IN PROGRESS — NOT FOR PUBLICATION
Born in London on the 13th of January 1829.
A James Alexander Mustard was christened in St. Anne's Church, Soho, London, on the 13th of April 1830, the son of Thomas and Ann Mustard, nee Payne. His parents had married at the same church on the 20th of September 1825.)
1841 Census
Marylebone Lane, Marylebone.
Thomas Mustard, 30, Tailor.
Ann, 30.
Six children are shown: Thomas 14, James 12, Elizabeth 7, Mary 5, Rosina 2, Archibald 6 months.
Also Ann Payne, 70.
He was a recruit at the 3rd Light Dragoons Depot from London on the 7th of May 1852.
No other enlistment details are shown.
Volunteered to the 17th Lancers from Maidstone Depot "by Authority of H.Q., dated the 17th of January 1853." Bounty of £1/10/0 paid.
Rode with No. 4 Troop (T.S.M. O'Hara.) at Balaclava. (See copy of the Troop muster roll in the 17th Lancer "Scrapbook.") Although wounded in the shoulder himself, he went to the assistance of Trumpeter Lanfried, who had also been wounded and his horse shot under him.
Mr MUSTARD, aged 83, is a well-known resident of Twickenham, where he is deservedly popular. Asked for a few incidents of his Crimean experiences, he writes:
"I believe it was ten mintes past eleven when we advanced down the valley to capture the Russian guns at Balaclava. We went though their guns, and they reformed behind us, cutting off our retreat. I cam back with Colonel Sewell and a few of the 17th Lancers and 8th Hussars.
I managed to bring Trumpeter Lanfried out, and bandaged his wounds. Coming back, a trooper of the 13th asked me for my sword-blade. I went to give it to him, but found it had been shot away, and that I had a big hole in my side.
When they called the roll of the 17th we numbered 33 out of 145 who started. I am the sole survivor of the 17th Lancers."
[Signed] James Mustard
[Source: Clipping, unknown source (1912 or 1913 if he was indeed 83), in EJBA 17th Lancer File vol 5. It is similar but not identical to his account in Answers magazine, 26th October 1912 (below).]
Sent to Scutari on the 29th of October 1854.
Invalided to England from Scutari aboard the "City of Norwich" on the 26th of February 1855 and sent to the Brighton Depot from Chatham Invalid Depot on the 12th of May 1855.
Rejoined the regiment at Cahir on the 1st of June 1856.
Embarked for India from Cork aboard the S.S. "Great Britain" on the 8th of October 1857.
From Private to Corporal, 1st of April 1858.
Served at Raghur and Mungrowlee with Captain William Gordon.
The musters for July-September of 1858 show him as being "On Field Service" during the whole of this period.
Reduced to Private by a Regimental Court-martial on the 30th of March 1860. Lummis and Wynn state that he was at some time a Master Tailor (as Sergeant) but there is nothing to confirm that this was so.
[PB: While still serving, James Mustard married Sarah [unknown maiden name]. When and where? A son, James Thomas, was born to James and Sarah Mustard at Secunderabad on the 6th of April 1861 and baptised on the 17th of April by the Revd J. Piggot Brown, Chaplain. Another son, Archibald, was born at Secunderabad on the 16th of October 1863. He was baptised on the 3rd of November by the Revd. George English, Chaplain.]
Sent to Bombay on the 23rd of November 1863, on passage to England from the 21st of January 1864 and being at the Canterbury Depot from the 21st of May 1864.
Discharged, "time expired," from Canterbury on the 28th of May 1864.
Served 13 years 10 days, to count.
Conduct: "good". In possession of two Good Conduct badges.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Mutiny medal without clasp.
In a photograph (see copy on the 17th Lancer file) [PB: which photo?] he is shown as wearing a clasp on his Mutiny medal, presumably that for Central India. This wearing of a clasp has been noticed on other occasions on photographs of men who served at Rajghur with Captain William Gordon (although the latter did not do so himself). The roll of men who served under him was made out at Camp Mungrowlee, India, as a Supplementary Roll of Claimants for the medal for "Field Service during the recent operations in India," on the 12th of October 1858 (that for the main body of the regiment being made out at Camp Gwalior on the 30th of May 1859 and specifically mentions that the men on it ((265) are entitled to the medal without clasp) and contains some 109 names.
There is some evidence to support this. The Regimental History shows that Captain Gordon's squadron left Kirkee on the 27th of May 1858 for the 500-mile march to Mhow. Shortly after arrival there, they, 80 strong, and part of a force under General Michel, marched to Rajghur, some 130 miles north and on the 14th/15th of September took part in the action there. The clasp for "Central India" was granted to men who had served in the area between January and June 1858, but this 17th squadron's service did not commence until after this date.
