LIVES OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
The E.J. Boys Archive

Orderly Room Clerk William Wallace GRAHAM — 961, 17th Lancers

Birth & early life

Born in Dublin on the 22nd of November 1831.

Enlistment

Enlisted at London on the 4th of June 1848.

Age: 18.

Height: 5' 7".

Trade: None shown.

Service

From Private to Corporal: 24th of May 1850.

Appointed to Orderly Room Clerk (as Sergeant) on the 25th of September 1854. Allowed to revert to Duty Sergeant, "at his own request," on the 17th of June 1855.

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

To Cornet in the 6th Dragoon Guards, 2nd of May 1856. Gazetted whilst on board ship en route for England from the Crimea. (A service newspaper at the time of his death stated that he was "specially recommended for a Cornetcy on account of his distinguished gallantry at Balaclava...")

To Lieutenant on the 13th of November 1857 and to Adjutant on the 17th of July 1863.

Lieutenant Blake, of the Carabineers, in a letter home, describing his brother officers: "Graham, a man who rose from the ranks, who thinks it necessary to preserve his position by a saturnine solidarity."

Captain on 17th of January 1872.

He was not married up to the 1st of April 1872.

Campaign Service [?]

Served throughout the Eastern campaign of 1854-55, including the affair of Mackenzie's Farm, battles of the Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, the Techernya and the Siege and fall of Sebastopol (Medal and four clasps.) Also present with the Carabineers at the outbreak of the Sepoy Mutiny at Meerut on the 10th of May 1857; served the Rohicund campaign of 1858 until wounded; also the Oude campaign of 1858-59 (Medal).

Discharge & pension

Retired on half-pay pension on the 23rd of January 1878.

Medals

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

Mutiny medal without clasp.

Further medal information archived.

Commemorations

Member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1879.

Named as Sergeant on both 1877 & 1879 Balaclava Commemoration Society listings.

Life after service

1871 Census

25 Adelaide Crescent, Hove, Brighton

DeCourcy Parkinson [future wife], 25, born Whitchurch, living with her widowed mother Sarah (55), Fundholder, & her seven siblings: Caroline (28), Constance (21), Richard (20), twins Ada & Georgina (18), Edith (16), and Reginald (15).

Including 6 servants.

Marriage registered

William Wallace Graham married De Courcy Frederika Parkinson, December Quarter 1878, Newton A. [PB: meaning?]

1881 Census

Birtley House, Bramley, Hambledon, Surrey.

William W Graham, 49. Major Retired late Captain 6th D Guards, born St Mildred's Dublin.

Decourcy F Graham, 35, wife, born Whitchurch Oxon.

Incl. 1 visitor & 3 servants.

Lived at Stowmarket, Suffolk, for five years, 1884-89, and was church-warden of Stowmarket Church.

Death registered

William Wallace Graham, aged 57 years, September Quarter 1889, Stow.

1891 Census

24 Linden House, Bromley Kent

Decourcy F Graham, widow, 46, Living on her own means, born Whitchurch Oxon.

Incl. 3 servants.

Death & burial

Died at Violet Hill, Stowmarket, on the 16th of August 1889 and was buried in St. Mary's churchyard, Plaistow, Essex, on the 21st of August, aged 57 years.

Extract of his obituary notice from the Ipswich Journal, 23rd of August 1899:

"Major Graham of Stowmarket had an attack of apoplexy which rendered him unconscious. His medical attendant (Dr. Roberts) could not save him and he passed away soon after 5 a.m. on Friday. His death was sudden. His body was taken from Stowmarket Station to Liverpool Street Station by train and thence to St. Mary's Church at Plaistow, and buried there on Wednesday. The service was conducted by the Revd. A.T. Mitton.

Major Graham was a hero of Balaclava. He was with the Light Brigade in the Charge of the Six Hundred and rode "into the jaws of death. He was a well-liked person who did several things of note for other people and was active in public life."

Details of those present showed them to be family, and brother officers from the 6th Dragoon Guards. No one from the 17th Lancers appeared to have been present. (See copy of the funeral report taken from the Ipswich Observer for the 23rd of August 1889 in the 17th Lancer file.)

Suffolk and Essex Free Press, [date?] August 1889.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Home News, 23 August 1889.

(Click on image to enlarge)

No gravestone can be found for him in the churchyard at Plaistow. The churchyard has now been turned into a small park, and only a few stones remain standing. The church itself (opened in 1889) was demolished in 1978. A small number of gravestones were stacked in one corner, but it is not known whether they were re-erected when development was completed.

(See photograph in the 17th Lancer file of the remaining part of the church and churchyard at St. Mary's, where he was buried.)

References & acknowledgements

Registrations of death, details of membership of the Balaclava Commemoration Society, Census information for 1871, 1881, 1891, and two cuttings, kindly provided by Chris Poole.