Born at Rathunes, near Dublin, c.1828.
Enlisted at Dublin on the 3rd of December 1849.
Age: 21.
Height: 5' 7".
Trade: Gardener.
Features: Fresh complexion. Grey eyes. Brown hair.
Is mentioned by James Wightman in his "Memoirs" as "having been his right-hand man during the Charge." (See copy in the 17th Lancers file."
Next of kin (in 1854): his father, Thomas Marsh (to whom he sent money from the Crimea,)
From Private to Corporal, 26th of January 1856.
Reduced to Private by a Regimental Court-martial on the 19th of August 1856.
On the Provost Staff at the Curragh Camp attached to the 2nd Dragoons and later the 4th Bn. of the Military Train from the 30th of June — 7th of September 1857.
Embarked for India from Cork aboard the S.S. "Great Britain" on the 8th of October 1857.
The musters for July-September 1858 show him as being "On Detachment at Sholapoore" during the whole of the period.
Served in action against the rebels at Zeerapore on the 29th of December 1858 and at Baroda on the 1st of January 1858.
[EJB: See record of 1196 John Osmint for an incident involving him during the Indian Mutiny.]
On passage from India, arriving in England on the 1st of July 1862.
Discharged from Maidstone on the 21st of August 1862 as:
"This man has lost the sight of one eye from opacity of the lens. His disease was insidious in its progress, first coming on in February of 1860 whilst on the march from Gwalior to Secunderbad. Has also impaired vision of the right eye and suffers from rheumatism as well. Has large scar on upper part of left arm."
Served 11 years 329 days.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 1 year and 10 monthsIn India: 3 years 11 months.
Conduct: good",and in possession of two Good Conduct badges. Once tried by Court-martial.
Aged 35 years 8 months on discharge.
He was awarded a pension of 6d. per day "conditional" up to the 5th of February 1865 and this was altered to 6d. per day "permanent" from the 2nd of October 1866. His pension was increased to 8d. per day from the 17th of September 1894 and following a Medical Report which was called for on the 21st of August 1897 he then received 10d. per day from the 12th of September 1897.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Mutiny medal without clasp.
Documents confirm the award of the Crimean medal with four clasps and the Turkish medal. Added at a later date in red ink, he is also shown as being entitled to the Mutiny medal, but there is no mention of the clasp for Central India which he is shown as wearing in a photograph taken about the mid-1890s (see the copy in the 17th Lancer file).
Attended the first Balaclava Banquet in 1875.
Member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1879.
Attended the Annual Dinners in 1890, 1892, 1893, 1895, 1897 and 1899.
Signed the Loyal Address to the Queen in 1887.
He appeared with other Crimean War veterans as a "Battle of Balaklava Hero" in the Lord Mayor's Show, 1890. A printed programme for this event lists all these men and Marsh is shown travelling in the 15th carriage in the procession.
He wrote from No. 312 Southwark Park Road, London, when he accepted the invitation from T.H. Roberts to attend the Jubilee celebrations held at his Fleet Street offices in June of 1897:
"Dear Sir,
I received your kind letter of invitation, and I can assure you that it is the greatest honour that has been bestowed on us since the dinner given to the survivors at the Alexandra Palace, 1875; but this kind invitation of yours far exceeds it and is what can never be forgotten as long as an old veteran lives. Sir, the plans that you have laid out for us are grand. I am sure that we look upon you as a kind-hearted and most respected friend, and if all is well and according to your wish I will come on the 21st; but if anything does take place between this and that I shall let you know, Sir. Thanking you for your kindness.
I remain, yours obediently,
P. Marsh, formerly 17th Lancers."
Intended to live, c/o. Mrs. Marsh, 1, Westmoreland Lane, Raneleigh Green, Dublin, Ireland.
In an Account and Address Book formerly used by James W. Wightman when the latter was Secretary of the Balaclava Society, his address was shown as "No. 55 Rotherhithe New Road, Rotherhithe, London."
1881 Census
51, Canterbury Road, Camberwell.
In the 1881 Census a Peter H. Marsh was living as a Lodger in the house of George Cook, a Railway Engine Driver. He was shown as being a Money Collector, aged 49, born in Swansea, Glamorgan [sic].
His death certificate shows that he died from "Senile Decay, Syncope", at 312, Southwark Park Road, Bermondsey, on the 5th of February 1909, aged 81 years, a Pier Master. An A. Rogers, of the same address, was present at, and the informant of, his death.
His discharge documents record that a letter "notifying his decease was received at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, on the 5th of October 1907."
In his will he left a personal estate of £313, the executors being the Reverends Alfred George Clayton and Thomas Palmer Stevens. (See copy of the death certificate in the 17th Lancers "Certificates" file.)
He received considerable help from the Roberts Fund before his death. (His pension of 10/- per week from the Roberts Fund was actually paid by a Mrs. Patrick Frazer, from February of 1899.)
From The White Lancer and Vedette for February of 1909: "On February the 10th at Nunhead Cemetery, the funeral took place of Mr. Peter Marsh, late 17th Lancers, who took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade."
He was buried in Grave No. 28742, Square 138, on the 10th of February 1909. He is the only one interred in the grave-space, being the original owner. On his death the ownership passed to the Revd. Thomas Stovers [sic] and Mr Alfred G. Clayton.
Nunhead cemetery was formerly owned by a private company and has only come within the jurisdiction of the Borough of Southwark during the late 1970s — having been rather neglected till then and very overgrown, many parts remaining so. The area in which his grave is situated is now designated a Nature Reserve and no further burials will take place there.
In 1984, thanks to a Mr. R. Woolacott, the Chairman of the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery, his grave was found. It is surmounted by a grey granite slab with a curved top, some 6-8 inches above the ground and is in a remarkably good condition in comparison with its surroundings and the other stones around. There is the following inscription:
"Sacred to the memory of Peter H. Marsh. late 17th Lancers and one of the "600" who departed this life, Feb. 5th 1909, aged 81. His end was peace in Jesus. Thy will be done. Amen."
(There is a picture of this in the 17th Lancer file.)
[PB: Lara Kriegel mentions Peter Marsh in her essay, "Who Blew the Balaclava Bugle? The Charge of the Light Brigade and the Afterlife of the Crimean War". She quotes various sources arguing for and against Billy Brittain, Henry Joy and others.]
Corporal Peter Marsh sought to lay the matter to rest. 'I have been asked this question more than once', Marsh told,'and I have given the same answer, for there is no other can be given as to who sounded the charge. It was decidedly Trumpeter Brittain.' To doubt as much, claimed a 1906 article appearing in the Yorkshire Weekly Post, was to do an 'injustice to the memory of William Brittain' (World's Most Famous Bugle, NAM, 1972-03-36-2).
[Source: Lara Kriegel, Who Blew the Balaklava Bugle? 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century, 20 (2015) http://dx.doi.org/10.16995/ntn.713, and (with images) at http://www.19.bbk.ac.uk/articles/10.16995/ntn.713/(accessed 1 November 2015). Unfortunately she does not provide a reference for the quote (at least not in the online version), which may however be included in the NAM piece, or the print edition. Incidentally, the essay assumes the argument was settled many years ago (in favour of Brittain), but does not consider the possibility that nobody sounded the Charge.]
[PB: There is an article on Peter Marsh's grave, by Mike Hinton, in the War Correspondent, October 2010, apparently with photographs. CHECK.]