Born in the Precinct of the Close, Exeter, in 1825 [Wendy Leahy: 24th August 1825, father "Clerk"].
He was christened Joseph Stockholm [PB: sic?] Grigg at Exeter Cathedral on the 25th of August 1825, the son of William and Elizabeth Grigg. His father's profession was shown as "Taylor". The officiating clergyman was the Revd. E. Eastcott. A sister, Elizabeth, was also baptised in the Cathedral on the 2nd of November 1832.
Grigg is a very old Exeter name: his father could possibly have been the William Grigg who married Elizabeth Youlden, both of the Close, after banns, on the 17th of March 1811, and his mother the daughter of Edmund Youldon, of St. George's Parish in Exeter, who had married Ztia [?] Shute, of the Close, on the 31st of January 1777 in the presence of John Quick, Mary Shute and Simon Westcott.
Enlisted at Exeter on the 21st of October 1843.
Age: 18 years [WL: 18 years 4 months].
Height, 5' 8".
Trade: Groom.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Hazel eyes. Brown hair.
At Scutari from the 22nd of September 1854 and sent to rejoin the regiment on the 3rd of October 1854.
He was Orderly to General Cathcart 4th of November — 20th of December 1854.
Sent to Scutari on the 27th of December 1854 until the 3rd of February 1855.
At Scutari again 4th of April — 11th of May 1855.
From Private to Corporal: 1st of October 1857.
Corporal to Sergeant: 1st of March 1859.
Reduced to Private by a Regimental Court-martial on the 19th of October 1860.
Discharged from Dublin on the 19th of December 1860.
"Free, to a deferred pension of 4d. per day upon reaching the age of 50 years."
Served 17 years 54 days.
Conduct: "good".
In possession of two Good Conduct badges.
To live at 25, South Street, Exeter.
Re-enlisted into the 5th Lancers at Aldershot on the 19th of January 1861. Regimental No. 954. [WL: 19.6.1861.]
From Private to Corporal: 19th of June 1861.
Corporal to Sergeant: 24th of January 1866.
Discharged from Canterbury Depot on the 5th of June 1869:
"Free, after 24 years' service." Former service of 17 years in the 4th Light Dragoons allowed to reckon towards pension — vide War Office Authority dated the 16th of May 1862.
In Turkey and the Crimea. 1 year 10 months
In India: 3 years 5 months.
Conduct: "very good". Had four Good Conduct badges when promoted and would now be in possession of five.
Next of kin (June, 1869): Wife, Harriet Emma Grigg.
At this time they had three children, aged 8 years 9 months, 3 years 5 months and 11 years [sic] 1 month.
He is shown on the Regimental "Married roll" from the 9th of August 1867.
Why this should have been so is not clear, but this was a common date entered for some three-quarters of the men on the roll. It was around this time that a roll of men on the married strength of regiments was first shown on the musters, and could have been the date accepted by the Cavalry Depot at Canterbury (the Regiment itself still being in India at the time of his discharge) although not the date on which he came on the married roll of the 5th Lancers. From the age of his eldest child, it could be that he had married while in the 4th Light Dragoons.
[PB, Feb 2014: Wendy Leahy notes two marrriages and lists 13 children: 7 born to Joseph Grigg's first wife, Harriet Emma (Sharratt), and 6 to his second wife, Elizabeth (Percy, nee Blackman).]
First wife: Harriett Emma Sharratt, daughter of a coach builder, married Joseph Grigg at St Matthew's Manchester, 11th December 1859.
- Harry Grigg, b. 03 09 1860 (enlisted in the 4th Hussars on 18 10 1873 at Canterbury aged 13 years).
- William Grigg, b. 12 12 1865.
- Elizabeth Sharratt Grigg, b. 28 06 1868.
- Joseph Stockham Grigg, b. 01 02 1870.
- Fanny Harriett Grigg, b. 26 10 1871.
- Jessie Grigg, b. 28 09 1874.
