Sometime in the 1880s Nathan Henry wrote an account of his life and experiences which he entitled "A Chequered Life".
[PB: This manuscript was acquired by EJB sometime in the 1980s [date? from? i.e. about a a century later]. He transcribed and annotated this document, which, although in places highly detailed, was also frustratingly evasive about names and dates (indeed Henry signs himself out merely as "Harry" - he does not name himself, or the regiments in which he served, or the full names of e.g. his wives and children). EJB spent a considerable time establishing as many of these names and dates as he could.]
Extracts from this have, of necessity, been shortened, the whole work being of some length, and of considerable interest. This has yet to be published.
He starts by describing his youth in India (in this respect he only mentions that his father served in the "--th Hussars", he also later refers to his own service in the same way.)
[1842]
After his return from India with the regiment in 1838 he said that during May of 1842 he went with his mother walking through St. James's Park and on the Horse Guards Parade he saw: "a little drummer boy of the Guards, not much bigger than myself, but in my eyes the grandest object I had ever beheld."
He decided that he would like to be a drummer boy like him and on asking his mother met with a stern refusal:
"but I ferreted out my baptismal certificate and went the next day to see the drum-major. He very kindly asked me what I wanted and if my parents would be willing for me to enter the Army. I told him I would let them know."
The following morning he again went out with his mother and broached the subject - but with another refusal, and was well ridiculed for the same.
"On my return home I took my baptismal certificate and started off for the barracks, saw the drum-major, and after a great deal of prevarication and impressing him with the idea that I was not being well-treated at home I was taken into the presence of an officer and permitted to join. This was in June of 1842 and having assured my parents that my mind was fully made up, they made the best of it and I entered the ranks as a drummer, was promoted to Cpl, in 1849, served a total of ten years, purchased my discharge, and was a civilian once more."
He then entered a Training College for teachers.
[PB: presumably the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea, though he does not say so. The 1851 Census describes him as Nathan Henry, aged 21, unmarried, Corporal, Student in the Schools for Training Regimental Schoolmasters, born Cawnpore; East Indies.
].After two years:
"I met with a young person, who, after a short acquaintance, I made my wife. She bore me six daughters and a son, but after a long and painful illness, she died. (This was on the 24th of May 1868.) I must admit the circumstances of my marriage were like most of the other events in my life, the result of an impulsive idea."
After completing his training he opened his own school [PB: I wonder where, and what kind of school? The implication is that he was not employed as a military school teacher.], but after almost two years as a teacher:
"I found the life of a school-master was not in any way suitable to my mind. Just at that period of time the old "Iron Duke" was called to answer his name at the last muster roll call [died 14 September 1852] and I must needs form the desire of witnessing the last solemn rites paid to his remains."
At the sight of all this he regained all his old fiery and martial spirit and enlisted again into the "--th Hussars":
"much to the grief and surprise of my poor wife, and it was only through the great interest of Lord C[ardigan], the Colonel of the regiment, who had known my father [PB: ? this might be interesting], that I was allowed to join "as a married man."
In the course of time, and after going through the vexatious trials of a recruit, I eventually qualified as a trained Hussar, but by this time so satiated with the drudgery of a cavalry soldier's life, that I applied for permission to purchase my discharge for the second time from the Army. The application was granted and I lodged the required sum of £30 into the hands of the Paymaster of the regiment.
But the fates were against me, for the night previous to my discharge being granted, declaration of war was proclaimed against Russia. The Commanding Officer sent for me and informed me of the same, with the mortifying intelligence also that all discharges were to be halted and the regiment was to be prepared to hold itself for foreign service..."
(This was on the 9th of March 1854, and he went "absent" the next day until the 15th of March, and was tried by a District Court-martial.)
[1854]
He vividly describes a number of events in the Crimea:
"At the Bulganak one of our men had part of his leg shot away, dying a few days later. The name of the man was the same as my own surname and upon the news reaching England my wife and poor old mother naturally assumed it must be me...
[PB: This was 1374 John Henry, 11th Hussars.]
During the Charge, and just before reaching the battery a shell burst in front and part of the shell struck my horse on the near fore-leg, shattering it to pieces, and as we were riding at a gallop the poor old horse suddenly came down. I went over its head, and dislocated my bridle-hand, my right-hand man, William Cullen [ 1520, William Cullen, 11th Hussars], who is still alive, leaping over me and saving me from being crushed to death no doubt.
