Birth & early life
Born in Pimlico, London, on the 27th of July 1834, and said to be the son of George Keen and his first wife (name unknown).
Enlistment
Enlisted into the 3rd Light Dragoons at London on the 28th of June 1848. Regtl. No. 2082.
Age: 14.
Height: 5' 4”.
Trade: None.
Attained "Man's service" on the 28th of July 1852.
Features: Fresh complexion. Hazel eyes. Brown hair.
Service, discharge & pension
Transferred to the 13th Light Dragoons on the 1st of July 1853.
Embarked for the Crimea aboard the H.T. "Negociator" on the 8th of May 1854.
Wounded in action at Balaclava and was sent to Scutari on the 27th of October 1854.
Invalided to England on the 23rd of February 1855.
(See record of 1471 George Gibson of the 13th L.D. for the story of his assisting John Keen.)
Sent to Malta on the 16th of December 1854 and was invalided to England in February of 1855.
Discharged from Cahir on the 18th of October 1856 as "Unfit for further service. This man suffers from gun-shot wounds of the right leg sustained in action at Balaclava on the 25th of October 1854 - from the nature of the wounds, a canister-shot entered the lower and outer part of the leg, winding around the leg and coming out at the upper third of the leg and in its course injuring the fibula. He is liable to have them re-opened and pieces of bone come away. Consequently his ability of earning a living is greatly impaired".
Served 4 years 253 days, to count. In Turkey and the Crimea, 1 year. In India, 1 year 6 months.
Conduct: "good." Not in possession of any Good Conduct badges.
Aged 24 years on discharge.
Was awarded a pension of 9d per day, but he attended a Medical Board at Woolwich on the 22nd of August 1907 and his pension was increased to 18d. per day from the 5th of September 1907.
A letter relating to this increase was sent from the Secretary’s Office at the Royal Hospital Chelsea to T. H. Roberts at his London office.
19th September 1907.
Sir, I am directed by the Lords and others, Commissioners of this Hospital, to inform you that the pension of the Crimean Veteran named in the margin, who took part in the Balaclava Charge, has been increased from 9 pence to 18 pence a day from the 5th September 1907.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
W.T. Hughes.
(Now in a private collection, this letter was pasted in the back of his personal copy of the 1879 Balaclava Commemoration Society Rule and Membership Book as well as studio portraits of him and his wife, and a number of annotations had been made to names of other members relating to dates of death, etc.)
Medals & commemorations
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Sebastopol and the Turkish medal.
He was presented with his Crimean medal by Queen Victoria at a ceremony on Horse Guards Parade on the 18th of May 1855. His name appears on the Nominal Return of those present now in the National Archive, also on a similar 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.
Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, being recommended for it on the 10th of February 1855 and receiving it with a gratuity of £5., but it is not known under what circumstances.
Member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1879.
Signed the Loyal Address to the Queen in 1887.
His group of medals, comprising of the D.C.M., named to "John Keen. 13th Light Dragoons". Crimea, clasps for A. B. and S., (engraved naming) and the Turkish medal (Regimentally impressed) was sold at a Sotheby's auction on the 9th of February 1975 and was sold for £820.
(Later known to be in an Australian collection.)
The same group, comprising of the D.C.M., Crimean medal with clasps for A.B. and S., (engraved naming) Turkish medal (British type, and named) and described as having severe edge knocks to the first two medals, but with the Cabul (1842) medal awarded to his brother, "Edward Keen, 13th K.O.L.D. No. 1100." with steel clip and straight suspender, was offered in a Christie's auction on the 22nd of November 1988 and was sold for £3,000
The Keen family must have had a very strong family connection with the 3rd Light Dragoons as the group sold in 1975 formed part of a Lot sold at a Wallis and Wallis' auction on the 9th of December 1964, the other medals being to Edward Keen (Cabul medal, 1842) and to Thomas B. Keen, (Sutlej medal reverse for Moodkee, with clasp for Ferozeshuhur). These medals are now separated from those of John Keen. A 1522 Joseph Keen of the 13th Light Dragoons (also ex-3rd L.D. who enlisted on the 28th of June 1848 as Regtl. No. 2181) and had transferred to the 13th with 1529 John Keen, died on the 13th of September 1854 whilst on route from Varna to the Crimea. He does not figure on the medal rolls. The two were almost certainly brothers.
To live in Dalston, London on discharge.
The 1881 Census Returns show him as living at 147 Moxey Road, Plumstead, a Time Keeper, aged 47, born in Pimlico, Westminster, with his wife, Mary A., aged 46, born at Baldock, Hertfordshire,. Two sons, the eldest an Apprentice, the other a scholar, a widowed daughter, aged 20 and a grandson, aged 1 year, are also shown.
Death & burial
Died at "Casa Melita", Eaglesfield Road, Plumstead, London, from "Cancer of the liver" on the 23rd of August 1911.
John Keen was buried in Plumstead Cemetery on the 25th of August, being then 77 years of age. He had previously lived at No. 222 Moxey Road, Plumstead, in the 1890's. He was buried in Grave No, 1762, Section "K". His wife, Mary Ann, was also buried in the same grave space on the 23rd of June 1909 from No. 222 Moxey Road, Plumstead. A memorial stone was erected over the grave, and was very much weathered, only the names of his wife and himself being legible. This gravestone was eventually removed in 1981 because it was broken, following the "landscaping" of the area.
Further information
His great-great-niece, Susan Bankin, of Harrow compiled an exceptional family tree of the Keen family from the 1770's. John Keen's father was born on the 4th of June 1810, also the son of a George Keen, born in 1774, the former dying on the 6th of October 1880, at the age of 70 years. He is believed to have been buried in Hammersmith Cemetery. A Joseph Keen was also from a first marriage. George Keen's occupation at the time of his second marriage was described as "Coffee House Keeper" and living in Brook Street, London, and later as "Gentleman".
John Keen and his wife, Mary Ann, had two children, Alice, born in 1872, and Edwin. From his last will and testament, made on the 3rd of February 1910 and then living at No. 222 Moxey Road, Plumstead, London, he described himself as a "Retired Pensioner of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich". He left "All my Savings Bank Account and money on my person, or owing to me", to his daughter, Alice, the wife of Henry Beadle Boynton, and "The leasehold of No. 222 Moxey Road, Plumstead, to my only son, Edwin". His daughter was the sole executrix of the will and it was witnessed by George Bede, a brass-finisher, of No. 263 Moxey Road, and Charles F. Newman, of No. 182 Moxey Road, L.C.C. School-keeper”.
From the "Kentish Independent," and "Kentish Mail" for the period, it has been established that he was the youngest of seven brothers, (all of whom had served in the Army at some period) and it is now more than likely that the George Keen, born in 1810, died 1880, was not, in fact, his father, but his eldest brother. The Thomas B(enjamin) Keen mentioned in the text was killed in action at Ferozeshuhur on the 21st of December 1845.
Extract from the "Kentish Independent" for Saturday the 12th July 1879:
“The Balaclava Charge - The Countess of Cardigan has just presented to Mr. John Keen, a timekeeper in the Royal Laboratory who rode in the famous Charge at Balaclava, a steel engraving representing the Earl of Cardigan leading the Light Brigade on that memorable occasion.”
Photographs & illustrations
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