Born at Ballysodare, near Cooloony, Co. Sligo, c.1832.
Enlisted at Dundalk on the 27th of February 1850.
Age: 18.
Height: 5' 9".
Trade: Carpenter.
Fresh complexion. Grey eyes. Lt. brown hair.
From Private to Corporal, 1st of October 1854.
Corporal to Sergeant, 7th of August 1855.
He was re-engaged at Manchester for a further 12 years' service on the 8th of February 1862.
Discharged from Hounslow on the 24th of July 1865, as "Free, to deferred pension of 4d. per day upon reaching the age of 50 years."
Served 15 years 146 days.
Conduct: "very good".
In possession of three Good Conduct badges.
He re-enlisted into the 8th Hussars as a Private on the 6th of December 1865. Regimental No. 951.
Previous service in the 13th Light Dragoons was allowed to reckon towards pension, per War Office Authority, dated the 8th of February 1866.
From Private to Corporal: 6th of June 1866:
"Confined," 11th-12th of July; in the Guard-Room, 13th-14th of July, 1866, and tried by a Regimental Court-martial on the 15th of July 1867 and reduced to Private.
Discharged from Dublin on the 23rd of August 1870, as:
"Unfit for further service. Has Phthisis Pulmonia. When on election duty he caught a severe cold through being constantly wet. Has solidification of upper portion of right lung. Likely to be permanent and in my opinion he will be able to contribute but little towards his own support."
Served 19 years 350 days. In Turkey and the Crimea, 2 years.
Conduct: "very good". Is in possession of three Good Conduct badges and would have been entitled to four on the 29th of July 1870.
Twice entered in the Regimental Defaulters' book. Twice tried by Court-martial, Granted a pension of 10d. per day.
Aged 39 years on discharge.
He was in receipt of an allowance of 3d. per day for "good swordsmanship" when serving in the 8th Hussars.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, Sebastopol and the Turkish medal.
A supplementary roll (undated) signed by Major Henry Holden shows him as being issued with the Crimean medal (with clasps for Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman) on the 7th of October 1855.
The naming on the medals in the possession of the family are as follows: Crimean — "Sergeant Graham McKimm. 13th Light Dragoons." and the Turkish Medal — (Sardinian type) to "Sergeant Graham McKimm. 13th Light Dragoons."
To live in John Street, Sligo, but he was in Liverpool in 1873.
Also lived at one time at Llangefni, Anglesey, North Wales. This was after his first discharge.
Admitted to In-Pension at Chelsea Royal Hospital on the 10th of July 1874. At the time of his entering the Royal Hospital Chelsea as an In-Pensioner he was stated to be 43 years of age. It was also stated that he was "suffering from Consumption — and is now a patient in the Brompton Hospital for Consumptives." There is no mention of any dependants, (as is usual.)
Died at Chelsea Royal Hospital on the 3rd of October 1874.
The records of Brompton Cemetery show him as having been buried in the Chelsea Royal Hospital Pensioner's Plot on the 7th of October 1874. He is in a common grave, No. 76-286, and no headstone was erected. The records also show that he was brought from Chelsea Hospital, and a service prior to the burial being held in the Brompton Cemetery Chapel, by the Revd. N. Liberty. Further information
A letter from a Mr. H. McKim Thomas, of Nottingham, in 1985, showed him to be a great grand-son — his grandmother, Anne Marie, born on the 3rd of April 1859, being GM's only (presumed) child. This daughter was brought up by a third brother, Thomas, who to the best of the knowledge of Mr. Thomas, was involved in various civil engineering works in North Wales, where he lived in Anglesey (probably accounting for Graham McKimm's living there after his first discharge) and later in the Swansea area, where he lived until his death. (This brother is known to have lived in Llangefni, Anglesey, in 1867) but Graham McKimm sent money to him from the Crimea when he was living in Wellington, Shropshire.
An extant marriage certificate shows "Graham McKimm. Sergeant 13th Light Dragoons," as being married to Joanna, nee Jackson, at St. Paul's Church, Shanrahan in Clogeen, Co. Tipperary, on the 3rd of April 1856. One of the witnesses was named as Robert "Martin", but this was most probably a mistake for Robert McKimm.
It would also appear that all family documents show the name spelt with only one "m".
Also sent was a copy of a letter written by Robert McKimm to his brother Thomas, from the Union College, Toronto, in July of 1883.
Another member of the family has a pair of spurs with an attached label bearing the words: "Worn by Sergeant Graham McKim in the Crimea."
(See copies of the photographs of his medals and also of the spurs said to have been worn by him in the Crimea in the 13th Hussar file.)
He was enlisted into the 13th L.D. by Private Robert McKim, his brother, who got 5/- and Graham McKim had a bounty of £2/15/6. He signed his name as Graham McKim, and everything else made out at the time is such.
At the time of his signing on for a further 12 years' service at Manchester, he was serving in Captain H.C. Clarke's troop.
At the time of his first discharge on a "deferred" pension he was shown as being 50 years old on the 25th of February 1882, in the possession of the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
He has never been tried by Court-martial and has one entry in the Regimental Defaulter's book.
On his second discharge on "Medical grounds", he was awarded a pension of 10d. per day "for life."
As regards to his marriage to Joanna Jackson, there is no trace of any such marriage being recorded on the Regimental "Married roll" when it first appeared in the musters in April of 1868 and on the form for "Allowances for Discharged Soldiers" he is mentioned as travelling alone from Hounslow to Llangefrie following his first discharge and also on the second occasion when travelling from Dublin to Sligo at a cost of 11/2 and with an allowance of 20/- he was not accompanied by a wife.