- Ellen Grigg, b. 03 04 1876.
Second wife: Elizabeth Percy née Blackman of Crediton. (Joseph Grigg, 61 years, Bachelor, Army Pensioner of No 7, St. Radigunds Street, Canterbury, married Elizabeth Percy, 42 years, Widow of No 7, St. Radigunds Street, Canterbury at Canterbury Register Office on 03 02 1890.)
- Harriett Grigg, b. c1882, near Exeter.
- Ernest Grigg, b. 20 12 1884, Pinhoe, Exeter (father a retired Groom, Trumpeter, 5th Royal Irish Lancers, mother Elizabeth Grigg, formerly Percy).
- Emma Grigg, b. 1886, near Exeter.
- Charles Grigg, b. 1887, near Exeter.
- Gertrude Mary 'Dolly' Grigg, b. 20 05 1891, 7 Myrtle Terrace, Black Griffin Lane, Canterbury (Father a General Labourer).
- Anne Grigg, b. 07 03 1894, 29, Ruttington Lane, d. 30 08 1894, of "debility from birth", 1, Whitstable Road, St Dunstan.
[Source: http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/4ths/dragoong/grigg1.html (accessed 31.1.2014).]
Five times entered in the Regimental Defaulter's book. Once tried by Court-martial (when he was reduced to Private for "absence").
Conduct: "a good soldier," and was in possession of two Good Conduct badges at the time of his first discharge.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol. [PB: presumably plus Turkish Medal?]
In his memoir (see below), Joseph Grigg said that he had served at the Alma and had four clasps to his Crimean medal. The medal rolls only credit him with three and this was the number on the medals sold on various occasions.
Awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal on the 24th of March 1878 with a gratuity of £10. This was after he had left the Army.
Granted a pension of 1/5d. per day.
Grigg gave his account of the Charge in a collection of articles entitled "Told from the Ranks: Recollections of Service During the Queen's Reign by Privates and Non-Commissioned Officers of the British Army, 1843-1901", edited by E. Milton Small, published in London in 1901.There is a copy in the "Memoirs" file.
[PB: Joseph Grigg's account is now [2013] available online at the Wendy Leahy's invalable Sands of Time website ( www.shadowsoftime.co.nz), with a number of other 4th Light Dragoons-related sources. For convenience, I have reformatted this version here. Note: as yet, this has not been checked against the original.]
Member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1879.
Attended the Annual Dinner in 1893.
Present at the Fleet Street offices of T.H. Roberts for the Jubilee celebrations held there in June of 1897 and signed the testimonial given to Mr. Roberts on that occasion. (See copy of this in the "Memoirs" file.) He was shown at this time as living in Canterbury.
[PB: WL says he signed an "Illuminated Address" to Roberts dated 25th October 1897.]
On discharge, he went to live at St. Augustine's Priory, Canterbury, and is shown as living in the Canterbury Pension District until at least 1875.
1881 Census
Address?
The Census for Canterbury 1881 show him as a "Warder of the HM Prison, Canterbury and Chelsea Pensioner", late Sergeant 5th Regt. of Lancers, aged 55 years, born in Exeter, Devon.
Death registration
A man of this name is shown in the St. Catherine's House records as dying in the Canterbury District during the January-March quarter of 1904, aged 78 years.
According to his death certificate (see copy in the 4th Hussars file) he died of "Senility", and is shown as being an "Army Pensioner of St. Dunstan's" [sic].
EJB: There is a St. Dunstan's Without, a former parish adjacent to Canterbury, and reference has been seen in military records of the second half of the nineteenth century of men being sent from the Canterbury Cavalry Depot to a military prison there. There are also references to men going from the Canterbury Depot to St. Augustine's civil prison. He may possibly have been employed there as a prison warder.
A check of the Somerset House wills showed the death of a Joseph Grigg of No. 58 Whitstable Road, Canterbury, Kent, a retired prison-warder, at Herne, Kent, on the 19th of February 1904.