[PB: Appears in photo of "Survivors of the cavalry charge at Balaklava on 25 October 1854, taken on the 33rd Anniversary Dinner in 1887 [NAM image number: 97833]", http://www.nam.ac.uk/online-collection/detail.php?acc=1987-10-56-1 (accessed 2.10.2014)]
He appeared with other Crimean War veterans as a "Battle of Balaklava Hero" in the Lord Mayor's Show, 1890. A specially printed programme for this event lists all these men and Mustard is shown travelling in the 15th carriage in the procession. [RM]
When accepting the invitation of Mr. T.H. Roberts to attend the Jubilee Celebrations in June of 1897 he wrote from the second address [?]:
"Dear Sir,
I shall have much pleasure in accepting your kind invitation, which I shall be glad to accept.
I remain,
Yours faithfully,
James Mustard, late Sergeant, 17th Lancers."
[PB: James Mustard proposed a toast at the 59th Balaklava Anniversary Dinner, 1913.]
Another survivor, Mr. MUSTARD, proposed a toast to the memory of the dead. It was drunk in silence while buglers sounded the "Last post".
[Source: The Times, Monday, October 27, 1913, page 4, Issue 40353, column E.]
Mustard was employed at the turn of the century by T.H. Roberts in his Fleet Street offices, but it is not known in what capacity. He received a total of £171/12/6d. from the Roberts Fund during his lifetime.
Towards the end of his life, by which time there were very few survivors of the Charge, he was feted throughout the world, as this item from Sydney, Australia (1913) indicates:
FIFTEEN BALACLAVA SURVIVORS
Reduced by one by the recent death of Lord Tredegar, the following are now the survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade:
Sir George Wombwell, 17th Lancers. Major Phillips [8th Hussars] Alderman Kilvert, 8th Hussars [actually, 11th Hussars]
J Mustard, 17th Lancers
T. Boxall, 4th Hussars [formerly 4th Light Dragoons]
J. Whitehead, 4th Hussars [formerly 4th Light Dragoons]
H. Wilsden, 4th Hussars [formerly 4th Light Dragoons]
J. Olley, 4th Hussars [formerly 4th Light Dragoons]
W.S.J. Fulton, 8th Hussars
J. Parkinson, 11th Hussars
T. Warr, 11th Hussars
G. Gibson, 13th Hussars [formerly 13th Light Dragoons]
E. Hughes, 13th Hussars [formerly 13th Light Dragoons]
W. Ellis, 11th Hussars
W.H. Pennington, 8th Hussars [actually, 11th Hussars][Source: Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW), 20 April 1913 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/126459695 (accessed 15.2.2014) [PB].]
An oil painting of the survivors in 1906, when James Mustard was 77, was hung in the Royal Academy. [PB: Is there a copy of this?]
[PB: In 2003, a portrait of James Mustard, in pencil, charcoal and chalk, dated 1911, came up for auction at Lawrences Auctioneers, Somerset.]
ARCHIBALD STANDISH HARTRICK, RWS (1864/5-1950) PORTRAIT OF SGT. JAMES MUSTARD, 17th LANCERS AND THE LIGHT BRIGADE AT BALACLAVA, AT THE CORONATION OF KING GEORGE V. Signed, inscribed and dated 1911, pencil charcoal and red chalk, 29.5 x 21cm. £80-120 Needs a light clean; generally good. Exhibited: The Arts Council of Great Britain (The Property of Charles Cundall, RA) Nil
[Source: http://www.lawrences.co.uk/Catalogues/fa160503/page2.htm (accessed 7.12.15).]
[PB: While still serving, James Mustard married Sarah Jane [unknown maiden name]. When and where?]
A son, James Thomas, was born to James and Sarah Mustard at Secunderabad on the 6th of April 1861 and baptised on the 17th of April by the Revd J. Piggot Brown, Chaplain.
Another son, Archibald, was born at Secunderabad on the 16th of October 1863. He was baptised on the 3rd of November by the Revd. George English, Chaplain.
[PB: Three children were born in Twickenham: Henry, born c. 1869, Elizabeth, born c.1872, and Janet, born c.1877.]
1871 Census
5, Orleans Road, Twickenham.
James Mustard, 40, Journeyman Tailor, born Soho, London.
Jane, 30, born Marylebone.
Four children shown: James, 9, Archibald, 7, Frederick, 5, Henry, 2, and a sister-in-law.
