Service
Returned to England from India aboard the "Repulse" on the 27th of March 1842, having left Bombay on the 28th of December 1841.
[WL: Embarked England 16th of March 1839, arrived Bombay 10th July 1839. From Bombay on the "Repulse", 6th November 1842, arrived Gravesend, England, 28th March 1842.
4Q 1855: 11 days on ship, 81 days on shore.
To Scutari: 27 January 1855. From Scutari 20 April 1855.]
Tried by a Regimental Court-martial on the 9th of January 1856 for "absence and being drunk in the streets of Constantinople." Found "Not Guilty".
Confined from the 11th of January 1856. On being tried by a District Court-martial on the 26th of January 1856 for "resisting Turkish Police and damaging two greatcoats", he was sentenced to 10 days' imprisonment with hard labour in a Military Prison.
Returned to England on the 20th of April 1856.
Discharge & pension
Discharged from Newbridge on the 26th of January 1863: "Free, at own request, after 24 years' service."
Aged 44 years 1 month on discharge.
Served 24 years 15 days.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 1 year 10 months. India: 2 years 4 months.
Conduct: "a good soldier".
In possession of four Good Conduct badges.
Twice tried by Court-martial.
He was granted a pension of 1/- per day.
Intended to live at 4, Paradise Row, Salford.
Pension letters to the 11th of June 1894.
[WL]
1863: Manchester 1
1865: Manchester 1
1867: Shrewsbury, Manchester 1
1872: Preston
1873: Manchester 1
1875: Manchester 1, Birmingham, Manchester 1
Life after service
The 1881 Census Returns show him as living at 4, Hyde Street, in St. Mary's parish, Manchester, 61 years of age, a Horsekeeper, born in Manchester, with his wife, Grace, 53, born in Kent.
Death & burial
Somerset House records show the death of a "Ferdinand Stanley", aged 80, in the Chorlton District during the April-June quarter of 1898.
His medals, together with a cuff from his uniform tunic, are set in a panel in the wall of St. Benedict's Church, Ardwick, Manchester.
The brass plate and panel set into a wall of St. Benedict's Church at Ardwick is inscribed, "Ferdinand Stanley. Late Private, 4th Light Dragoons. "One of the Six Hundred." Born 23rd February 1818 — Died 7th April 1898."
Just how or why his medals came to be placed in the church is not known, but probably done by his widow because of an association with it. It is a known fact however, that a great-nephew, and also a practising solicitor, living in the county of Cheshire, has solicited a succession of Vicars for their return, saying that they were "loaned" and not given. This demand has (at least up to 1985) been resisted.
See photograph of his medals and of the tablet erected to his memory in St. Benedict's Church at Ardwick in the 4th Hussar file.
Extracts from the Manchester Evening News, 9th and 12th of April 1894:
Death of a Balaclava Hero
The death is announced at No. 11 Marsland Street, off Hyde Road, Manchester, of Private Ferdinand Stanley, one of the Balaclava heroes. He will be buried on Tuesday afternoon at Eccles Cemetery. Stanley was in his eighty-first year. A native of Manchester, he enlisted into the 4th Light Dragoons on the 5th of January 1839, being then in his 21st year. After serving for 24 years and 33 days he was discharged to a pension at his own request. On his leaving the service, his commanding officer, Major Cornwallis, certified that his character had been good and that he was in possession of four good conduct badges and the Crimean and Turkish medals...
Funeral of a Balaclava Hero
The funeral took place this afternoon at the Salford Cemetery of Private Ferdinand Stanley, one of the Balaclava heroes. His death took place on Thursday last at his residence at No 11 Marsland Street, Hyde Road, Ardwick.
He was a native of Manchester and on the 5th of January 1839, being then in his 21st year, he joined the 4th Light Dragoons. He remained in the Army for over 24 years and then retired on pension. He was one of the famous "Six Hundred" and left the service with four good-conduct badges and the Crimean and Turkish medals.
Last evening his body was conveyed to St. Benedict's Church, Ardwick, of which church he was a member, and this morning a service was conducted by the rector, the Revd. P. Gethen. The coffin, which was of polished oak, was borne to the grave on a gun-carriage. A detachment of the King's Own Regiment attended the funeral and there was a large gathering at the Cemetery. The Revd. P. Gethen then conducted the service at the graveside, after which a firing party fired three volleys over the grave.
It may be mentioned that Stanley, who leaves a widow about eighty years of age, attended the dinner which was held in London for the commemoration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee."
The memorial stone erected to him in Weaste Cemetery, Salford, Grave No. 3792 in Plot A12, bears the inscription:
"In Loving Memory of Ferdinand Stanley. (One of the Balaclava Heroes.) Who died April 7th 1898, Aged 80 years. Thy will be done, His laurels won, His peace begun, In memory living."
Also Sarah, beloved daughter of the above, who died Dec. 31st 1899, aged 46. Also Grace Stanley, widow of Ferdinand Stanley, who died May 25th 1909, aged 85 years. Grant her, O Lord, Eternal rest.
(See photograph of this gravestone in the 4th Hussar file.)