I jumped up, unstrapped my carbine from the saddle and was moving forward when a musket-ball struck me on the right side, but at the time I did not take too much notice except to clasp my hand to my side and feeling it wet, found blood pouring from my wound. Staunching it as best I could, I had not gone many yards when I overtook one of my own regiment, on foot. His name was Horne [ 1590 George Hoarne, 11th Hussars], and we had only taken a few steps more, when a shell burst close to us, a piece of which struck my comrade in the right side, knocking him down.
I attempted to raise him, but he waved me off with his free hand, pressing the other to his side, and in a faint voice said, 'It is all over with me, Harry. Please leave me alone.' I noticed the blood was flowing from his chest, and after giving a deep sigh, he fell back, dead."
He also refers to two members of his regiment, Sergeant Major George Loy Smith and 1618, Private James Gusterson coming to his assistance and helping him into the saddle of a riderless 13th Light Dragoon horse. His second horse was killed soon afterwards by a cannon-ball "which struck it in its right shoulder, sinking over so instantaneously that I fell with my left leg under its body and so rendering me incapable of moving."
He then refers to "a fierce-looking Hussar belonging to the enemy who rode up close to me and raising his sword high above my head and descending like lightning, clove my hussar busby in two and inflicting a wound about two inches long on the side of my head." This act was seen by a Russian officer who ordered him to be taken prisoner.
His descriptions of life as a prisoner-of-war are much in common with others - long marches, harsh treatment, and the meeting with a surprising number of English and Scottish people living in Russia - "many of whom expressed a desire for Russia to win the War."
[PB: Remarkably, NH's period in Russian captivity is mentioned on an Italian website, www.arsbellica.it, which Google translates as:
"While the survivors of the Light Brigade were still in the Crimea, the cavalry captured by the Russians were held captive in the city of Voronezh. Ironically they were treated much better than they were their comrades in the Crimea. A prisoner, then told how he lived it well: 'Our accommodations were very comfortable; they gave us a big house, furnished in a special way for the occasion. We were free to roam the city and received many invitations to the homes of the Russians. We lived well by eating white bread, beef, mutton and large quantities of eggs and milk. They gave us a ruble to spend every five days.' [source quotation?]
The soldier Nathan Henry of the 11th Hussars was placed in the custody of a Russian lady [!]. When Britain and Russia agreed to exchange prisoners, Nathan was not at all happy about having to leave.
Of the 58 troopers caught on the day of the charge, 21 died of wounds and 37 returned to their regiments.
[Source: http://www.arsbellica.it/pagine/contemporanea/Balaklava/Carica_Balaklava.html (accessed 26.4.14). PB: Was this account originally in Italian, or is it a translation from another language?]
[1856]
After his return to England (which he says was in August 1856):
"I found my wife and child and poor old mother alive and quite well and in the course of a few months I again applied to purchase my discharge and was only waiting for the sanction of the Commander-in-Chief, when an order was issued allowing for no man to quit the service, in consequence of the breaking out of the Indian Mutiny. I was again foiled and the Colonel persuaded me to take promotion and in a short time I became Drill-Sergeant of the regiment - a post which I retained until I had finished my term of enlisted service, when I claimed my discharge..."
[1858?]
[PB: Did he serve in India?]
After leaving the Army:
"I had only 12/6d. in my pocket, a new life in the world and with a wife and three little ones to support." He met the contractor who was at that time serving the regiment with forage and he "informed me that he had entered into a contract to supply the Aldershot troops with forage and if I liked to proceed to that place he would employ me at salary of £1/5/- per week and I immediately accepted."
When I arrived at Aldershot I was transformed from the gorgeous uniform of a Sergeant of the Hussars to a suit of corduroy, leather gaiters and a slouch hat, unloading wagons of oats and tossing about sheaves of hay and straw from morning to eve, with hands blistered and raw and bent double under the weight of the sacks.
I remained in that employment for 12 months as per our agreement, and being again without employment I started for London and here had the good fortune to obtain the post of drilling a young regiment of volunteers for six weeks." He then took a job as a Clerk of Works and time-keeper, remaining as such until the finish of the job...
"I then filled the post of a Sub-Warder [Cold Bath Prison?], but remained only six months, when, through the influence of Lord C------ I was appointed to a Civil Service situation, which I kept for several years, when the Liberal Government came into power and abolished all such posts from the Service."
