Born at Littlebury, Saffron Walden, Essex c.1831.
[PB: an obituary calls it "Little Berry Green". Wikipedia: Littlebury Green. ]
Although no baptismal entry can yet be found for him he was most probably a son of John Seamer and his wife, Amy (nee Abrahams) who were married at Littlebury on the 18th of April 1824.
Enlisted at Coventry on the 26th of November 1849.
Age: 18.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: Labourer.
Dark complexion. Blue eyes. Dk. brown hair. (Has scald mark on back.)
"Deserted" from Coventry on the 15th of December 1849 and did not rejoin the regiment until the 29th of December 1851.
He was tried by a District Court-martial at Nottingham on the 14th of January 1852 for "Desertion", and sentenced to 168 days' imprisonment with hard labour and to be marked with the letter "D". (56 days of this prison sentence were remitted.) Also, he was "to forfeit all claim to pension and additions of pay whilst serving, by this conviction."
Severely wounded in action at Balaclava.
Sent to Scutari on the 26th of October and invalided to England (via Malta) on the 4th of November 1854. He joined the Invalid Depot at Chatham on the 27th of February 1855.
Discharged from the Chatham Invalid Depot on the 19th of May 1855:
"Being considered unfit for further military service." Disabled by the contraction of right elbow joint and loss of power of hands from a gun-shot wound of firearm received at Balaclava."
Conduct and character: "have been good" [sic]. Not in possession of any Good Conduct badges.
His forfeiture of past service, etc, was later redeemed in a letter sent from:
"The War Department,
Horse Guards, 22nd of March, 1856.
Sir, Her Majesty having been graciously pleased on the recommendation of the Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, to the soldier named in the margin (1364 Private Samuel Samer) the benefit of recommending the whole of his service as a ground for other advantages.
I have the honour to request that you will cause such restoration to be duly entered in the record and register of the said soldier referring thereon to the number and date of this communication, the additional pay for length of service, or for good Conduct: to which this soldier shall have become entitled by this act of restoration, may be issued and charged from the 29th of February 1856, the date of her Majesty's gracious order on the subject, the portions of time hereby allowed to be reckoned are not to include any period of absence without authority or of confinement followed or preceded by conviction.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient and humble servant,
(Signed) J. Hollinge.
For the attention of the Officer Commanding, Depot of the 11th Dragoons, Newbridge.
Served 2 years 325 days, but on the restoration of his forfeited service this was increased by 346 days.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 7 months.
Aged 27 years on discharge.
Awarded a pension of 8d. per day.
Living in the Woolwich District after discharge, but he emigrated to Australia (Melbourne) in 1857. (He went from the Woolwich Pension District to Australia, being paid at the former up to the 30th of June 1857.)
Pension details to the 23rd of October 1893.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Sebastopol and the Turkish medal.
He is said to have died about the turn of the century in a mental institution in Victoria, Australia. His experiences in the Charge had left him mentally unbalanced and he had spent some time in the institution before his death. His great-great-nephew now living in Nunnwading, Australia, has furnished the following [1982]. He confirms that the family name should be Seamer, although it is spelt as "Samer" in some documents in Australia. He had emigrated to Australia in 1857 with his brother, John, Another brother, George, and two sisters, Ann and Sophia, had gone to South Australia in 1850. (Samuel Samer died on the 29th of May 1899 in the Kew Lunatic Asylum, having been there for 39 years.)
Extract from theMelbourne Argus, 2nd of June 1899:
"Samuel Seamer [sic] whose death occurred on Wednesday last at the Kew Lunatic Asylum was one of the Light Brigade in 1853 [sic]. Samuel Seamer was born 74 years ago at Littlebury Green, in the village of Saffron Walden, Essex. At the age of 17 he went to Kent and enlisted into the 11th Hussars.
It is extremely possible that he saw service in some other lands besides the Crimea, for in his description record taken at the time of his entry into the Lunatic Department his wounds appear so many that one campaign could scarcely account for them all. Seamer had a large scar on the left shoulder, apparently a slash from a sword, a bullet wound distorting the bones of his right forearm, a stab wound in the left temple, in all probability the injury which caused him to lose his reason, a stab wound on the outer part of the left thigh and other small wounds over his body and arms. What a stirring picture could be conjured up by these scars, and yet the records are silent on the matter.
Seamer was pensioned off in 1856 and drew 8d. per day from the Imperial Government until he arrived in Australia a year or so after. Here it quickly made itself manifest that he was suffering from some mental disorder and eventually his dementia became so pronounced that he was committed to the Lunatic Asylum.
During the 39 years he passed there the old man could tell but very little about himself. He was not, like most patients, sane on all subjects save one. The past seems to have been a blank for him and he could give no account of his history, although at times his uncontrolled imagination saw the Valley of Death before him once again and caused him to cry out to his old comrades, many now long since dead and gone, whom he felt riding by his side, to tackle the Russians once more. But as a rule the old man was quiet and moody and had nothing to say and it is now long since that he called upon the ghostly regiments of his youth. During his last few years he sat in silent melancholia."
He was buried in Grave No. 1177, Compartment A. of the Church of England Section of the Cemetery at Boroondara. The title of the plot belongs to the Master in Lunacy and although the burials of those under his control were usually public and un-marked, his grave is a private one.
From this he either left an estate sufficient to cover these expenses or arrangements made with relatives. The erected stone is now [1996] very difficult to read, but the following inscription has been made out. (At the top is an indecipherable emblem, but possibly Regimental) "Samuel Seamer/ 11th Hussars/ One of the Light Brigade/ Balaclava/ 1854/ Died 29th May 1899." He is entered in the Cemetery Registers on the day of his burial (1st of June 1899.) as Samuel Seymour [sic] and his age given as 74 years.
(See photographs of his gravestone in Boroondara Cemetery, Victoria, Australia, in the 11th Hussar file.)
Newspaper cutting 12 July 1899 kindly provided by Chris Poole.