Born at Rigton, near Otley, Yorkshire.
Enlisted at Leeds on the 26th of April 1830. He had previously served in the 16th Lancers from the 14th of July 1824 to the 9th of October 1826, having been discharged on a payment of £20.
Age: 29.
Height: 5' 11".
Trade: Labourer.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Grey eyes. Brown hair.
From Private to Corporal: 8th of November 1833.
Reverted to Private "at his own request", following the Reduction of the Regiment to Home Establishment on its return to England from India in 1842.
From the muster rolls it would appear that he spent the greater part of his time as an N.C.O. on recruiting duties in various parts of the country.
Sent to Scutari on the 20th of September and to England aboard the S.S. "Great Britain" on the 25th of November 1854.
Discharged from Chatham Invalid Depot on the 19th of January 1856:
"Invalided from Turkey as the result of an accident. He arrived in this country in the early part of this year (1855) since when he has suffered from rheumatism - the result of his long service. Present at the battle of the Alma.""Free, to pension after 24 years service."
Served 25 years 225 days, to count.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 8 months.
Conduct: "good".
In possession of five Good Conduct badges.
Next of kin (in 1855): Wife, Rebecca Mountain.
Aged 54 years 8 months on discharge.
To live in Wakefield, Yorkshire, but he was living in Leeds in 1875.
Granted a pension of 1/0d. per day.
Although his documents show that he was "present at the battle of the Alma", he is not shown on the medal roll as being entitled to this clasp, but only for the clasp for 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, and 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.
(See record of John Thomas Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan, for antecedents of the artist who painted a picture of the scene and details regarding the picture itself.)
Awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal on the 2nd of May 1856, with a gratuity of £5. (This after he had left the Army.)
[Eds: The 1871 census shows that he was living at 15 Husler Street, Leeds, aged 60. He is described as a Labourer, a widower, born at Rigton, Yorks.]
The GRO records show Ephraim Mountain died in the Wakefield registration district in the March quarter of 1881, aged 76.