[EJB: The chance finding of an entry in the Coast Guards Record of Service shows him as appointed to the Mounted Branch as a Private on the 27th of October 1862. This was at Brighton, Sussex, the details showing him as being from Cold-Bath Prison [sp?], in London.
He was discharged from the service, still stationed at Brighton, on the 31st of March 1864. No reason was shown, but added details showed his original rank of Private as crossed out and Corporal substituted (but no date as to when this promotion occurred. He was 33 years of age, late 11th Hussars, his rate of pay was 4/- per day, and that his conduct had been very good. ]
[PB: The context seems to imply that the "Civil Service Situation", which he held for two years, was this one, in the Coast Guards - or was it something different? Which Liberal Government is he referring to? They won (as members of a coalition with other "Whig" factions) in 1859, and increased their majority in 1865 and again in 1868. The phrase "incoming Liberal Government" might suggest he was referring to 1865, by which time the Whig coalition had changed their name to the Liberal Party. But it may just mean that they only got round to putting an end to these jobs by, say, 1864. Which posts did the incoming Liberal Government abolish? Obviously not Coast Guards as such. Do the dates work? ]
The death of his first wife (at Brighton in 1868) left him with seven children and a widowed mother to support. His children were looked after by his mother and his two unmarried sisters [in Bradford; for details, see the 1881 Census]:
"My dear old mother, then nearly eighty years of age, was fortunate enough, through interest, to get admitted to a home for aged ladies, but she did not survive for long the breaking up of my once happy home."
He then [possible date?] went to America, and after a time obtained:
"one of the most peculiar situations I ever had. A gentleman required a smart active man to travel with him, in fact to be his companion, pay all the little bills, and take him his meals. Not a very difficult job you would say. It would appear that his income was £4,000 a year, that he was the only son of a gentleman of fortune living in England but he wanted to see the world. I was told by another gentleman not to allow this particular gentleman too much wine - as he was at times very peculiar - a fact I soon discovered."
They travelled together all over America, after some time taking berths on the "Golden Horn" on the way to the Sandwich Islands. The actual voyage so sickened his gentleman that after landing in New Zealand, he determined, after a very short time, to return to England, "which debarred me from seeing or knowing anything about that country."
After a very rough passage, and landing safely at Southampton, the pair went to North Wales:
"One morning I went to his room at the usual time to wake him and found that 'my bird' had flown. I searched the town through, went to the sea-shore, thinking he had gone to bathe, all to no avail - until about six p.m. when an open carriage was driven to the door and there was my 'lost one' with his hat decorated with a quantity of wild flowers and clasping in his hands a large bundle of weeds, his face flushed, and his eyes like a wild cat's..."
It would seem that this particular person was quite mad and was eventually admitted into a lunatic asylum. He then decided to take the road to London, walking all the way, and arriving with 3/6d. in his pocket, "and although I had a brother and two sisters living in town in very comfortable circumstances I did not bother them."
The very next morning I saw an advertisement in the "Daily Telegraph" for a "Sanitary Officer" for --------. I replied, and out of 110 applicants I was chosen to fill the post although I had no idea of the duties involved in such a position - telling the chairman of the board which interviewed me that "I knew nothing of it and only needed the appointment."
[PB: outline the role of "Sanitary Officer" at this time?]
"I kept this post for nearly three years, when I heard that a Union required a Vaccination Officer, and its salary being £50 more than I was receiving, applied for, and got, the post..." [possible date?]
Vaccination and Poor Law Unions [PB]
"The Vaccination Act of 1840 stipulated that free vaccination against smallpox should be available as a charge on the poor rates. However, it was not until the Vaccination Act of 1853 that vaccination was made compulsory and it became the responsibility of the poor law guardians to make sure that all infants were vaccinated within four months of birth. However, the guardians were not given any powers of enforcement and had no means of ensuring that all children were vaccinated.
In 1867, they were given the right to prosecute parents for non-compliance; parents could be fined and even sent to prison if the fines were not paid. Guardians were required to keep registers of vaccinations. In 1871, they were also obliged to appoint vaccination officers for their union. Their task was made easier in 1874 when birth registration was made compulsory, with the onus being put on parents to have the births of their children recorded.