1881 Census
2, Richmond Villas, Richmond Place, parish of St. Stephens, Twickenham.
He was described as being 51 years of age, born in London, and a Tailor by profession. With him was his wife, Sarah Jane, 49, a Laundress, also born in London.
James, 19, a Harness maker, born at Madras, India
Archibald, 17, a Harness maker, born at Madras, India.
Frederick, 15, a Painter and Grainer, born in Twickenham.
Henry, 12, a Scholar, born in Twickenham.
Elizabeth, 9, a Scholar, born in Twickenham.
Janet, 4, a Scholar, born in Twickenham.
1891 Census
Richmond Villa, 33, Turks Road, Twickenham.
The 1891 census shows him as a "Tailor, employee" living with his wife Jane, sons Frederick, 24, Henry, 22, and daughter Janet, 14. [RM]
1901 Census
33, Turks Road, Twickenham.
James Mustard, 71, Tailor Journeyman.
Sarah J, 63.
James 34.
Janet, 24. [RM]
1911 Census
50, Winchester Road, St Margarets, Twickenham.
James Mustard, 81, Army Pensioner, born St James, London.
Sarah Jane 74.
A son and daughter were also shown: Frederick 45, Janet 35.
James Mustard died at 50, Winchester Road, Twickenham.
He was the last known "Charge" survivor of the 17th Lancers when he died on the 1st of February 1916.
See copy of his funeral report taken from the Richmond and Twickenham Times, 5th of February 1912, in the 17th Lancer file.
From the burial records of Twickenham Cemetery:
James Alexander Mustard. Buried 4th of February 1916. Aged 85 years.
Jane Mustard. Buried 24th of October 1917. Aged 80 years.
Frederick Charles Mustard. Buried 19th of October 1927. Aged 61 years.
No memorial stone has been erected. (See photograph of the grave-site in the 17th Lancer file. The un-marked plot is in front of the central tombstone.)
From The Boys Own Paper, 9th of November 1907:
"Left of Six Hundred
An account of the survivors of the ever-memorable and ever-glorious Balaclava Charge, as related by one of them, Corporal James Mustard, to the author. — George A. Wade, B.A.
My friend Mr. James Mustard, lives near me at Twickenham, and has often given me a thrilling account of the ever-famous story. He is now an old man, nearly eighty, but his "eye is not dim or his natural force abated." He has a splendid constitution, and can walk his five miles with the rest of us younger ones. And, when there is a social gathering on a winter's night, we never feel that we have reached the acme until the grand old veteran of the 17th Lancers gives us his favourite song. Nor do we forget to join lustily and enthusiastically in the stirring chorus that our fathers used to sing with equal gusto in their own day:
O 'tis a famous story, proclaim it far and wide!
And let your children's children re-echo it with pride!
How Cardigan the fearless his name immortal made,
When he crossed the Russian valley with his noble Light Brigade!
[PB: Taken from Slade Murray's popular ballad, "Oh, 'Tis a Famous Story of Balaclava", which can be viewed here.]
Tennyson and other poets have sung its glory; Kinglake, Howard Russell and other writers have recorded the wonderful charge in the immortal pages of history. Fifty-three years have rolled by since the "Noble Six Hundred" dashed up that Russian "Valley of Death" at Balaclava. Six hundred men went forward when Trumpeter Joy sounded the "Charge" on his bugle at the word of command. But only one hundred and fifty returned, of whom many were severely wounded. Lord Cardigan rode at their head to and from the Russian batteries, with the officers and men of his Light Brigade behind him.
There were included in this Brigade men of the 4th Dragoons, 13th Dragoons, 8th Hussars, 11th Hussars and 17th Lancers. My dear old friend James Mustard was a corporal of that splendid regiment which boasts the white facings on its dark coat and glossy helmet. By chance, he rode close behind Lord Cardigan, by a greater chance and by God's good grace he rode over that "Half a league" there and back, "sabring the gunners" with "cannon to the right of him, cannon to left of him, and cannon in front of him," without receiving a scratch, though his comrades fell in hundreds around his spirited horse as the gallant steed and its rider dashed after their famous leader.
So James Mustard is truly a man well able to tell of the daring and marvellous charge that made all the world ring with its glory; that made every Briton walk next day with his head erect and his lips quivering with pride as he remembered that these "Six Hundred" were his own countrymen and kinsfolk. James Mustard is today the "doyen" of the grand regiment that he once so nobly served in, the famous 17th Lancers. For him a warm invitation comes to its regimental banquets; For him an honoured place is kept when the "Death or Glory Boys" have any special function. The 17th Lancers are proud indeed of this tall, fineold veteran of eighty years, and James Mustard is never tired of singing the praises of the 17th Lancers.
