Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on the 1st of November 1813.
Enlisted at Maidstone on the 11th of November 1834.
Age: 21 years 10 months.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: None shown.
From Private to Corporal: 5th of March 1835.
Corporal to Sergeant: 1st of July 1835.
Appointed to Troop Sergeant Major on the 4th of September 1838.
1851 Census
Pockthorpe Cavalry Barracks, Norwich.
Thos R Silver, aged 38, Soldier, unmarried, Troop Sergeant Major, born Aberdeen, Scotland.
Gazetted as a Cornet in the 11th Hussars from the 5th of November 1854.
(This commission was one of a number granted to N.C.O.s of the various regiments who had been present at the battle of Inkerman.)
"Sick on board ship" during the months of October — December 1854. (He had joined the Scutari Depot on the 31st of October 1854 and was sent to Malta on the 9th of December 1854.)
Extract from the "Illustrated London News" for the 20th of January 1855:
"Amongst the invalids who arrived at Chatham the other day from the Crimea was a Sergeant-Major Silver of the 11th Hussars, who excited some curiosity regarding his dress; he wore a Russian coat and hat, which he took two days after the battle of the Alma from a baggage wagon which they fell in with, belonging to the Cossacks."
"Horse Guards,
27th September 1856.
Sir, I am directed by the General Commanding in Chief to acknowledge your letter of the 23rd inst. and to acquaint you in reply that as it appears the Secretary of War has authorised Cornet Silver to perform the duties of Acting Paymaster at the Depot of the 11th Hussars previous to his joining the Service troops, His Royal Highness has no objection to the appointment.
I have, etc. etc.,
W. A. Forster, DAG.
Officer Commanding 11th Hussars."
On to half-pay at Walmar on the 10th of November 1856.
Adjutant of the West Kent Yeomanry from the 27th of November 1856.
Resigned the appointment on the 1st of April 1870.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Sebastopol and the Turkish medal.
He is said to have been presented with his Crimean medal by Queen Victoria at aceremony on the Horse Guards Parade on the 18th of May 1855.
His name has been written in on the Nominal Return of those present now in the PRO, but is printed on both a roll which appeared in the United Services Magazine for June of 1855 and on that which appeared in the "Illustrated London News" of the 26th of May 1855. At this time he was listed amongst the officers of the 11th Hussars.
1871 Census
59 Marsham Street, Maidstone.
Thomas R Silver, unmarried, 57 [sic], retired Captain of Army, born Scotland.
Died at No. 105 Week Street, Maidstone, Kent, on the 3rd of April 1880.
Death registered
Thomas Royall Silver, 75, June Quarter 1880, Maidstone.
He was buried in Sutton Road Cemetery, Maidstone, Kent, the grave No. being 89 H1. According to the cemetery records a headstone was erected. He is shown as being the owner of the plot, and no other person was buried with him.
His gravestone in Sutton Road Cemetery, Maidstone, bears the following inscription:
"Sacred to the memory of Captain Thomas Royall Silver, late of the 11th Hussars and for some years Adjutant of the West Kent Yeomanry. Died April 3rd 1888, aged 75."
There is a photograph of his gravestone in the 11th Hussar file.
A bachelor, he left his estate (of under £1,500) to his nephew, John Arthur Grieve, a wine merchant.
From the Memoirs of Sergeant Major George Loy Smith, published in 1987 as "A Victorian R.S.M.", referring to the time he was at the Maidstone Depot:
"About this time a recruit was placed in my room, by name, Thomas Silver. He had been a Lieutenant in the 77th Regiment, but we did not know it at the time. Many years afterwards, when we were sergeant-majors together, he told me his history. In 1858 he left the Regiment as a Lieutenant on half-pay."
As yet [1989] no proof can be found of this previous service.