Following the 1867 Act, objections to vaccination increased, with many parents preferring to go to prison rather than have their children's health compromised. The procedure was dangerous by modern standards because the child's arm was scored with a lancet and viral material rubbed into the wound. A child who developed vesicles in the skin would be used to provide vaccine material for other children. This meant that vaccinated children could fall victim to infections in the vaccination wound and to diseases carried in the blood of the donor child. Parents also feared that the introduction of cow's lymph or pauper's lymph into their child's blood could make the child cow-like or degenerate.
In 1898, a new Vaccination Act introduced a conscientious objection clause which meant that parents could obtain a certificate from the magistrates exempting their child from vaccination, although by this time it was clear that the incidence of small-pox was decreasing due to the implementation of the vaccination scheme...
The registrar extracted the entry from the birth register for each child and the vaccination officer completed the entry with the date of the certificate of successful vaccination. The births were written on forms with five births to a page. Information given is the child's name, date and place of birth, father's name and occupation (mother's if the child was illegitimate) and the date of the vaccination certificate or the date of death if the child died in infancy."
[Source: "Kenton Vaccination Register", Devon Family History Society and Devon Record Office, downloaded from http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/forewords/D084.pdf (accessed 26.4.14). I have quoted this summary only because it was accessible and seemed authoritative. There may be better accounts elsewhere.]It may eventually be possible to locate where Nathan Henry was a Vaccination officer. See also Wikipedia: Vaccination Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination_Act), http://www.genguide.co.uk/source/vaccination-registers-amp-certificates/51/. For Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972, visit http://wellcomelibrary.org/moh/.]
He now comes to his second marriage, which happened thus. He met in the street at Victoria a young lady. "who, as a child, I had dangled upon my knee." He offered her marriage and although she was only 20 and he 40, she accepted. After they had been married a couple of years she became very delicate in health and he was advised to take her to a more congenial climate. "I then obtained a situation in South Africa, and after a few years in that country she died (on the 28th of February 1879) leaving me with six children."
[PB: Check - a Mary Elizabeth Henry's death is recorded in July 1868, St George Hanover Square. Or did she die in SA?]
[1869]
He married for the second time on the 20th of September 1869 at St. Stephen's, Rochester Row, London, his bride being Mary Elizabeth Domine. He was then shown as being a widower, aged 40, and his profession that of an Inspector of Nuisances. She was shown as a spinster, aged 20. His father was described as Abraham Henry, a merchant, and hers as John Domine, a publican. The officiating priest was the Reverend Walter E. Whittaker and both parties were shown as living at No. 3 Bentinck Street, London, W1.)
He had travelled throughout South Africa as a lecturer for a company for twelve months, became a hotel keeper, and when the Kaffir War broke out fought as a volunteer with the Colonial troops:
"After returning to London I found my age a barrier to finding work until at last I obtained employment at a Mineral Water establishment. I was down to my last penny and had to pawn my clothes to pay for my lodgings, until one day, going to the Palace to hear the Guard's band play, I met a young man who, like myself was out of work and he told me he had just returned from applying for a job as a night watchman but in consequence of having no testimonials had not succeeded. I asked him where this was, and on being told, was off like a shot and obtained the job with a salary of £30 a year and my board."
This job failed through the re-organisation of the firm and he then found employment with a firm of auctioneers.
[1881]
In early 1881 he was attracted by a very large placard holding forth that a very grand Diamorama [Diorama?] of the gallant "600" was about to be exhibited in Leicester Square:
"The sudden thought struck me that I might be of some use, having taken part in that lamentable and disastrous affair. I was appointed Lecturer by the Directors and filled the post until the Exhibition failed in November of 1881".
[1882]
On the 22nd of January 1882 he was appointed a Warder in the State Apartments of Hampton Court Palace, "in which situation I hope to end my days unless something more beneficial comes along..."
Here his story ends. Oddly, it is not addressed to anyone in particular, and nowhere does he give his name - simply signing it at the end, "Harry".
In 1977 a diary of a Sergeant George Newman of the 23rd Foot, who had been taken a prisoner of war during the battle of Inkerman, was published by the Regiment as The Prisoners of Voronesh (transcribed and edited by David Inglesant). In this Newman mentions quite a number of men of the Light Brigade whom he had met up with the various prisons in Russia, and makes a number of references to Nathan Henry:
January-February 1855. At Kharkov... There was a private of the 11th Hussars, named Henry, cutting quite a dash in his cherry coloured trowsers and frogged jacket...
Henry (and two others) had made friends with a local nobleman, who daily supplied them with provisions. They also went every day to dine with the nobleman and that a sleigh, with two fine horses, drove up to the prison every evening to take them to the house....
