LIVES OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
The E.J. Boys Archive

IN PROGRESS — NOT FOR PUBLICATION

1130, Private David Joseph GILLAM — 4th Light Dragoons

Also recorded as "Gellam" and "Gilliam".

Birth & early life

Born at Montrose, Forfarshire.

Enlistment

Enlisted at London on the 17th of May 1841.

Age: 21 years 4 months.

Height: 5' 9".

Trade: Servant.

Pale complexion. Grey eyes. Lt. brown hair.

Service

Served in "C" Troop in the Crimea.

From Private to Sergeant 25th of October 1854. This would appear to have been a promotion on the battle-field.

Wounded at Inkerman on the 5th of November 1854.

Sent to Scutari on the 15th of December 1854 and invalided to England on the 2nd of March 1855.

Discharge & pension

Discharged from Newbridge on the 21st of July 1863:

"Being medically unfit for Her Majesty's service. He was wounded in the jaw by a fragment of shell at Inkerman on the 5th of November 1854, fracturing the right side of the jaw. Fragments of bone have since been removed, leaving partial paralysis of the right side of the face. Worn out by long service — suffers from varicose veins of both legs and pain from old wounds. Is not capable of contributing much towards his livelihood."

Served 21 years 160 days.

In Turkey and the Crimea: 8 months.

Aged 38 years 9 months on discharge.

Conduct: "good". Five times entered in the Regimental Defaulters book. Never tried by Court-martial.

In possession of two Good Conduct badges when promoted to Sergeant and would now have had five.

Intended to live c/o. the Castle Brewery, St. George's Road, Southwark, London, but he was living in Manchester in 1865.

He was awarded a pension of 1/- per day.

Medals

Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol.

Documents confirm the award of the Crimean medal with four clasps, the Turkish Medal, the Legion of Honour (5th Class), the D.C.M., with a gratuity of £10 and the Long Service & Good Conduct medal.

Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was recommended for it on the 5th of February 1855, with a gratuity of £10, but it is not known under what circumstances. He is known to have ridden in the Charge, and the award was most probably given for his conduct at the time.

Following a letter to the Officer commanding the 4th Light Dragoons Depot at Brighton, requesting Gillam's current address, a further letter was sent from the Horse Guards on the 14th of March 1856:

Sir, A medal for Distinguished Conduct in the Field to the man named in the margin having been returned to this office, I have the honour to request that you will inform me what is known of Sergeant David Gillam, so that if living, he may receive the distinction and if dead, it may be forwarded to the War Office..

On the 20th of March a further letter was sent:

Sir, A Distinguished Conduct medal has been sent to the man named in the margin — and a gratuity of £10.

He was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour (5th Class).

A Confidential Memo from the Horse Guards dated the 31st of December 1855, stated:

"It is intended to distribute a certain number of Decorations of the French Legion of Honour to Non-Commissioned Officers and men of the Cavalry Regiments who have been proposed as the most deserving, of the Fifth Class. The Memo ended with the request that seven further names of N.C.O's or Privates as considered most deserving be transmitted as soon as possible."

The Commanding Officer of the regiment replied:

Scutari, Dec. 31st 1855.

Sir, — In answer to your letter dated the 24th Dec. 1855, I have the honour to recommend Sergeant David Gillam of the 4th Light Dragoons.

He has been 14 or 15 years in the Regiment, and is a man of excellent character, behaved very well at the Battle of Balaclava, also at the Battle of Inkerman at which he had his jaw broken.

He is at present at the Depot of the Regiment.

I have the honour to be,etc. etc.,

G.J. Brown, Captain.

Commanding 4th Light Dragoons as Major.

Awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal on the 23rd of March 1863 with a gratuity of £10.

He was presented with his Crimean medal by Queen Victoria at a ceremony on the Horse Guards Parade on the 18th of May 1855.

His name is on the roll appears in the Nominal Return of those present now in the PRO, and on a similar roll which appeared in the United Services Magazine for June of 1855 and on that which appeared in the Illustrated London News of the 26th of May 1855. His name at that time was shown as "Gellam."

In 1998 it was learnt that his Distinguished Conduct Medal, Crimean medal with the four clasps as awarded, Turkish Crimean medal, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and the Order of the French Legion of Honour, with its accompanying Certificate No 5068 signed and dated the 21st of June 1856, was in the Officers Mess of the Royal Irish Hussars.

Likenesses

A painting of him in the field in the Crimea appears in the 4th Hussars' Regimental History, The Story of the Queen's Own Hussars, 1685 — 1958", by D.S. Daniel.

David Gillam also appears in a photograph with three others of his regiment, taken, it is believed, especially for Queen Victoria, the original being in the Royal Library at Windsor. This was taken at Brighton, [probably] in August 1855. Gillam is the first figure from the left. (There are copies of this, a photograph of the painting from the Regimental History, and a picture of him in civilian clothes and wearing his medals, in the 4th Hussar file.)

(Click on image to enlarge)

[PB: In 2015 Roy Mills made a remarkable discovery of where exactly this photograph (and a comparable one for four men of the 17th Lancers) was taken (in front of Moulscoomb Place, Brighton, just outside Preston Barracks). I wrote a blog about his find in June 2015: "Oh, the rapture on spotting where these two charger photographs were taken".]

Life after service

Death & burial

Died in the Manchester Pension District on the 29th of May 1865.

Death registered

The St. Catherine's House records show his death in the Manchester District during the April — June quarter of 1865. His age at death is not shown.

His death certificate shows that he died at 36, Lower Mosley Street, Deansgate, Manchester, aged 40 years, from "Phthisis," and described as being an "Innkeeper". A Jane Olley, who had to make her mark, was shown as being present at, and the informant of his death. (See copy of his death certificate in the "Certificates" file.)

From records in Manchester Central Library, it is now known that he was buried in Rusholme Road Cemetery at Chorlton-upon-Medlock on the 2nd of June 1865, the officiating minister being the Revd. John Wheeldon.

The Cemetery was closed in 1933 and handed over to the Manchester City Corporation in the late 1950s for use as a recreational area. It is not known [1986] what has happened to any gravestones there.

See photographs in the 4th Hussar file of the Rusholme Road Cemetery in its present use as a recreation area. There is no sign or board erected to show that it was ever a cemetery.