I told him that some thousands of my boyhood friends — and men friends too — who read this paper would like to know something about the few survivors of this historic charge. The grand old veterans are fast diminishing now, for fifty-three years is a long time, and most of them were at least twenty years old when they rode "into the Valley of Death." So that today all the survivors have passed the span of life as allotted by the Psalmist, and their ages vary from seventy to eighty or more:
"There are about thirty-seven of us left at the time you are writing," said Mr. Mustard. "I am counting the men who were in the ranks only, not the commissioned officers. Perhaps there are two or three of those remaining, but I should not think there are more. Yes, in May 1907 there are only about forty of the Light Brigade who survived that fatal day still left with us."
"You are not all in necessitous circumstances, though?" I said to my friend. "Some of you have done fairly well in the world since you left the Army, I believe.?
"A few," said the veteran, shaking his head, and with that genial smile that his companions all know so well. "There is Kilvert, who was a private in the 11th Hussars in 1854. Now he has risen to fame and high position, for only a year or so ago he was made Mayor of his native Wednesbury, and he has been an alderman for some years. Kilvert was a fine soldier, and he has made a good and successful business-man. They think a good deal of Kilvert in Wednesbury, and so they have every right to do,
"Then there is Pennington. He also was one of the 11th, and he has won much fame and renown as a Shakespearean reciter since he left off soldiering. Pennington spent much time, dreary months of sickness with the troops in Bulgaria, and he was in the great fight at the Alma, also in the cavalry skirmish at Bouljanak. He was wounded at Balaclava and suffered severely from his injuries, if I remember rightly:
"Of course, I must not to forget to mention Lord Tredegar. At the time of the charge he was Captain Godfrey Morgan, and when we got back after the terrible ride he found that he was the senior officer of those not wounded, and he was consequently in command of us all. There were only two other officers who had escaped being wounded, and both were much his juniors."
"You may be sure our boys will not forget you." I went on to say. "The men of England may be forgetful, but the boys are never tired of hearing and reading about such glorious days as that at Balaclava. To them all you survivors are heroes indeed, and they would be only too delighted to sit and listen to your stories for hours together and do you honour."
"I am sure of it," said Mr. Mustard. "You see we begin to feel our annual losses very keenly. We could beat the Russian foe, but there is another enemy which never fails to conquer us in the end, the last enemy of all men. Every year when we meet for our annual banquet on the evening of October 25th, there are more chairs vacant, and our numbers have decreased. At the time of your writing this there are about nine of those left who were in the 4th Dragoons; another nine who were in the 13th; about eight or nine who did duty in the 11th Hussars; and lastly, seven survivors of my dear old regiment, the 17th Lancers:
"It makes one feel sad each year to see the new depletion of our ranks, though as the years roll by the public grows more and more kind to those of us who remain. But there are ever more and more a deeper meaning and pathos visible when we have our annual dinner on the anniversary of Balaclava. You can perhaps fancy what it feels like as we listen to the fine song that usually starts the concert following the dinner, "Where are the Boys of the Old Brigade?. It gives one a strange sensation to hear those lines sung on such an occasion. Where indeed? It is true that we do not expect to be "in the Abbey proudly laid," but it does please us immensely to think that we "sleep in Old England's heart," that we are not forgotten though more than half a century has rolled away since the grey misty dawn of that October morning which was the last that saw so many "Boys of the Old Brigade" ever saw on earth.,
"Then at the banquet there is the most pathetic of all scenes, when each survivor rises in solemn silence and lifts his glass in honour of the toast,
"To the immortal memory of our dead comrades of the Light Brigade!" You can imagine what that moment means to us forty or so who are still alive, but all of us are seventy years old! I need not tell you the thought that rises in each man's breast at that solemn time. Rather let me say that, when we conclude the meeting with "God save the King," there is no more loyal body of men to be found throughout the length and breadth of the British Empire than the two-score veterans who raise their quavering voices in honour of his Majesty King Edward V11."
Mr Mustard went on to tell me that he often meets one or two survivors of the Balaclava Charge at various places during the year. But of course, the October banquet is their chief time for welcoming each other, and for again giving their own accounts of the deeds that were done in 1854. Each of the old soldiers has his own version of the fight, according to the position he was in on that famous day. It is this variation of position which has made some apparent discrepancies to the different stories told by the survivors now and then, such as relating to who was the real sounder of the charge, what were the actual orders brought by Captain Nolan, etc.
