LIVES OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
The E.J. Boys Archive

New info added 16.12.12, 10.2.2019.

IN PROGRESS — NOT FOR PUBLICATION

1185, Corporal James NEAL — 8th Hussars

Birth & early life

Born in the parish of St. Luke's, London [PB: Middlesex?], c.1833.

Enlistment

Enlisted at Hounslow on the 8th of August 1851.

Age: 18.

Height: 5' 8".

Trade: Hatter.

Pale complexion. Brown eyes. Brown hair.

[Diane Oldman: Height: 5 ft. 10½ ins. Complexion: pale. Eyes: brown. Hair: brown.]

Service

Embarked for the Crimea aboard the H.T. "Echunga" on the 15th of May 1854.

From Private to Corporal: 1st of November 1854.

Corporal to Sergeant: 15th of December 1854.

Served with the detchment of the regiment under Lt. Colonel De Salis in the Expedition to Kertch on the 22nd of May 1855.

Appointed to Troop Sergeant Major on the 18th of December 1855.

Embarked for India from Cork aboard the S.S. "Great Britain" on the 8th of October 1857.

Served at Kotah and Gwalior (1858).

[Diane Oldman: Muster: 1861 Meerut, East Indies [WO12-852].]

Re-engaged for 12 years' further service in India on the 11th of August 1863.

From Troop Sergeant Major to Quarter-Master Sergeant 7th of August 1863.

Reverted to Sergeant, "at his own request", on the 22nd of March 1866.

Appointed to Sergeant i/c. Musketry on the 24th of August 1867.

[Diane Oldman: Muster: 1871 Dublin [WO12-862].]

Discharge & pension

Discharged from Longford on the 21st of November 1873: "Own request, free to pension after 21 years' service."

Conduct: "very good". Would be in possession of five Good Conduct badges if not promoted.

Once entered in the Regimental Defaulter's book. Never tried by Court-martial.

In Turkey and the Crimea: 2 years.

In India: 6 years 1 month.

Next of kin: Wife, Eliza Neal.

He is shown on the Regimental "Married roll" from the 9th of October 1856. There were no known children in the family. His wife was an Acting School-Mistress in the Regimental School at one period.

He was awarded a pension of 2/3d. per day

Medals

Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol.

His documents confirm the award of the Crimean medal with four clasps, [the Turkish Medal?], the Mutiny medal with clasp for Central India, and the Long Service & Good Conduct medal with a gratuity of £15. There is no mention of the D.C.M.

Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was recommended for it on the 12th of January 1855 and received a gratuity of £10, but it is not known under what circumstances.

Mutiny medal with clasp for Central India.

He was awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal on the 9th of November 1869.

Further, detailed medal information archived.

Commemorations

Life after service

Intended to live in Coupar, Scotland, after discharge, but was living in Perth, Australia, from 1875.

[PB: It is not clear what EJB's sources were for this, which he also mentions in his Sabretache article on "The Australian graves of Crimean War Light Brigade veterans". However, Diane Oldman, after an extensive search, has found no supporting evidence.

James Neal has been identified as "residing in Perth [WA] in 1875". References for this are E J Boys article in Sabretache, 1 Jun 2000; Roy Dutton, Forgotten Heroes: the Charge of the Light Brigade, 2007; M S James, A Superior Body of Men, 2016. None offer a source for this information and it may well have come from the earliest published source (E J Boys).

None of the sources record the ship that Neal arrived on. He is not listed in the Rica Erickson Dictionaries of Western Australia. He was not in the Enrolled Pensioner Force or Enrolled Guard.

I have searched for Neal in the 1874, 1875 and 1876 editions of The Herald Western Australian Almanack in Perth, Fremantle and regional areas of WA without success. This, however, does not preclude James and Eliza Neal from residing here, since I believe this publication was by subscription. It is unlikely that he was confused with the convict of the same name who arrived on the Belgravia in 1866 and died in 1889.

[Source: Diane Oldman, Crimean War Veterans in Western Australia James Neal, 8th Hussars (accessed 2 Feb 2019).]

Further information

Medals at DNW auction, February 2019:

(Click on image to enlarge)

A Crimea Light Brigade D.C.M. group of four awarded to Corporal, later Sergeant Instructor of Musketry, J. Neal, 8th Hussars, who probably rode in the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava, 25 October 1854

Distinguished Conduct Medal, V.R. (Corpl. James Neal. 8th Hu..sars); Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol, unnamed as issued, unofficial rivets between clasps; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Central India (Qr. Mr. Sgt. Jas. Neal, 8th Hussars.) suspension claw tightened; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed as issued, pierced with ring suspension, edge details worn in places, contact marks and edge bruising, nearly very fine (4) £5,000-£7,000

---

Provenance: Charles Lusted, November 1971 (when sold as just the D.C.M. and the Indian Mutiny Medal); Nimrod Dix, May 1986.

D.C.M. Recommendation dated 12 January 1855.

James Neal was born in London in 1833 and attested for the 8th Hussars at Hounslow, Middlesex, on 11 August 1851. He embarked for the Crimea in the H.T. Echunga on 15 May 1854, and served with the Regiment as part of the Light Brigade throughout the Crimean War. Although he is not recorded as a confirmed 'Charger', most members of the Light Brigade entitled to the Balaklava clasp, in the absence of any evidence or status details to the contrary, took part in the Charge, and their absence from one of more reconstructions does not preclude them from having taken part in the Charge of the Light Brigade. In the case of Neal it is hard to believe that he was recommended for the D.C.M. for anything other than distinguished conduct on that occasion. Of the eight D.C.M's won by the regiment in the Crimea, all recommended on the same date, all but one other are to confirmed chargers, the one other, Private Patrick Dunn, being attached to Lord Raglan's staff.

Neal was promoted Corporal on 1 November 1854; Sergeant on 15 December 1854; Troop Sergeant Major on 18 December 1855; and Quartermaster Sergeant on 14 December 1856. He subsequently served with the Regiment for six and a half years in India, and helped suppress the Great Sepoy Mutiny. He was appointed Sergeant Instructor of Musketry on 23 August 1867, and was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 11 August 1872. He was discharged on 4 November 1873, after 22 years and 86 days' service.

Sold with copied service papers.

Note: Neal's Long Service and Good Conduct Medal is known to exist, and is recorded as having been part of the Mackenzie Collection in 1911.

[DNW, Feb 2019: J Neal, 8H]

Links and other sources

• Diane Oldman: Crimean War Veterans in Western Australia website. The editors are very grateful to Diane for allowing us to include information from her website.