Administration was granted to his son, Ernest Grigg, a Trumpeter in the 5th Royal Irish Lancers, at Maidstone on the 7th of May 1904. He left an estate of £33.
Joseph Grigg was in the Workhouse at Blean at the time of his death.
Enquiry of the Kent Archives Office at Maidstone brought confirmation of his death being recorded in the Blean Workhouse deaths register, as being aged 80, from St. Gregory's parish, which was also where he was buried (Ref. G/BL WId3).
There are no admission or discharge records for the period now extant.
There is a Town Cemetery off Whitstable Road, Canterbury, but a letter from the Cemetery authorities shows that he was not buried there in spite of their opinion that it would have been the obvious place, neither was he buried in the churchyard of St. Martin's at Herne, where it could also be assumed he might have been interred.
[PB, Feb 2014: WL states "24 02 1904 aged 80 years, at St Dunstan's church, London Road, Canterbury, by Mr. W.G. Evill, officiating minister."]
He had two sons (so far as is known) who had also served in the 5th Lancers.
The Ernest Grigg to whom the probate of the will was granted was born at Pinhoe, Exeter, and enlisted at Canterbury on the 7th of January 1899 at the age of 14 years. He was 5' 0" in height, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes, light brown hair, C. of E. by religion, and a farm-labourer by trade. His Regimental number was 4559.
He attained the age of 18 years on the 20th of December 1902.
Appointed Trumpeter on the 1st of June 1903, he was discharged "At his own request," by purchase with the payment of £18, under the Royal Warrant, Article 1142, from Norwich on the 19th of June 1904, with 5 years 167 days service to count, and in possession of one Good Conduct badge.
He had served in South Africa from the 13th of May 1899 to the 3rd of May 1902 and was awarded the Q.S.A. medal with clasp for Natal (as a Boy) and the K.S.A with clasps for 1901-02, as a Private.
He is named both on his documents and the medal rolls as "Griggs", but he signed his name as "E. Grigg" on both enlistment and discharge. His next of kin was shown as his father, "Joseph Grigg, of 7 Whitstable Road, Canterbury." (This cottage is still standing [1990].
By information received from a Mr. F. Wright of Beaworthy, Devonshire, it is now known that the son, Ernest, was baptised (Entry No. 1194) at Pinhoe, Devonshire, on the 11th of January 1885, the son of Joseph Grigg, late Sergeant 5th Lancers (Pensioner), and his wife, Elizabeth.
From the name of his wife he would appear to have been twice married.
His brother, Charles Percy, was born at Bradninch, near Exeter, Devon, and enlisted at Canterbury on the 12th of September 1901 as No. 6240. He was 14 years 1 month of age, 4' 8" in height, with a sallow complexion, grey eyes, black hair, C. of E. by religion, and had "no trade".
He was discharged from Canterbury, "His services no longer being required", (but with no other explanation) on the 6th of June 1902, after a total service of 172 days. His next of kin was shown as "Father — Joseph Grigg, of No. 58 Whitstable Road, Canterbury, Kent." All known documents are in the name of "Grigg". (Whether the two Joseph Griggs are one and the same man cannot at the moment [1988] be proven, but there are too many similarities to think differently.)
EJB: It is now known that this daughter died in September 1889. All this would seem to prove a continuity of relationship.
In the February 1990 number of "The Family Tree" magazine there appeared a family photograph, sent in by a Mr. Philip Beeton, of Colchester, Essex, of his great-grandfather, Joseph Stockham Grigg. Stated at the time was:
"Born in Exeter in 1825, he eventually enlisted in the 4th Light Dragoons, saw service in the Crimea and took part in the battles of Inkerman, Sevastopol and Balaklava, including the Charge of the Light Brigade. He died in Canterbury in 1904."
(See copy in the 4th Hussar file.)
A full copy of this record was sent to Mr. Beeton, with the request that he would, if at all able, clear up some of the doubts and anomalies that existed.
