1122, Sergeant William J. WILLIAMSON - 11th Hussars

Birth & early life

Born at Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire c.1830.

Enlistment

Enlisted at Hounslow on the 27th of January 1848.

Age: 18.

Height: 5' 8".

Trade: None shown.

Fresh complexion.

Height: 5' 8".

Trade: None shown.

Service

From Private to Corporal: 17th of October 1849.

1851 Census

Pockthorpe Cavalry Barracks, Norwich.

William Williamson, soldier, unmarried, 27, Corporal, born Ivinghoe, Bucks.

Corporal to Sergeant: 25th of July 1853.

Appointed to Troop Sergeant Major on the 1st of May 1855.

Served 24 years 355 days.

In Turkey and the Crimea: 2 years 14 days. Conduct and character: "good."

1861 Census

W. Williamson, married, 42, Sergeant Major, born London [sic] [p.4].

M.Williamson, wife, born Jersey [p.24].

Discharge & pension

Discharged at York on the 28th of February 1866: "Consequent upon having completed 24 years' service."

His discharge documents show the date of his enlistment as being the 24th of January 1842 and his total service as being 24 years and 46 days. The figures "33" appear on the documents, but have been crossed out.

The reason for this is that the date of his discharge, although shown as the 28th of February, is dated as being ratified by the Horse Guards on the 13th of March 1866.

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

He was granted a pension of 2/- per day.

Intended to live in Marlborough, Wiltshire, after discharge. He also lived in the Coventry, Canterbury and Woolwich Pension Districts up to 1875.

Medals

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

(His Turkish Crimean medal was in the "Needes" collection when sold on the 19th of January 1905.)

Awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal on the 19th of October 1863.

There is a picture of him in the uniform of the 11th Hussars - where he is wearing his British Crimean medal only - in the 11th Hussar file.

William Williamson in uniform wearing the Crimea medal. Date? Part of larger image? (Photo in EJBA, neg_152-5, no info. about origins. )

(Click on image to enlarge)

Commemorations

Attended the first Balaclava Banquet in 1875.

Life after service

Lived in the Coventry, Canterbury and Woolwich Pension Districts at various times after his discharge up to 1875.

1871 Census

118, High Street, Woolwich.

Williamson, servant, unmarried [sic], 47, Chelsea Pensioner, born Ivinghoe Bucks

Death & burial

Died in the No 1 London Pension District on the 17th of January 1876.

Death registered

The St Catherine's House records show him as having died in the London C[ity] District, aged 52 years, during the January-March Quarter of 1876.

Death registered

William Williamson, aged 52 years, March Quarter 1876, London C.

Death of William Williamson reported, January 1876

From the Bedfordshire Mercury, Saturday 29th January 1876 (a similar article, known to EJB, appeared in the Leighton Buzzard Gazette).

(Click on image to enlarge)

Death of a Local Hero.

Another hero of the Light Brigade has passed away from among us in the person of Mr William Williamson, who died at St Bartholomew's Hospital on the 17th inst.

The deceased was a Sergeant-Major in the 11th Hussars and was one of the few who survived that fatal but gallant charge of the "Six Hundred,"

He did not escape scatheless, for, while charging the Russian guns, he received two bayonet wounds in his leg, which, from neglect at the time, never perfectly healed, and eventually facilitated his death.

Mr Williamson was living in Leighton Buzzard when he entered the service, and was a brother to Mrs. Woodham, late of Hockcliffe Street. He attended the Banquet at the Alexandra Palace, in October.

The records of St Batholomew's Hospital show him as being admitted there on the 25th of December 1875, aged 52 years. He was shown as being married and "formerly a Troop Sergeant Major in the 11th Hussars."

His address was given as 15, Mildmay Park, London. This address is no great distance from the Abney Park Cemetery where other members of his family are buried and where he may well have been too.

The diagnosis of death was "Erysipelas of the left leg that is quickly spreading. Inflammation, accompanied by fever."

His body was removed by a firm of undertakers, Young and Son, of Smithfield, but there is no indication of where he was interred.

EJB: Later found to indeed be Abney Park Cemetery. He was buried in a common grave, being the second interment there, and no headstone was erected. The grave number is 58617, Square 91, in the cemetery.

Further information

A Dr. G. E. Pinkerton is the great-nephew of Mrs. Woodman, the sister referred to in the newspaper articles above - and has his medals and discharge documents which were passed down through the family. (In this connection, how did his Turkish Crimean medal come to be in the "Needes" collection in 1905?)

Mrs. Woodman was also later buried in the Abney Park Cemetery.

In September 2000 this same Dr. Pinkerton appeared in a radio phone-in programme in which members of the public were given a valuation of items in their possession, the impression being given at the time that William Williamson had taken part in the Charge and, consequently, were of considerable value.

In later correspondence with Dr. Pinkerton, via the BBC (it not being said at the time of the broadcast who the member of the public was), he said in response to several points raised that:

"As a child I knew nothing of my great-uncle, saving that he existed, although I recall my mother taking his medals to be framed. Indeed, I was quite ignorant of everything until I saw an article in a newspaper about someone writing a book about the survivors of the Charge, who wanted to hear from any relatives.

There is a mention somewhere of his marriage and I would have thought his military records would have given an indication of this, but can recall no mention of any wife or family by his sister's descendants, but she was named Eliza and married Joseph Woodman in 1846.

My grandfather, George Joseph Woodman, born in 1847, was their eldest son. He did rather well, getting a knighthood in 1905 and becoming a Sheriff of London, although I never knew him as he died (26th March 1915) shortly before I was born, aged 67, and after his marriage to a first cousin, Bessie Bailey, daughter of William Bailey, in 1883, moved to "The Grange" at Mottingham, Kent, where I and my mother were both born.

I did know well three of his sisters, indeed I was greatly fortunate enough to marry one of their granddaughters, who was my wife for more than sixty years.

I thus knew a host of my cousins, but have never heard a mention of any Williamsons, so I think that if he did marry, he had no offspring. Elize died in 1889, and was buried in Abney Park,

I do have his three medals. I think the Turkish medal was on loan to the Needes collection [sic].

I also have a daguerreotype type portrait of him in a nice little locket, some one and a half by one and three-quarter inches, which seems to have been worn as a brooch at some time, but by whom? The picture you have is identical to that I have."

1881 Census

59, Albion Street, Islington, London.

The 1881 Census shows George Joseph Woodman, aged 33, born at Clerkenwell, Middlesex, was in business as a Master Tailor, employing 60 hands.

His mother, Eliza Woodman, 56, born at Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire, was living with him, as was an unmarried sister, Alice Mary, 27, born at Lambeth, Middlesex.

One Domestic Servant was kept.

Likenesses

References & acknowledgements

Additional Census information for 1851, 1861, 1871, and the cutting from the Bedfordshire Mercury concerning WW's death kindly provided by Chris Poole.