Death & burial
Death registration
The GRO registers for the Eastbourne district record his death aged 62 during the October quarter of 1883. [RM]
[Liverpool Weekly Courier, Saturday 15th December 1883.]
Born c.1821 at Waverley, near Farnham, Surrey, and baptised at Farnham on the 11th of February 1821, the son of William Fry and his wife, Mary, nee Smith.
[PB: According to the 1841 Census, there was another "George Fry", of a similar age, in Waverley, Farnham, at this time. He was the son of George and Ann Fry.]
Enlisted into the 4th Light Dragoons at London on the 14th of July 1841. No Regimental no. was allocated as he did not join the Regiment from the Depot.
Age: 20 years 5 months.
Height: 5' 7".
Trade: Groom.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Grey eyes. Brown hair.
Transferred to the 11th Hussars on the 17th of May 1842.
1851 Census
Cavalry Barracks, Ipswich St Mary.
George Fry, 30, Private.
Invalided to England from Scutari on the 1st of June 1855.
1861 Census
Hulme Cavalry Barracks, Chorlton.
G.Fry, unmarried, 39, soldier, born Farnham Surrey.
Discharged from the Curragh Camp. Ireland, on the 15th of August 1865, at "Own request, having completed 24 years' service."
In Turkey and the Crimea: 2 years. (This does not agree with the date of his being invalided home.)
Conduct and character: "good". In possession of four Good Conduct badges. Twice entered in the Regimental Defaulter's book. Never tried by Court-martial.
Awarded a pension of 9d per day.
To reside at the Royal Hospital, but he was living in the Brighton Pension District in 1875.
Aged 46 years 6 months on discharge.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, Sebastopol and the Turkish medal.
Awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal on the 24th of September 1862.
Documents confirm the award of the Crimean, Turkish and the Long Service and Good Conduct medals.
He is not shown on the list of members of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in either 1877 or 1879, nor was he present at the first Balaclava Banquet held at the Alexandra Palace in 1875.
Life after Service
1871 Census
The 1871 Census shows he was living at 1, Cambridge Terrace, Eastbourne, with his wife Harriet. Occupation: "Chelsea Pensioner". [RM]
1881 Census
The 1881 Census shows him as living at 108, Seaside, Eastbourne, Sussex, a Chelsea Pensioner, aged 60 years, born Farnham, Surrey, with his wife Harriet, aged 61, also born Farnham, Surrey. [RM]
Death registration
The GRO registers for the Eastbourne district record his death aged 62 during the October quarter of 1883. [RM]
[Liverpool Weekly Courier, Saturday 15th December 1883.]
Census information for 1851 and 1861, and the cuttings from the Liverpool Weekly Courier kindly provided by Chris Poole.