Added 16.12.12. Initial edit 28.12.12. Minor edits 13.1.2015. Photo added 8.2.15, 12.4.19.
IN PROGRESS — NOT FOR PUBLICATION
Born in the parish of St. Peter's, Drogheda, Co. Meath, c.1827.
Enlisted at Dublin on the 16th of March 1846.
Age: 19 years 3 months.
Height: 5' 7".
Trade: Servant.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Blue eyes. Brown hair.
Confined by a District Court-martial for an unspecified offence, from the 16th of October 1847 to the 6th of January 1848.
1851 Census
Preston Cavalry Barracks, Steyning, Sussex.
Robert Moneypenny, 23, unmarried, Private Soldier, born St Peters, Drogheda.
Embarked for the Crimea aboard the H.T. "Echunga" on the 15th of May 1854.
At Scutari General Depot from the 2nd of February 1855 and sent to rejoin the regiment on the 17th of February.
He was batman to Colonel (later Brigadier-General) Shewell when in the Crimea in early 1855.
Sent to England from Scutari on the 10th of May 1855
Discharged from Dundalk Barracks on the 21st of October 1856:
"On the Reduction of the Regiment and no longer thought fit to be effective. Has varicose veins — the result of pre-disposition and riding on duty."
Served 10 years 160 days.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 1 year 10 months. Admitted to Out-Pension at Kilmainham Hospital on the 9th of December 1856. Conduct: "good".
In possession of two Good Conduct badges.
Awarded a pension of 8d. per day for one year.
He tried a total of five separate times to obtain a continuation of this until the 17th of January 1860, when he was finally told that "he may apply for a pension of 4d. per day upon reaching the age of 50 years, i.e. "the 18th of September 1876".
This he did, it being awarded "in recognition of his good conduct whilst in the Army", and half of this was allocated to his sister up to the 30th of March 1877.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol.
(Confirmation of the award of this medal is entered in red ink and dated the 8th of March 1904.)
The Returned Medal book states: "Crimean medal returned to the Mint. No trace of issue".
Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, for which he was recommended on the 12th of January 1855, and received a gratuity of £5. He received this for "praiseworthy and gallant service throughout the campaign."
This is the only time that such a reason has been seen documented for the D.C.M. during the campaign.
Lummis and Wynn state that this medal was in the "Fleming" collection in 1871, but it would seem from photographs that it was in Moneypenny's possession much later than this.
He was granted an additional pension of 6d. per day for "Distinguished Conduct," on the 25th of February 1904.
For some un-explained reason he is not shown as being a member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in either 1877 or on the revised list of 1879.
He is also said to have been present at the Annual Dinner in London in 1896, but this too is doubtful.
He was convicted on the 23rd of September 1876 at the Metropolitan Police Court, Dublin, for "assault with a stick upon two women."
Extract from the Police Court (Northern Division, before Mr. Balton) proceedings taken from the Irish Times for Monday 25th of September 1876:
"Violent Assault. A servant named Robert Moneypenny, residing at 12, Hanover Lane, was brought up on a charge of having violently assaulted a woman named Bridget Millars, and Letitia Darling, his sister, between five and six o'clock on Friday evening by violently striking them.
He was sentenced to be imprisoned for six months with hard labour and at the expiry of that time to find surety for £25 for his good behaviour, or be imprisoned for a further term of two months."
There is a copy in the 8th Hussar file.
There are numerous references to him in the Irish National Archives, especially relating to his entry and conduct in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, to which he was admitted as an In-Pensioner on the 1st of October 1878.
He applied for this in September of 1878, when 52 years of age. then claiming that his wife and three children were not dependent on him, he being separated from the former. His character from the Staff officer of Pensions was given as:
"Good, as far as I know. He was convicted of an assault case last year, caused, he says, by the infidelity of his wife, but the circumstances are not known to me. His wife, from whom he is separated and three children, who are, he states, supported by his wife."
His last Pension District had been Dublin, where he had been living at 170, Townsend Street (according to the local Street Directory these premises were occupied by a James Doolan, a Greengrocer.)
A query (No. 400) from the Exchequer and Audit Department at this time asked for "His admission to be explained — as he was a deferred pensioner, having been refused a permanent pension on the grounds that "his was an ordinary case of constitutional pre-disposition."
At this time he was "suffering from varicose veins and bronchitis, quite unfit for labour". When the Governors of the Hospital wished to know "If this man's disabilities are attributable to his foreign military service," the reply from the Hospital Surgeon (Dr. William Carte) was that "Yes, in my opinion they are so attributable".
