would fit — JGC married Elizabeth March the following year.]
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasp for Sebastopol.
China (1860) medal without clasp.
Not recorded by Lummis and Wynn.
Marriage registered
John Glen Cairney married Elizabeth March, St Giles, Jan Quarter 1868.
[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/8913/ONS_M18684AZ-0033]
1871 Census
Cumberland [Rd?], Pancras, London.
John Cairney, 38, Decorator, b. Scotland.
Elizabeth, 25, Decorator's wife, b. Surrey, Kingswood.
[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/7619/LNDRG10_203_206-0030]
[PB: I wonder what exactly was meant by Painter (Glass), and how JC made the transition from house painter? Perhaps he painted the glass in e.g. front doors or shop fronts?]
1881 Census
30, Robertson Street East, Battersea, London
The 1881 Census shows him as John G. Cairney, aged 48, a Painter (Glass), born in Scotland, with his wife, Elizabeth, 35, bor Kingswood, Surrey.
1891 Census
Not found.
[PB, 1.10.18:
Could the "G." be Glen? There are numerous refs on Ancestry.co.uk to John Glen Cairney, including his marriage to a Elizabeth March, which fits. As does his employment after leaving the army, when he returned to house painting, at least for a while, when he became a glass painter.
PB: Claremont Cottage — ather different from late-C19 Battersea!
2018: Zoopla lists a Claremont Cottage, Weston Green, Thames Ditton KT7 0JP [https://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/claremont-cottage/weston-green/thames-ditton/kt7-0jp/27373833].
1901 Census
Address? Claremont Cottage? CHECK
John G. Cairney, Head, 68, Painter (Glass), Worker, b. Scotland
Elizabeth, Wife, 55, Laundress (wash), Employer, b. Kingswood, Surrey.
A servant, Mary Day, Single, 26, Laundry Maid, Worker, b. Hersham?, Surrey, is also shown.
(https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll)
Electoral Registers
John Glen Cairney, living at Claremont Cottage, Weston Green, Epsom, Surrey, appears on a number of Electoral Registers (e.g. 1909, 1912, 1913).
1911 Census ()
John Glen Cairney, Head, 77, married for 43 years, Disengaged Glass Painter, b. Glasgow Barney Point?
Elizabeth, Wife, 65, Laundress, Employer of one, b. Kingswood, Surrey. (https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/2352/rg14_03551_0713_03)
"Married 43 years" implies marriage took place c.1868 (since confirmed).
Death registration
John G Cairney, 80, Kingston, Surrey, Oct Quarter 1913.
Probate
John Glen Cairney, Claremont Cottage, Weston Green, Thames Ditton, Surrey, died 17 October 1913. Administration to Elizabeth Cairney, widow. Effects £102.13s. [https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1904/31874_222968-00322]
[PB, September 2018: Wendy Leahy emailed to say that she had been trying to identify the writer of a letter of which this is an extract. "The details of the writer that we have from the letter are fairly sketchy, but enough I think: a brother in Glasgow, left England in early July 1855, was a new recruit, not present at ABI, hospitalised twice, first name Jack or John. I reckon young Cairney fits the bill." It certainly does.]
In mid-August 1855 a letter was received from a private in the Fourths in the East, addressed to his brother in Glasgow. It reported that:
"The weather is very hot, and the work is very hard. Cholera is very bad. I have been in hospital twice; but, on the whole, I am getting on very well. It is rather queer to be lying in bed at night and hear the cannon roaring away at Sebastopol, and thinking of the brave fellows that are leaving this world for the next...
It is rather a curious life in camp. We are all under arms to be ready to turn out at any hour. I would like to get a medal to bring home with me. I don't know the day of the month or the hour of the day. Here not one of us has a watch except the officers, and we can't see them; so it is work away till it is dark, and then I feel tired enough.
Everything is very dear. Bread, 1s. the 2lb. loaf; butter, 2s. per lb.; cheese, 2s. 6d. and 3d. 6d. per lb. The only thing that is cheap is tobacco, and I enjoy to sit down at night outside the hut, with my pipe, and think of all the folks at home. We get a half pint of porter and a dram of rum every day, and bread about once a week, the remainder biscuit.
I send you a Turkish farthing and half-farthing, and when you look at them you will remember poor Jack, perhaps fighting in the field for his country and Queen. I will send you a few more when I can get a hold of them, but we so seldom get money served out to us, and when we do get any it generally walks in bread and butter, or a piece of cheese. I am sorry I can't pay for this. I have not got any money since I left England [in the beginning of July]; but I thought I would like to write in case I would not have the chance again."
[Source: The Morning Post, Saturday 18 August 1855, page 6.]