James Mustard, however, was in a unique position for knowing what went on during the fight, and he is generally regarded by those who have written about it as an authority on the subject. Mr. D. H. Parry, whose books on military matters are widely known and read by all classes, has himself presented to Mr. Mustard a copy of his fine work on the "Death or Glory Boys," with a special autograph dedication, in which he gratefully acknowledges the debt he owes to this survivor of the Charge for detailed information as to what really happened on that October morning:
"What message can I send to our boys from you brave old fellows who are "Left of the Six Hundred? What advice would you give to them if you could talk quietly to them today?" I asked my old friend as he finished telling me about his former comrades and about his present companions who have survived.
His bright eyes kindled, and he raised his hand impressively like a prophet of olden times:
"Tell them that we should say, first of all — and I know I speak for every-one who is "Left of the Six Hundred" — tell them, first of all, that our message to them is, "Boys, always do your duty! Let neither fear nor favour prevent you doing that in whatever circumstances of life you may find yourselves. Certain death, unavoidable trouble, serious disaster may stare you in the face, as it did us of the Light Brigade on that October day. But thank God — and I say it modestly and reverently, I hope! — not a soldier flinched nor thought of retreat, though he knew the end was death". So tell the boys never to turn back from doing their duty nobly and well. Some of them are sure to fall in the fight; some are sure to be injured in the conflict with the powers of evil as they go through the world. But the boys need fear nothing, either in heaven or earth, if they always stand up gallantly for the right, if they are true to the colours, loyal to their leader, and best of all, if they have put on the armour of righteousness and are under the guidance of God's Holy Spirit:
"That would be our message to the boys. We are old, and we know! We have seen, and we have fought. We are passing away swiftly now as we few approach the fourscore years. But, in our hearts we are still all boys, and we hope to remain so to the end! I have a warm affection for all true manly boys, Mr. Wade, as you know. May God bless them!"
[Source: Boys Own Paper, 9th of November 1907. More info?]
From Answers magazine, 26th of October 1912:
"I believe it was two minutes past 11 a.m. when we advanced down the valley to capture the Russian guns. We went through the guns and they started to form up behind us — cutting off our retreat. I came back with Colonel Sherwell [sic? Shewell] and a few of the 17th Lancers and 8th Hussars. I managed to bring back Trumpeter Landfried of the 17th and bandaged his wounds. Coming back a trooper of the 13th asked me for my sword blade. I went to give it to him but found it had been shot away and that I had a big hole in my side. Then they called the roll of the 17th and we mustered 38 out the 145 who started. I am the sole survivor of the 17th Lancers."
[Source: Answers magazine, 26th of October 1912. Add more info?]
"Sergeant William Mustard Writes His Recollections of Balaklava", Caldwell Tribune (Idaho), 14th January 1899.
LED THE BRIGADE.
__________
HOW THE SIX HUNDRED CHARGED TO CERTAIN DEATH.
__________
Sergeant William Mustard Writes His Recollections of Balaklava — '"Into the Jaws of Death, Into the Mouth of Hell."
__________
Skeptical observers have declared that, judging from the number of existing survivors of the charge of the Light brigade, the whole heroic 600 must be living. But this is rank injustice. There is now said to be left but a single survivor of that famous charge, and this last member of the heroic brigade is James Alexander Mustard of Twickenham, England. He knew how it was when —
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them,
Volley'd and thunder'd.
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of death,
Into the mouth of hell,
Rode the six hundred.
In a letter written under date of Sept. 21 to his cousin, Will A. Mustard of Port Huron, Mich., he gives an interesting account of the charge. Sergeant Mustard writes:
"My father, Thomas Mustard, was born in Leith, Scotland. He came to England in 1826 and married; I was born in St. James, London, in the year 1830. I enlisted in her majesty's regiment of Seventeenth lancers at the age of 20, and served with my egiment (of which I can assure you I am very proud) through the Crimean campaign, taking part in the battles of Alma, Sebastopol, Baiaklava and McKenzie's Farm."
"I left the shores of old England on the 10th of April, 1854, landed at Varna, in Bulgaria, in May following, and marched from there to Silistria. I was present and took part with Omar Pasha's army when he repulsed the Russians from crossing the Danube. We marched back to Varna and embarked for Eupatoria, and were present at the cavalry affairs of Bulgack [sic], and the taking of Katcha hills, and the taking of the forts and harbor of Balaklava, and I will try to give you a brief account of the 'charge of the Light brigade.'
