Born at Mildenhall, Suffolk.
He was baptised in Mildenhall Parish Church on the 12th of July 1835, the second son of Thomas Naylor, and his wife, Eliza.
His parents were married at Mildenhall on the 13th of October 1832. Other children born into the family were William, baptised 16th of June 1833, Thomas baptised 25th of June 1837, and George baptised 14th of April 1844.
Enlisted at Westminster on the 1st of November 1851.
Age: 16 years 5 months.
Height: 5' 9".
Trade: Servant.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Blue eyes. Dk. brown hair.
At the time of his enlistment he was unable to write and had to make his "mark", this being witnessed by Staff Sgt-Major William Robertson, who had enlisted him.
Wounded in action at Balaclava, and was "sent on board ship without seeing the surgeon," on the 26th of October 1854.
Invalided to England from Scutari on the 16th of December 1854 and was sent to Walworth, London, "on sick furlo until discharge", on the 30th of September 1855.
Finally discharged from Chatham Invalid Depot on the 23rd of October 1855, as:
"Unfit for further service from disfigurement of the face by fracture of lower jaw at Balaclava. Also from gun-shot wound of shoulder."
Served 2 years 60 days, to count.
Conduct: "good". Not in possession of any Good Conduct badges.
Awarded a pension of 1/- per day.
Pension increased to 1/6d per day for "15 years service in the Enrolled Force" in Western Australia, on the 18th of January 1881. This was further increased on the 4th of April 1893.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Sebastopol and the Turkish medal.
The medal roll states, "Medal given to him, 18/3/58."
Member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1879.
Died in Fremantle, Australia, on the 26th of March 1894.
Living in Deptford in 1855, Portsmouth in 1856, South London in 1858, West London in 1860, and in Western Australia from 1862.
Henry Naylor died in Fremantle, Australia, on the 26th of March 1894, from "Influenza, Mob Cordis, Exhaustion", aged 59 years. His death was certified by Dr. White and the informant of his death was a Mr. E. Simmons - for the undertaker, A.E. Davies. (There is a copy of his death certificate in the "Certificates" file.)
From the "Army and Navy Gazette", May 1894:
"We learn from Australia of the death of Henry Dyson Naylor, aged 60. At the time of his death he was a Corporal in the Fremantle Infantry Corps. He enlisted at the age of 16 years, and three years later he rode in the Charge of the Light Brigade, being seriously wounded, one of the wounds being caused by a cannon rammer which struck him in the loins - this caused him pain until his death, which was largely due to the effects of his wounds. He was sent home from the Crimea, and discharged in 1855. Naylor was then employed as second coachman by the Maharajah Duleep Singh. He then went to Western Australia in charge of prisoners in 1862, and for some years was employed as a night warder at Fremantle Prison, The local Militia gave him a military funeral, and most of the shops closed as a mark of respect..."
Extract from "Queen Victoria's Maharajah" (Duleep Singh), pp 60-61:
"Another servant, a handsome young dragoon who had been in the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, was one of the sights of Perthshire as he strode through the village [Castle Menzies] with all his medals jangling on the Maharajah's blue and green livery."
Note: We know that Henry Naylor had been employed by Duleep Singh, so was he perhaps "this handsome young dragoon"?Duleep Singh was the youngest of the acknowledged sons of Ranjit Singh, Maharajah of Lahore, whom he succeeded in 1842. When in 1849 the British annexed the Punjab he was forced to resign his sovereignty - and to surrender "the gem known as the Koh-in-Nor". He was taken in 1849 to Futteghur, where he became a Christian, and, in 1854, to England, where he was introduced to Queen Victoria.
Victoria admired his looks and his manners, was touched by his history and remained a sympathetic friend, even when a combination of financial hardship and a burning sense of injustice induced in the Maharajah a state of schizophrenia indistinguishable from insanity, in which he renounced Christianity, became violently anti-British, conceived plans for leading the Sikhs of the Punjab in a revolt against British rule in India, and offered his services to the Russians.
In 1891, after he had suffered a stroke, and begged to be reconciled with the Queen, she met him at Nice and she wrote at the time, "I am so glad that we met again and that I could say I forgave him."
Passionately devoted to sport, he had acquired the Elveden estate in Suffolk. This was only a few miles from Mildenhall where Henry Naylor was born and to which he had probably returned to on discharge. [EJB]
Extract from the "Colonial Military Gazette" (Australia), January 1893:
"Colonel Fleming (commanding the Western Australian District) inspected the Fremantle Rifles on their own ground and expressed a favourable opinion regarding the Corps. The Colonel was introduced to a veteran soldier, Corporal Naylor, who rode in the ranks of the 13th Light Dragoons at the battle of Balaclava. The Colonel extended a hearty handshake and made many enquiries regarding the old soldier."
Same source, July 1893:
"Recently an application was made to the War Office for an increase in pension for Corporal Naylor, now of the Fremantle Rifles, but who had formerly served in the Balaclava Charge. As he enjoys the sum of 1/6d. per day pension, the reply was that 'no further award can be given either by the War Office, or Chelsea'."