In reply, he said:
"I am descended from Joseph Grigg through his son, Ernest, he being my maternal grandfather. Joseph was, as you thought, married twice, his first wife being Harriet Emma Sharrett, whom he had married at Manchester in December of 1859 [WL: St Matthews Manchester, 11 12 1859].
I possess a photograph of J.G. with his sons, Ernest and Charles, taken about 1890. This is the earliest photo I have of him and shows him as wearing the Crimean medal with three clasps, a copy of his first marriage certificate, my great-aunt's (Gertrude Mary, who died in 1989 in her 90's) birth certificate and giving the fullest information I have on his second wife. (Her mother was shown as Elizabeth Grigg, late Percy, formerly Blackmore.)
[PB: the following paras read awkwardly. Has something been misplaced?]
At this time he was living in Canterbury and described as being a "General Labourer".
A letter from Mr. Roberts of the Balaclava Fund thanking his son Ernest for informing him of his father's death, and saying "I am sorry I was not informed earlier of his death, as I would very much have liked to have sent a wreath as a token of respect... a picture of my grandfather Ernest Grigg, in 1936 and a short biographical note on the occasion of his Golden Wedding anniversary in April of 1961 (he died at Colchester in October of 1963) pages from Joseph Grigg's personal note-book.
In this Grigg states that he was born on the 24th of August 1825 and baptised as Joseph Stockham Grigg. (This date and naming is at odds with the Parish Records.) He had seven children between September of 1860 and April of 1876, three boys and four girls. (Possessed birth certificates for two of the girls both show different addresses and the father as being a 'Warder at St. Augustine's Prison.')
Of these the eldest son, Harry, enlisted into the 4th Hussars as No. 1351 at Canterbury on the 18th of October 1873. Said to have been born at Dudley, Staffordshire, he was 14 years 2 months of age (this does not agree with an entry in the notebook.)
After being appointed as a Bandsman/Musician in July of 1879, he was discharged in June of 1895, after having served 21 years 251 days. He married Isabella Stewart Strachan at Edinburgh in March of 1887, and three children are known to have been born into this family.
Another son, Joseph Stockham, is shown as serving in the 4th Hussars as No. 2778, but it has not yet been possible to find out anything about him. (The latter was serving in the 4th Hussars at Dublin in 1889 and was still in the regiment in 1895, when the last information on him is available. No entry can be found for his enlistment or discharge, and his father's note-book gives only his name, number, and regiment.)
My grandfather's brother, Charles Percy, after his short stay in the 5th Lancers entered the Royal Navy in 1908 and after serving in several different ships, was invalided out in September of 1917. (He was a Leading Stoker, his service number being 311048. The medal rolls show him as being entitled to the 1914 Star, and the War and Victory medals. These were "Sent" (no date).
He then set up in business (trading to a certain extent on the family's war record) in Canterbury, and died there in May of 1951. A well known boxer when in the Service, he then continued as coach to several local boxing clubs and schools. His son was also a well-known Services boxer, and later when working for the National Coal Board.
One very curious entry in JG's notebook is: "Joseph Grigg, left the 'White Hart", 25th April 1882. — Arrived at Exeter, 15th July 1882 — about 2.30. p.m." Did he, perhaps, walk all the way?
His wife, according to the 1881 Census, was living at No. 23 Alma Street, Canterbury. She was 41 years of age, her occupation shown as a "Soldier's wife", [sic], born at Lichfield.
Five children were living at home, but Joseph Grigg was not there (he being on duty at the prison). So, did his wife die soon after, for him to make the journey to Devon and a second marriage? (No trace can yet be found of this as recorded.)
I was pleased to see a photograph of his "real" group of medals, because as far as I know, no-one in the family knew anything about them. I do have three medals, one is a Crimean medal with clasp for "Sebastopol", a Turkish medal (both having no inscription on the edge) and a Long Service medal which has been re-named."
(There are copies of all the various documents in the "Memoirs" file and one of the photograph mentioned, in the 4th Hussar file.)