In the middle of the night the trio returned, and told us a great tale; that they had been to the theatre and were in one box, and the two Grand Dukes, Michael and Nicholas were there...
All prisoners were to march this morning, but Henry the Hussar lay in bed and declared he was ill, though he had a queer look for a sick man, but I soon found out that him and a man named Eldridge were combined to attempt to procure a longer stay...
About 10 o'clock we were marched off to another prison, but Henry, feigning sickness, was left behind.
April-August 1855. At Voronesh... Henry the Hussar, whom we had left behind at Karkoff also came up and he brought a portmanteau of clothes with him and a gold watch and plenty of money. He used to make a very respectable turnout, although he soon got rid of most of his good clothes and money; but he bought some fine scarlet cloth and had it made into trowsers and as his Hussar jacket was good he cut a great dash in his regimentals. He also brought a good supply of English books and was very liberal in lending them...
August-October, 1855. At Odessa, awaiting repatriation. [Describing efforts to amuse themselves by producing plays and concerts.]
Henry the Hussar remembered a good bit of the farce 'The Fish out of Water' and what he could not recollect we made up for ourselves. Henry was chief manager and director and in two days we had all got our parts off thoroughly..."
[PB: According to Inglesant, The Fish out of Water, a farce by Joseph Lunn, first performed 26th August 1823 at the Theatre Royal, Harmarket. I wonder what made it so memorable for NH and prompted its performance? It had been widely performed and revived at least into the ?1880s.
Incidentally, it is sometimes said to be the origin of the phrase "fish out of water" - to feel awkward because you are in a situation that you have not experienced, someone who is in a situation they are unsuited to, someone who is uncomfortable in a particular situation, a person who is in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings.
However, www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fish-out-of-water.html, gives earlier versions:
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales: Prologue:
"...a monk, when he is cloisterless;
Is like to a fish that is waterless"The earliest reference that I can find to the present day wording of the phrase is in Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimage, 1613:
"The Arabians out of the desarts are as Fishes out of the Water."
]Having succeeded in satisfying our audience we were now obliged to turn authors as well actors, and Henry and I concocted a piece between us which he styled "The Wicked Country Squire", Henry playing the part of the Squire."
[PB:There is a detailed description of the play on pp.247-250.]
[Source: Inglesant, David (ed.), The Prisoners of Voronesh: The Diary of Sergeant George Newman, 23rd Regiment of Foot, The Royal Welsh Fusiliers, taken prisoner at Inkerman, (Surrey, 1977).]
In his "Memoirs" 1277 Robert Farquharson, 4th Light Dragoons, also tells of meeting Henry at Karkoff, though he does not name him at this point [PB: does he ever name him?]:
"In the prison [at Karkoff] we were visited, as usual, by numbers of the townspeople, more especially ladies, who brought us all sorts of little luxuries.
Amongst those who came to see us when we were at Karkoff was an Englishman named Aldridge, tutor to the family of a Russian nobleman in the district who invited [us] to go with him to the house where he lived. He drove us there in a carriage; and to our astonishment, we discovered one of the 11th Hussars, apparently making himself quite comfortable and at home there.
We were introduced to the nobleman, who spoke excellent English, and who greatly gratified us by bringing out a whole lot of the Illustrated London News, in which we saw pictures of all that had been going on in the Crimea from the beginning of the war up till a few weeks after Inkerman. Altogether, out treatment in this house was most kindly. We supped with the family, and on leaving each of us was presented with a large parcel containing tea, sugar, white bread, and German sausage - besides a rouble in money.
On getting back to prison we found that a lady had been there and left for the prisoners a large parcel of warm clothing, which was simply a God-send considering the condition we were in."
Farquharson concludes laconically, "On the whole we fared worse in some other places than we did here" [p.77].
Farquharson also refers to Henry, though again not by name, at the end of their period of captivity:
"A man of the 11th Hussars put together a piece which called "The Soldier's Return", in which, having no ladies in our theatrical corps, I figured as the mother of our heroine, the latter being well "made up" by Lucas, of my own regiment [ 1540 Thomas Lucas, 4th Light Dragoons], who was naturally of somewhat effeminate appearance" [p.103].
[Source: Robert Stuart Farquharson, One of The Six Hundred, Crimean Campaigning and Russian Imprisonment, 1889.]