Born at Newbridge, Ireland c.1831.
Enlisted at London on the 17th of September 1850.
Age: 19.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: Servant.
Taken prisoner of war at Balaclava, 25th October 1854, after being severely wounded. He is not shown in the London Gazette as a prisoner but as "Killed".
[PB: See a letter from Corporal Hall to his father, Staff Sergeant Thomas Hall of the Leicestershire Yeomanry, reprinted in Anthony Dawson, Letters (2014), pp. 160-1.]
Near Balaklava
October the 29th, 1854.
Dear Father,
I am just about to send you a few lines to let you know that I am alive, for I have no doubt you will hear of the disaster which befell the Light Brigade Cavalry on the 25th; on which occasion I received a ball in my leg below the knee, which broke, but I have got it set again all right, and am getting on as well as can be expected for the time.
I am a prisoner of war in the Russian camp, and am going to be sent to Simpheropol in the morning: There are about 50 prisoners here altogether (some very badly wounded) belonging to our Brigade. I cannot tell you the particulars at this time, but will embrace the first opportunity of writing again, and tell you particulars about it, for I have only a short time to wrote as our letters are wanted to be sent away in a few minutes, so I wanted to prevent you from thinking that I might have been killed on the field, as the Regiment does not know what has become of me.
The Russians have been very kind to to us; in fact, I am scarcely able to return sufficient thanks to them. I only hope that they will be recompensed by the English army showing the same to those who have the misfortune to become prisoners of war.
Give my kind love to all at home...
[Source: ]
[PB: note his tone is reassuring, and perhaps economical with the truth: in fact the broken leg he says had been set was amputated, and he died in Simpheropol.]
The muster roll for the period states that he "died following wounds received on the 25th of October 1854, whilst a prisoner of war".
[Date?] Hall's death is mentioned in a letter sent from [where?] Russia by Lieutenant John Chadwick published in the Army and Navy Gazette [unknown date], and in numerous other local newspapers in May 1855:
Of twelve men of the 17th Lancers who were taken prisoners on the same day that I was, five only are living. Corporal Hall and private Jenner at Simferopol, the former having had his leg taken off, the latter his arm..."
[Source:?]
Thomas Morley, in his Memoirs, states that James Hall "died following the amputation of a leg, whilst in Russian hands". This fact was repeated in a letter written to Morley by James Wightman in March of 1889, in which he said, "Corporal Hall died, right leg amputated..."
In October 1875, in a newspaper report of an interview given by 1009 David Stanley, he said "Corporal Hall, who was on my other side, had a leg blown off and his horse was shot under him. He fell, and was taken prisoner, and died a prisoner..."
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
The muster roll for the period states that he "died following wounds received on the 25th of October 1854, whilst a prisoner of war".
Thomas Morley, in his "Memoirs", states that he "died following the amputation of a leg, whilst in Russian hands". This fact was repeated in a letter written to Thomas Morley by James Wightman in March of 1889, in which he said, "Corporal Hall died, right leg amputated..."
In a newspaper report of an interview given by 1009 David Stanley in October of 1875 was the following "... Corporal Hall, who was on my other side, had a leg blown off and his horse was shot under him. He fell, and was taken prisoner, and died a prisoner..."
(See also the record of 597 Thomas Perry, 8th Hussars.)