The "Dictionary of Western Australian Immigrants. 1829-1924" shows him as:
"Naylor, Henry Dyson. Bn. 1836, Dd. (Fremantle) 26/3/1894. Son of Thomas Dyson. Arrived per the "Norwood" 9/6/1862 as Enrolled Pensioner Guard, with family. Marr. (England) Henrietta Wells, Dd. 20/10/1909 (Fremantle), dau. of George Edward and Agnes. Children, Emma Agnes, Bn. 1856; George Edward, Bn. 1862 - Dd. 1940; Henry, Bap. 1863 and Thomas, Bap. 1863; John Alexander, Bn. 1870 - Dd. 1942; Wilfred Alfred, Bn. 1870 - Died 1945; Martha Ann, Bn. 1871. Private, 13th Light Dragoons -Veteran and Crimean War and Chelsea Pensioner. Stationed at Fremantle, posted briefly to Camden Harbour in 1865. Promoted Corporal in 1881. In 1876 granted Loc. PS/20 acres at Koojee, but lived in Fremantle, where he was employed as a butler. C. of E. by religion."
Note: The "Norwood" was a ship of 849 tons, under the command of Captain Frederick Bristow. She had left Portland for Australia on the 16th of March 1862, carrying 382 passengers (both Bond and Free), including 21 Enrolled Pensioner Guards with 38 wives and children. [EJB]
Of his children:
George Edward married Mary Ann Wilkins on the 20th of January 1889. Three children were born into this family: George, Veronica, and Mary. A shipwright by trade, he was employed by the Fremantle Harbour Co. Died at Fremantle on the 27th of July 1941.
John Alexander, born 23rd of February 1867, married Isabella Howe on the 31st of January 1887. A baker by trade, he died at Fremantle on the 1st of July 1940.
William Alfred, born on the 30th of July 1870, married Ann Elizabeth Harker on the 7th of January 1901, dying at Fremantle on the 19th of July 1945.
Martha Ann, born on the 26th of October 1871, married Thomas Keenan (date not known).
A later edition of the same book did not show quite the same details, but added others:
"Went to Camden Harbour aboard the "Tien Tsin" on the 17th of January 1865, and where he remained until the 29th of October 1865. He was part of a Government force of Police, Pensioners and labourers who were sent to join the settlement which had been established there some months. The country was found to be inhospitable and unfit for stock, so much so that no more than a thousand sheep of the four and half thousand sheep originally taken there were left. It was decided to abandon the settlement and those remaining (the great majority had returned, dispirited, to Melbourne by July of 1865) returned to Fremantle."
On E.P.F. Roll (Fremantle detachment):
"On its disbandment, November 1880. Selected to be recruited as an Enrolled Guard (now under Police control and its members sworn in as Special Constables). Its main duties were to furnish a Guard for the Convict Prison and Magazine at Fremantle and a Guard for Government House. The strength of the unit was 1 Sergeant Major, 3 Sergeants, 3 Warders, 5 Cpls. and 37 Ptes."
As an Enrolled Guard, he occupied quarters in No. 1 Barrack, Fremantle, with wife and four children, from 19 November 1880.
Promoted Corporal. 2 April 1881.
1881 - "Has had Koojee Loc. P8 since 1876. Will effect improvements as soon as possible."
Grant of Cockburn Sound, Loc. P8 of 20 acres at Koojee confirmed - 5th of August 1884.
On roll of the Enrolled Guard at its disbandment. Then aged 51 and holding the rank of Corporal 31st of March 1887.
There are also a number of references to him as being as being either a member of, or a subscriber to, various local charities or organisations, e.g. Lancashire Relief Fund, Greenough Fire Fund, Pensioners Benevolent Fund, and signing a petition from the United Temperance Societies League.
From a newspaper report of the time:
"On the 3rd of February 1869 H.R.H. Prince Alfred, son of Queen Victoria, visited Western Australia aboard H.M.S."Galatea" and on every occasion when H.R.H. drove out the escort consisted of six well-mounted and uniformed efficient Dragoon Pensioners, clothed, armed and equipped as Hussars, under the able direction of Major Crampton.Each of the men had borne his part in one or more great battles and one exhibited across his face a sabre cut received in the renowned Balaclava charge. This was Henry Dyson Naylor from the 13th Dragoons, of whom the local journal relates that during the inspection of his escort, 'H.R.H. saw the deep scar on the face of one man, a cicatrized memento of Balaclava.'"
In 1990, an "original" receipt came to light, signed by HN for his final pay and clothing allowances when leaving the service, together with a small portrait some 2" by 3" of a man in civilian clothes that could perhaps have been HN.
The photograph is named on the back as being by a "W. W. Dodds. Photographer, 53 Queen Street, Wolverhampton", a town with which he had no known connections. However, it has been ascertained that a Mr. W.H. Dodd carried on business as a photographer in Fryer Street, Wolverhampton, in 1861 and is shown in available local directories in 1862-3 and 1865 as being in business at 53 Queen Street, Wolverhampton, and in 1869 at Shifnal, Shropshire, although still owning a house in Wolverhampton.
From the earliest date it could be that the picture is of Thomas D. Naylor [sic?], although from his appearance he seems an old-looking 26-27 year man, which he would have been in 1861. (There is a copy of the photograph, and of the medals, in the 13th Hussar file.)
Enquiry carried out by Mr. Bernard Cattermole (a direct descendant of W.G. Cattermole of the 17th Lancers), when visiting Australia in 1991, brought a reply from the present Fremantle Cemetery Board that:
"a check of the Cemetery records showed no trace of his interment here. This particular cemetery was opened in July of 1899; the other cemeteries used before this being in Alma Street (where the Fremantle Hospital now is) and Skinner Street (where the John Curtin Senior High School now stands.)In 1935 the remaining headstones were removed from these cemeteries and placed in an area in this cemetery called the Pioneer Section and according to the records we have here of both of those cemeteries there is nothing at all on H.D. Naylor."