Enlisted at Ipswich for "unlimited service" on the 15th of November 1836.
Age: 18.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: None shown.
From Private to Corporal: 6th of November 1845.
Reduced to Private by a Regimental Court-martial on the 7th of January 1846.
From Private to Corporal: 6th of June 1847, and was sent to Chichester on Recruiting duties.
Corporal to Sergeant: 17th of January 1848.
Appointed Troop-Sergeant Major on the 15th of February 1851.
Reduced to Sergeant by a Regimental Court-martial on the 10th of November 1854. (No specific charge seems to have been recorded for this.)
Tried by a Regimental Court-martial ("District Court-Martial" crossed out) on the 4th of December 1854 for "being drunk and disobedience of orders. Reduction to Private and to lose his good conduct pay." He was also confined in the "Guard Tent", 4th-11th of December 1854.
From Private to Corporal: 25th of August 1855.
Promoted to Sergeant: 30 October 1855 (on the Increased Establishment).
Sergeant in charge of the rear party when leaving the Crimea, being attached to the 8th Hussars from the 25th of April — 15th of May 1855 and returning with them to England.
Attached to the 4th Battalion of the Military Train from the 1st of April 1857 as Sergeant i/c Party and returned to the regiment on the 7th of September.
Embarked for India from Cork aboard the S.S. "Great Britain" on the 8th of October 1857.
The musters for July-September 1858 show him as being "On Detachment at Sholapoore" during the whole of the period.
In action against the rebels at Zeerapore on the 29th of December 1858 and at Baroda on the 1st of January 1859.
Appointed to Troop Sergeant Major on the 8th of May 1859.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Mutiny medal without clasp. The Returned medal book shows "Mutiny medal sent to the Mint. No trace of issue."
Awarded the Sardinian War Medal. The citation for this stated:
"Was present at the battles of the Alma, where he distinguished himself; Balaclava, where he again distinguished himself by cutting down a Russian officer; Inkerman; and the Siege of Sebastopol. Was never absent from his duties."
Died at Gwalior, India, on the 4th of June 1859.
The India Office records show him as having died at Gwalior on the 4th of June 1859 from "Dysentery Acuta" at the age of 40 years 6 months. He was described as being a Troop Sergeant Major in the 17th Lancers, and was buried on the 5th of June by the Revd. E.W. Tarleton, Chaplain.
Next of kin: his wife, Margaret Jane Ranson, living in Norwich.