Born c.1833.
Enlisted at Westminster, London, on the 11th of July 1851.
Age: 18.
Height: 5' 6".
Trade: None shown.
Embarked for the Crimea aboard the H. T. "Mary Anne" on the 19th of April 1854.
At Scutari General Hospital from the 14th of September 1854, being sent to rejoin the regiment on the 3rd of October 1854 and was at Scutari again from the 18th of December 1854 to the 25th of February 1855.
From Private to Corporal: 26th of April 1856.
Corporal to Sergeant: 17th of September 1857.
Embarked for India from Cork aboard the S. S. "Great Britain" on the 8th of October 1857.
Appointed to Troop-Sergeant Major on the 1st of October 1858.
Reduced to Sergeant (no reason given) 7th of January 1860.
Served at Kotah.
Discharged, "by purchase", in India on the 4th of December 1860. Payment of £20.
Served 9 years 148 days.
Conduct and character: "good".
In possession of one Good Conduct badge when promoted.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol
Mutiny medal with clasp for Central India.
Served at Kotah.
Attended the first Balaclava Banquet in 1875.
Member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1879.
Attended the Annual Dinners in 1890 and 1897.
Died on the 23rd of September 1904.
Lived at one time at No. 3 Rarely Street, Bromley-by-Bow, London.
He received payments from the T.H. Roberts Fund, and which also paid for his funeral.
St. Catherine's' House records his death in the Poplar District of London during the September-December Quarter of 1904, aged 74 years.
Extract from Lloyd's Weekly News, 25th of September 1904:
"Another of the few survivors of the famous charge of the Light Brigade died in the Poplar and Stepney Hospital on Friday morning (the 23rd. ) of "cerebral haemorrhage."
The deceased was William Dawn, late Troop Sergeant Major of the 8th Hussars, whose health had been a good deal shattered by the terrible privations endured in the Crimea.
Dawn also fought at the Alma and Inkerman and was — as already stated — one of the gallant band who, on that fatal October morning of 1854, rode down the Balaclava valley where he had a marvellous escape of his life from his horse having been shot under him and he would undoubtedly have been killed by the Russians had not a riderless horse which belonged to one of his more unfortunate comrades, happened to be in the vicinity at that awful moment, and on which he mounted and returned unharmed.
He was also in the subsequent siege and fall of Sebastopol. The deceased had been looking forward to the Anniversary Dinner to be held on the 25th of October."
Extract from the East End News and Chronicle, 4th of October 1904:
"A Balaclava hero dies at Bromley.
On Friday, September 23rd, the death took place of one of the survivors of the famous charge of the Light Brigade on October 25th 1854. Troop Sergeant Major William Dawn was born in Spring Garden's, Westminster, on the 1st of January 1831.
At the famous charge his horse was shot under him and he must have been killed had not a riderless horse turned up at that moment. He mounted the animal and thus escaped almost certain death.
He was a fine specimen of a Briton, standing six feet tall, well-built, and as upright a soldier as a man of 74 years could be. His familiar form will be well missed in the neighbourhood of Devon's Road, as he has lived at No. 32 Raverley Street, for more than 25 years.
After Balaclava he spent many years in India and on retiring from the Service he was employed at Messrs. Cook and Co. 's Soap Works at Bow.
He died in the Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum, as it had become very difficult to nurse him at home. The management admitted him, provided a separate room and attendance and allowed his wife to spend a great deal of her time with him. His friends paid the amount of the cost.
The funeral took place last Wednesday (the 28th September) at the Woodgrange Cemetery. The body was conveyed in an open car and covered with a purple velvet pall, the very many floral tributes looking very beautiful thereon.
The mourners were Mrs. Dawn (widow) Mr and Mrs. Underwood, brother-in-law and sister) and Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, (niece. ) A letter of sympathy was received from Mr. Roberts of the Balaclava Hero's Fund.
Great numbers of people were gathered in the vicinity of the deceased's home and signs of mourning by drawn blinds and black shutters were everywhere in evidence. The cemetery chaplain officiated in a very sympathetic and impressive manner."
He was buried in a common grave, No. 8030, Square 11, in Woodgrange Cemetery and has no head-stone. . The area is due to be cleared for re-development as a building site.
There is an article and pictures in the 4th Hussar files taken from the Daily Mail of the 23rd of March 2000, showing scenes during the re-development of a three-acre site for the building of 120 luxury flats. It was estimated that between 12,000 and 15,000 bodies would be removed for re-interment in the part of the original 27-acre plot that remains. Enquiry of the cemetery authority shows that his gravesite was affected.