Born in the parish of St. Bride's, Dublin, on the 18th of July 1836.
Enlisted at London on the 8th of June 1852 by Sergeant Edward Redding.
Age: 16 years 11 months.
Height: 5' 7".
Trade: Brass-finisher.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Hazel eyes. Brown hair.
"Absent" from the 14th of January 1854, until rejoining on the 14th of February, in confinement to the 15th, and tried on the same day by a Regimental Court-martial.
"In Cells" until the 4th of March and in a Military Prison from the 5th of March to the 8th of April 1854.
"Under age" until the 17th of July 1854, when he attained the age of 18 years..
Wounded and takenprisoner of war at Balaclava, 24th October 1854.
Rode in the front rank of his squadron and is said to have been one of the twenty men of the 4th Ligt Dragoons led by Lord George Paget to the support of the 11th Hussars.
Rejoined the regiment from Odessa on the 22nd of October 1854.
A nominal roll of men of the regiment at the Cavalry Depot, Scutari, made out on the 9th of November 1855, shows him as a Prisoner under sentence of Court-martial from the 4th of November.
See record of1292 Joseph Armstrong, 4th Light Dragoons for details of the Courts-martial held on the returned prisoners of war.
Statement of Thomas Lucas to the Court:
"I was in the Charge of the 4th Light Dragoons at Balaclava on the 25th Octr. 1854 and as my horse from fatigue would not keep up with the Regt., I was surrounded by Cossacks who cut me off my horse. I was made prisoner and sent for treatment to the hospital at Simpheropol, where I remained for five months. During that time my left arm was amputated.
I was then forwarded into Russia, where I remained with other prisoners until the 27th August 1855 when I was sent to Odessa and forwarded from there to Balaclava where I arrived on the 26th Octr. 1855."
Invalided to England on the 23rd of January 1856 aboard the "Sholapure".
"Absent without leave" 2nd-6th of May and again 27th-30th of June 1856.
Discharged from Chatham Invalid Depot on the 29th of July 1856:
"Has lost the left hand and forearm at three inches below the elbow by amputation on account of a sword cut received in the Charge at Balaclava. At the same time he received seven other wounds, viz: two sword cuts on the head (on frontal and occipital bones) and five lance- wounds, viz: one on right shoulder, one on back of neck, one on left side of trunk, one in the chest and one on the left hip. The worst of these was on the right shoulder and he suffered much from it for three months.
He was for twelve months a prisoner and released soon after the proclamation of peace."
Next of kin (in 1854). Father, Richard Lucas, living in St. James's Parish, London.
Served 2 years 276 days, to count.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 1 year 10 months.
Aged 21 years on discharge.
Conduct: "a good soldier". Not in possession of any Good Conduct badges.
He was awarded a pension of 1/- per day.
To live at North Row, Grosvenor Square, London.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava and Sebastopol.
[FOLLOWING NEEDS FORMATTING]
Marriages Mar 1859 Thomas Lucas & Jane Widdows St Giles 1b 465
1851 Census
Oxfordshire Chipping Norton District 9a West Street
David Widows, Head, Mar, 42, Brickmaker, Oxon Chipping Norton
Jane Widows, Wife, Mar, 49 Oxon Woodstock
Thomas Widows, Son, Unm, 19, Ag Lab, Oxon Chipping Norton
James Widows, Son, 15, Ag Lab, Oxon Chipping Norton
Jane Widows, Dau, 14, Scholar, Oxon Chipping Norton
Fanny Widows, Dau, 10, Scholar, Oxon Chipping Norton
Maria Widows, Dau, 8, Scholar, Oxon Chipping Norton
David Widows, Son, 5, Scholar, Oxon Chipping Norton
George Widows, Son, 3, Scholar, Oxon Chipping Norton
Leonard Widows, Son, 1, Oxon Chipping Norton
1861 Census
Middlesex St Marylebone All Souls District 7 18 Norfolk Street [seems to be a lot of tenements/apartments] Schedule 218
Thomas Lucas, Head, Mar, 26, Commissions/aire?, Ireland Dublin
Jane Lucas, Wife, Mar, 23, Commissions/aire’s wife, Chipping Norton
Middlesex St Marylebone Cavendish Square District 4 11 & 12 St Marylebone Lane [tenements/apartments] Schedule 133
Richd Lucas, Head, Mar, 54, Brass Finisher, Dublin [Thomas's father]
Sarah Lucas, Wife, Mar, 49, Yorks With[er]by
On the 12th of February 1859 he became a Commissionaire, one of the seven ex-army men appointed. He was in fact the original member, being Commissionaire No. 1. The first Order of the Corps shows him as going to Westminster Abbey on the 13th of February 1859 for a Foundation Service and afterwards dining with the Founder, Captain Sir Edward Walter, K.C.B., late of the 8th Hussars.
