Born in Liverpool, c.1835.
Enlisted at Liverpool on the 7th of December 1853.
Age: 18.
Height: 5' 7".
Trade: Joiner.
Sent to Scutari on the 16th of September, and sent to rejoin the regiment on the 3rd of October.
Discharged, "tine expired," from Norwich on the 28th of February 1865.
Served 11 years 352 days, to count.
Conduct: "good".
In possession of one Good Conduct badge.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol.
1881 Census
64, Hamilton Road, Everton, Lancashire.
A "James Gorman", an Officer of HM Customs, aged 50, born in Liverpool, is shown with his wife, Bridget, 44, born in Ireland, and her mother, Bridget Ready, an Annuitant, 80, born in Ireland.
However, this is unlikely to be the same man — see below, where he is described in an obituary notice as a bachelor who was working in Inverness at this time. [CP]
A "James Gorman" was living at35, Nicholas Street, Glasgow, on the 3rd of April 1897. He was one of the Crimean men receiving an allowance from the Patriotic Fund via Colonel J.S. Young, to whom Mr. T.H. Roberts originally wrote in his search for survivors of the Charge.
RM: From the "Death of a Balaclava Hero", Inverness Courier, Nov. 30, 1897, p. 6b:
"James Gorman, 66, a 21-year British army veteran whose exploits included riding in the charge of the 13th Light Dragoons (now the 13th Light Hussars), died in Glasgow. When the company was counted after returning from the charge, it was found that Gorman and some nine or ten of his companions had escaped destruction at the hands of the Russian gunners.
Gorman himself did not escape scathless. He had his horse shot under him, and was struck between the eyes by a spent bullet. Besides that, he narrowly escaped being pierced by a Cossack spear while lying defenseless on the ground. Gorman testified at the special inquiry held after the campaign.
He afterwards went through the Egyptian campaign [sic].
He had a pension of ninepence a day from the Government, which was brought up to a shilling by the addition of an extra threepence from the Patriotic League. A bachelor, he worked for Messrs MacMillan & Marshall, 53 Montrose St., wholesale stationers, for more than 20 years, and was held in high esteem by his employers."
The paper notes that survivors of the "gallant six hundred" form a "fast-diminishing list".