"In the early dawn of the 25th of October, 1854, we were attacked in the rear by a post of Russians, their object being to take Balaklava, our rear being guarded only by the cavalry and Ninety-third Highlanders and a few Turks. They attacked us and captured four redoubts which were held by Turkish
(Click on image to enlarge)
JAMES A. MUSTARD
troops, but they were brought to bay by Sir Colin Campbell's highlanders and our marines and the French batteries under General Canrobert of the French army. As the Russians were retiring our heavy brigade of cavalry made a splendid charge and two hours later the Light brigade was called upon for action. I can assure you we were in a sorry plight, through the want of food and sleep, having been on the watch all night in a terrible storm, standing at our horses' heads.
"At ten minutes past 11 the signal was made to mount and the order given to charge. We rode in three lines, composed as follows: Our leader, Lord Cardigan, rode at the head, and on the right of him rode the Thirteenth Light dragoons, or what is now called the Thirteenth hussars. On the left rode my glorious old regiment, the Seventeenth lancers, 'the death and glory boys.' The second was composed of the Fourth Light dragoons and the Eighth hussars, the rear being brought up with the Eleventh hussars. And so we rode, as Tennyson terms it, 'into the jaws of death,' losing nearly half our members before we reached our goal.
The first to be killed was Captain Nolan, whom I firmly believe brought the terrible order. The valley we charged in was a mile and a half long. You can just fancy our feelings, riding at race horse speed and being mowed down in such numbers. I arrived at the Russian guns unharmed. The Russians took refuge in a cowardly way under the limbers of their guns. It was then we sailed in to avenge our fallen comrades. It was sword and lance and British pluck did the rest for them.
"The Russian cavalry reformed behind us, trying to cut us off, but they could not withstand our fury. We _charged through them like a sheet of paper. A short distance on the road back I saw my adjutant, Lieutenant _John Chadwick. I made a desperate attempt to save him and just as I reached him I was wounded in the left side by a canister shot, from the effects of which I staggered and lost my officer. I afterward brought a trumpeter out alive and bound up his wounds with a remnant of my own shirt, and we then staggered back to camp together.
The actual duration of the charge was from ten minutes past 11 to 11:40 o'clock, taking about twenty-five minutes in all. During that twenty-five minutes we lost 400 men and about the same number of horses, but the losses of the Russians were very heavy.
The Mustards are natives of Scotland and were mixed up in the Scottish rebellions in 1715 and 1745. They originally belonged to the clan of McGregor or "the children of the mist," as they are termed In Scotland. Having to fly the country from the troops of George I, in this way they came to take the name of Mustard. Two brothers died at Waterloo.
[Source: Caldwell Tribune (Idaho), 14th January 1899 (Library of Congress website: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86091092/1899-01-14/ed-1/seq-3 (accessed 6 December 2015).]
[PB: James Mustard wrote an introduction or foreword to Escott Lynn's 1911 novel, Blair of Balaclava, which I have not seen [find out more]. Lawrence Crider quotes from this as follows.]
"We were coming back along the valley when a chum of the 13th Light Dragoons named Hettridge [1483, John Ettridge] rode up to me. "Jim", he said, "lend me your sword, for I've lost mine in the fight." I still had my lance, though the shaft had been chipped by a bullet. I turned to draw my sword to hand it to Hetridge [sic?], when, to my amazement, I had neither sword, scabbard, nor belt. A canister-shot had caught me on the left hip, and cut away sword, belt, overalls, and pants, and laid bare a great patch of bleeding flesh. Another inch would have smashed my hip and killed me."
Addendum: After lying all night on the ground, and helping to shift the camp twice, Sergeant Mustard was next day sent to Scutari, where he spent the next four months.
[Source: Escott Lynn, Blair of Balaclava, foreword x-xi, quoted in Crider, In Search of the Light Brigade, 3rd edition, p.494. ]
[PB: This EJB para has somehow become detached from its context. Find out from where, and re-integrate.]
the regiment as having served in Captain James Henderson's Company. (See copy of a letter sent to the Military Mail by the author Escott Lynn, on hearing of Mustard's death, in the 17th Lancer file.)
In 1976 a Mr. Charles Marshall, in a letter written to the Regimental H.Q., said that he
"was sent up to Chelsea as a representative of the regiment at the funeral of Sergeant Mustard, a Crimean veteran of the 17th Lancers. There were four of us on that day, in full uniform."
At the time of writing Mr. Charles Marshall was 92 years of age, and had just celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary. He had joined the regiment in September of 1900. (Charles Marshall died in July of 1979, aged 95 years, at his home in Leeds, where he had spent most of his later life as a mounted policeman.)
