Born at Aberdeen, Scotland, c.1823.
Enlisted into the 4th Light Dragoons at London on the 3rd of May 1841.
Trade: Engineer.
No other enlistment details are shown, neither is a Regimental number allocated. (These do not appear to be shown unless a man joined the regiment, which he did not.)
Transferred to the 11th Hussars from the Cavalry Depot on the 17th of May 1842.
1851 Census
Cavalry Barracks, Pockthorpe, Norwich.
James Elder, 28, unmarried, Private, born Aberdeen.
[N.B. name appears next to Corporal Seth Bond's on the list. James Elder was Sergeant Major Seth Bond's batman when in the Crimea.]
Killed in action at Balaclava. Bond wrote about his death (see below).
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava and Sebastopol.
Killed in action at Balaclava.
James Elder was Sergeant Major Seth Bond's batman when in the Crimea. In an interview given to the Leamington Courier on the 26th of June 1896, Sergeant Major Seth Bond said:
"Just at that time a young man named James Elder fell from his horse, no doubt shot by the rifles pursuing us up the valley. I looked back for a moment and saw three Russian Lancers in the act of piercing him and heard his cry, "Oh, Oh, Oh," as the lances entered his body. I dared not look back again..."