The reply sent back to the Exchequer and Audit Department was that "This man was present at the Alma, Inkerman, Balaclava and Sebastopol — and he is one of the few survivors of the 'Charge of the Light Brigade.' He is in possession of a medal for 'Distinguished Conduct in the Field.'" Being now "quite unfit for labour" and "having no resource but the Poor House", the Governors considered that it "would not conduce to the honour of the service to allow this man to end his days in the Union."
The Hospital Defaulter's Book gives two instances of his general behaviour. Page 1 shows that at Dublin on the 25th of October 1896 he "Returned from pass, hopelessly drunk, about 11 p.m." The witnesses were T.S.M. Beale and Sergeant Frawley and for this he was "Admonished", by Colonel Kelly. The word "Drunk" is in red ink, and the annotation indicating that this was "the fifth offence of drunkenness". (The date of this offence may be significant in that it was the 41st anniversary of Balaclava, surely a good reason for his being so.)
The second offence recorded took place on the 13th of January 1896 for "Insolence to a superior", the witnesses being Captain Fielding and S.M. Beale. He was once again "Admonished" by Colonel Kelly.
He applied on the 18th of June 1904 to H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught for a transfer to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, and a letter regarding this was sent via his Private Secretary to the Master of the Hospital.
Although the document of request for a transfer is in existence, there is nothing to show that he actually ever did so, the memo about it being immediately followed by "Died, 8.1.06." No trace of his interment can be found in Brookwood Cemetery(as might have been expected, Lummis and Wynn having stated that he died at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.)
Copies of correspondence between the Chelsea Royal Hospital (of an unknown date) and the Dowager Countess Wolesley also exist in the National Archives regarding a portrait of Moneypenny commissioned by her Ladyship. The portrait was offered to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, but it was tactfully pointed out that as Private Moneypenny was at Kilmainham, the portrait should go there.
According to the History of the Royal Hospital, published c. 1920/21, an oil-painting portrait of him presented by the Dowager Countess Wolseley on the 28th of April 1919 was hanging in the Great Hall of the R.H. Kilmainham, at this time, but its present whereabouts are now unknown.
See also a photograph of him (presumably when in the Hospital) that appeared in the Picture Magazine in the mid-1890s in the 8th Hussar file.
[PB: I have found two portrait photographs in the negative files. In one RM is posed outdoors, in his hospital coat and hat and holding a knob-headed stick, with a small white bulldog beside him on a sturdy chain. In another, he is seated, probably inside, again with the stick. His medals are prominent in both photographs. I have cleaned up and cropped both pictures.]
Robert Moneypenny is now [1988] known to have died in the Kilmainham Hospital of "Old age", at the age of 81 years. (Because of his age and the strain of travel he was probably persuaded to remain in Ireland.)
Church of England by religion, he was buried (Grave No. 8) in the (Modern) cemetery there by the Revd, J.W. Tristram, D.D., and a small stone, on which is inscribed "Private Robert Moneypenny. 8th Hussars. (Rode at Balaclava) Died 8.1.06." marks the spot.
See photograph of this and also a section of the cemetery in which he was buried (his gravestone is the one on the extreme right of the picture, centre foreground, in the latter picture) in the 8th Hussar file.
In 1995 it was known that his gravestone had been removed for cleaning, but it is not known whether it is intended to replace it in the cemetery or exhibit it in the Hospital building, where it is at the moment.
[1996] There is a photograph in the 8th Hussar file of the stone in its now-renovated condition.
There are three cemeteries in the Hospital grounds, one reserved for officers and their families, another called Bully's Acre, and one (originally the old Dublin burial ground) which was closed in the 1830s, and No. 3 (Modern) cemetery. There is a stone plaque on the inside wall of the latter (but no date). which reads, "In this cemetery have been laid to rest the remains of 334 In-Pensioners who died in the Royal Kilmainham Hospital. Their names and dates of decease will be found inscribed on brass tablets in the respective chapels of the Institution."
Only about one-half of the Modern Cemetery area has been brought under any state of maintenance and this contains graves from circa 1905-06 until the closing of the Hospital in the 1920's. During the period of a number of years when the building and the grounds were un-occupied, the site was much vandalised, being next to a main road, and only required climbing a six foot earth wall to gain access. The graves all originally had a stone about 18" by 15" on each, and recorded the name, regiment, and date of the man's death. (It is said though, that previous to 1900 these were metal tablets.)
[1988] Many of the stones have now been broken and scattered, and the "un-reclaimed" part resembles a jungle. Although stones can be seen there, access to them is an impossibility at the moment. It is quite possible that stones may exist there to other men of the Light Brigade known to have died at the Hospital during the period 1870-1900. (There is a photograph of this part of the cemetery in the 8th Hussar file.)
Census information for 1851 kindly provided by Chris Poole.