The following information came from Mrs Nora C. Nathan, living in Sidmouth in Devon at the time of writing (1974), who was then 83 years of age. She was the daughter of James Mustard's brother, who had fifteen children, her father being the middle one.
"We lived at Stamford Hill and later at Highgate. I can only remember him once mentioning that his brother had been in the Crimea. Perhaps there was some un-known family feud or the fact that my father was born in 1864, made the event too close and not historical. It was from an Aunt Charlotte that I learnt all the family history."
A cousin is said to have married a daughter of Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood. V.C. who had also served in the 17th Lancers."
Another who provided information was his grand-daughter, Mrs E.D. Wardlesworth, who lived in Hanwood, Shropshire, in 1974. She was the daughter of the youngest of Mustard's children, Nora Elizabeth, who was born in 1876 and died in 1945. According to her (Mrs Wardlesworth) little was known of her grand-father and most of her knowledge came from the letters of an aunt, Evelyn Mary, who died in Canada on the 6th of February 1972 at the age of nearly ninety-three.
James Mustard had several brothers and sisters, the only ones being known, William (who was Mrs Nathan's father,) and Clementine, who was his favourite. Mustard's wife had died at the time of, or shortly after, the birth of their youngest child, a daughter. He took no further interest in the children and sent four of them off to Canada, except the youngest, She was brought up by Canon and Mrs Walter Product and all she could remember of her father was that "he had visited her once when at school and that he had terrified her at the time because he looked ten feet tall."
Neither Mrs Nathan or Mrs Wardlesworth knew of each other's existence until they were put in touch with another.
By a curious co-incidence, Mrs Nathan had an uncle, a Captain Wardlesworth, who had married a French woman who grew herbs and had the reputation of being a witch because of her powers of finding a cure for all human ailments. They had a son who had been press-ganged and his mother felt sure he would return one day and always left the larder window open. Sure enough, many years later, he was found asleep on the kitchen rug. He had been ship-wrecked on a desert island and his "table manners had become atrocious because of this".
(It has been difficult to reconcile as truth all of his known, and presumed, descendants.)
Among a small collection of Military Curios sold at a James Adams of Dublin auction on 14th of November 1999 was a mid-19th-century papier mache snuff box, the lid inset with a Victorian silver three-penny piece and with the engraved details "Private Jas. Mustard, 17th Lan. — Crimea", said to be have been carried by him during the Charge.
[PB: Lara Kriegel, in her essay "Of Battles and Bugles: Who Blew the Balaklava Bugle? The Charge of the Light Brigade and the Afterlife of the Crimean War", argues there is little doubt that William Brittain sounded the Charge, citing several Chargers, including James Nunnerly, Thomas Morley, and Peter Marsh. She adds:
Another advocate was Colonel James Mustard, the longest-living officer to survive the charge and a man of great good fortune. Mustard would live to see the outbreak of the First World War, dying as late as 1916, despite having been 'severely wounded' alongside the less fortunate Brittain.
[PB: COLONEL MUSTARD, INDEED — SOMEBODY'S BEEN PLAYING TOO MUCH CLUEDO!]
[Available online at http://www.19.bbk.ac.uk/articles/10.16995/ntn.713/galley/1126/download/ (accessed 7 December 2015).]
[PB: 1177 James Wightman, 17th Lancers, mentions.]
My two steadfast chums Marsh and Mustard and I are now for some years settled down near to each other, and at our Annual Commemoration Banquet, and on Christmas Days and Bank Holidays, we three old comrades fight our battles o'er again, and thank God that we are alive to do so.
[Source: "Balaclava and the Russian Captivity", The Nineteenth Century, May 1892, pp. 857-863.]
[Check the article on the St Margaret's Community website in 2008: www.stmgrts.org.uk/archives/2008/11/mr_mustard_and_the_charge_of_the_light_brigade.html]
[...]
Like his father before him he was a tailor and lived in Winchester Road, or Turks Road as it was known then.
Although someone once described him as looking 'like a typical grandfather' his upright bearing, his large moustache and the chest full of medals that he sometimes wore suggested a military background — and so it was. After he died at home on the 4th February 1916, local people weren't particularly surprised to read in the Richmond Herald...
DEATH OF CRIMEA VETERAN
We have to record the death of Sergt. James Mustard, the last survivor of the men of the 17th Lancers who took part in the Balaclava charge — (The famous Charge of the Light Brigade.)