In 1959 the Corps published a booklet to commemorate its Centenary, and this contained a photograph said to be of the eight original members. Lucas is not shown amongst them and the picture could well have been taken at some considerably later date. The names of those pictured are known and also their date of enlistment and number in the Corps, but these dates and numbers would only apply to two of them as having been in the original listed number (one being a sailor).
In an affidavit signed by him and dated the 2nd of June 1863, filed for the Cardigan v Calthorpe libel law-suit, he stated that he was then a Sergeant in the Corps of Commissionaires, stationed at the Army and Navy Club, London.
The affidavit was as follows:
"I remember the Charge of the Light Cavalry Brigade at Balaclava on the 25th of October 1854. I was in the front rank and to the left flank of the squadron. I took part in the charge and saw Lord Cardigan just previous to this but never saw him afterwards until I again returned to England.
When our line got to the guns I saw a few scattered parties of our front line in front of us, the first line being by then completely broken up. A number of our regiment, numbering not more than twenty, together with Lord George Paget, went in support of the 11th Hussars. The Russians who were then attacking the 11th, fell back and we then saw a regiment of Russian lancers to our rear.
All that time I was within four yards of Lord George Paget and distinctly heard him call out loudly, "Where is Cardigan." I did not hear any reply given, but immediately after I heard Lord George say, "Right and Left, incline."
I was at this moment cut down by a sabre wound from a Cossack and taken prisoner.
On that evening General Liprandi sent for some of the prisoners, including myself, and asked several questions about our positions and amongst other questions he asked, "Who was the General who went back on the chestnut horse with white heels," and he was told that it was Lord Cardigan. He then remarked, "He was lucky to get back as the Russians had chased him as hard as they could."
I heard no order given by Lord Cardigan that day, except the order to charge. I got two sabre cuts on the head, one on the hand, and five lance wounds in my body. My left hand was subsequently amputated in consequence of the wound received in the hand."
From the "Reminiscences" of1277 Robert Farquharson, 4th Light Dragoons:
[PB: quotation needs checking and tidying.]
"... and a man of my regiment named Lucas, who had lost his left arm below the elbow at Balaclava. He had received a sword cut across the back of the back of the left hand and the doctors at Simpheropol thought it advisable to amputate the hand and a portion of the arm along with it... and later... Lucas, being of a naturally effeminate appearance, took the part of the heroine in a play called "The Soldier's Return" and written by a man of the 11th Hussars, performing it on a number of occasions at concerts when in Russia... Farquharson himself played the part of the heroine's mother...
Further medal information archived.
In his Diary, published as "The "Prisoners of the Voronesh" by Sergeant George Newman of the 23rd Foot, Lucas is mentioned on several occasions:
"On every Sunday we were added to by fresh arrivals and once there cane a young man of the 33rd Regiment walking with a crutch, and another (a nice-looking young fellow, named Lucas) of the 4th Light Dragoons, deficient of one arm which he had lost at Balaclava by a sabre cut. He was later to become a great favourite with the town's gentlefolk and I have often known them to send for him to dine or for a ball...
[Speaking of a concert got up by the prisoners:] We were not content with singing and dancing but must have a Bal Masque and enlisted several young men into our party to be transmogrified into women. One of these was the young man from the 4th Light Dragoons who had lost an arm, Lucas — and the other was a Corporal Walsh of the 7th Fusilers, both beardless and able and so very willing to be turned into ladies, and very good-looking ladies they made too, especially Lucas, with a wreath of green leaves around his head. He so much resembled a woman that one of our fellows, who did not know what was going on, enticed him into a corner to kiss him, and what else, my modesty forbids me to say; but he got a severe joking about it."
Died in the West London Pension District on the 2nd of September 1869.
The St. Catherine's House registers records his death, aged 36 years, in the St. George's, Hanover Square, District of London, in the July-September quarter of 1869.
Died at St. George's Hospital, Belgravia, from "Diseased Heart, Dropsy," aged 36 years, on the 2nd of September 1869. Described as a "Club House Messenger". A Jane Lucas (relationship not shown) of No. 36 Margaritta Terrace, Chelsea, was present at his death.
(There is a copy of his death certificate in the "Certificates" file.)
He was buried in Plot S6, Grave No. 47806 in the Commissionaire's Ground of the Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey, on the 5th of September 1869, the service being conducted by the Revd. R.G. Lemayne. He was still serving in the Corps at the time of his death.)
(The Corps of Commissionaires Burial Plot in Brookwood Cemetery comprises roughly three-quarters of an acre. There are only some 50 or so stones, the earliest seen being dated in 1906, but none to men who would have been in the Crimea with the Light Brigade. There is also a memorial relating to its use by the Corps and of its founder. (See photographs of the Burial Plot area and of the memorial itself in the 4th Hussar file.)
Additional marriage and Census information for 1851 and 1861 kindly provided by Wendy Leahy (November 2023).