James Alexander Mustard was born in Soho, London on 12th February 1830 to Thomas Mustard, a tailor and his wife Ann. In 1850 at the age of 20, James enlisted in the 3rd Light Dragoons and then two years later transferred to the 17th Lancers. At that time Britain was allied with the Ottoman Empire against the Russians who were encroaching into their lands. In 1854 Britain sent troops to fight in the Crimea.
As he commented later a private's life in the Crimea was very hard.
[...] Of that blood soaked morning in October 1854 James Mustard later recalled.
"We were almost starved. We had to live on ship's biscuit, green coffee to drink, no wood to make fires and as for tobacco and cigarettes, which seem so common nowadays, we never had any of them. We were often in a dreadful state, covered with vermin and indeed things could hardly be worse."
"On the morning of the 25th we were standing to our horses... the hour had nearly come when, at all costs, we had to advance to the Russians and retake the cannons they had captured... All I know is that we started off under Lord Cardigan, first at the trot, then at the canter and finally at a mad gallop in which horses and men were wedged together in one great mass. The 17th Lancers led the way on the left, and I was in the front rank. It was hell. Cannon belched forth shot and shell all round us and I saw many a comrade fall, but I got through all right. Then we turned. We came back in extended order, but the ride was just as awful, just as maddening. This time I was not so fortunate. I got a canister shot in my left side that cut my belt and sent my sword rattling to the ground. I kept my saddle, and pulled up with the rest. Of the 17th Lancers 145 went into that charge and only 38 came out."
Wounded in the stomach James was sent to the Barrack Hospital in Scutari where to his lasting disappointment he was not nursed by Florence Nightingale. At the time she was based at another hospital, the General in Scutari.
[...]
In 1864 he returned home, was discharged from the Army and settled in Orleans Road, St Margarets with his wife Sarah Jane and 4 young sons — Archibald, Frederick, James and Harry. The census of 1881 shows the family, now with the addition of two daughters, Elizabeth and Harriet, had moved to Turks Road.
Recalling those days in an interview that he gave to the Richmond and Twickenham Home Journal towards the end of his long life James Mustard said:
"I took my discharge and worked my trade as a tailor and for the last fifty years or thereabouts I have lived and worked here in Twickenham where I think I may say that I am pretty well known."
He was certainly 'pretty well known' and still remembered with respect for his part in the historic Charge. When he died at home on 4th February 1916 in his 85th year his obituary in the Thames Valley Times recorded that 'no public gathering was considered complete without his presence and his upright soldierly figure was the envy of many men much younger.'
The old sergeant was escorted in military procession from his home to Twickenham Cemetery by a military band and a detachment of the Essex Yeomanry and East Surreys and laid in his grave to a volley from a firing party drawn from the 17th Lancers, his old regiment. Old soldiers may fade away — but their glory never does...
[PB: where are these quotations from?]
[PB: A film was made of the funeral procession.]
A Hero of a Bygone Day — funeral of Sergeant Mustard of the 17th Lancers who rode in the never-to-be forgotten Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.
Twickenham Cemetery.
Civilians and soldiers walk on rainy street in procession. Horses pulling wagon w/ coffin; draped in Union Jack & w/ wreath on top. Same; coming round curve; crowds on sides. Comes to stop; brick wall in BG w/ bare dark trees rising behind it. Gloomy. Soldiers lift coffin; carry to rt.
[http://www.britishpathe.com/video/a-hero-of-a-bygone-day (accessed 25 March 2015).]
[PB: The Twickenham Museum has a webpage in which there is a small portrait, and a quotation, presumably from a longer account of the Charge.]
James Alexander Mustard
Survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade
1830 — 1916
[...]On the morning of the 25th we were standing to our horses... the hour had nearly come when, at all costs, we had to advance to the Russians and retake the cannons they had captured... All I know is that we started off under Lord Cardigan, first at the trot, then at the canter and finally at a mad gallop in which horses and men were wedged together in one great mass. The 17th Lancers led the way on the left, and I was in the front rank. It was hell. Cannon belched forth shot and shell all round us and I saw many a comrade fall, but I got through all right. Then we turned. We came back in extended order, but the ride was just as awful, just as maddening. This time I was not so fortunate. I got a canister shot in my left side that cut my belt and sent my sword rattling to the ground. I kept my saddle, and pulled up with the rest.
[Source: twickenham-museum.org.uk (accessed 7.12.2015).]
Census information for 1841, 1871, 1901 & 1911 kindly provided by Chris Poole.
[PB: There is another photograph of JM in EJBA 17L File vol 6.]
[PB: I'm fairly sure he can be seen in the middle of a funeral procession for 1004 Thomas Morley, 17th Lancers, in 1906.]