Enlistment
Enlisted at Birmingham on the 26th of May 1846.
Age: 19 years 2 months. [WL: 3 months]
Height: 5' 10".
[WL: 5' 8 and half" at enlistment, 5' 10" at discharge.]
Trade: Servant.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Hazel eyes. Brown hair.
Discharge & pension
Discharged from Dublin on the 20th of May 1862.
"Unfit for further service. Suffers from Disease of the Heart - probably Aneurisis. May be attributable to predisposition, military service and aggravated by exposure in the Crimea. Permanent disability, incapacitating him to some extent from earning his living."
Conduct: "a good soldier". Not in possession of any Good Conduct badges.
Twenty times entered in the Regimental Defaulters' book. Never tried by Court-martial.
Served 15 years 352 days.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 1 year 10 months.
Aged 35 years on discharge.
Awarded a pension of 6d. per day, "Special."
To live at Chapel Cottage, Southgate, London, but he was living in Jersey in 1864 and in the East London Pension District from the 3rd of March 1865.
1862: North London 1, West London 1
1864: Jersey
1865: Jersey, West London 1, East London 1]
[WL]
Medals
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol.
Documents confirm the award of the Crimean and Turkish medals.
Death & burial
Died in the East London Pension District on the 26th of March 1868.
Death registered
John Thorpe, aged 40 years, March Quarter 1868, Hackney.
[CP]
St. Catherine's House records show a man of this name as dying in the Hackney District of London, aged 40 years, during the April-June quarter of 1868.
Brought from Lamb Lane, Hackney, he was buried in the Tower Hamlets Cemetery on the 30th of March 1868.
Further information
[PB, 5.7.18: I notice a medal to "J. Thorp" is coming up for auction at Spink with a vague claim that he Charged. There is very little supporting information. EJB does not mention the Woolley & Wallis auction in the 1980s.]
Spink Auction 18002, 24-25 July 2018
(Click on image to enlarge)
56 Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (J. Thorp. 4th Lt. Dragns.), officially impressed naming, post slightly bent, otherwise very fine £600-800
Provenance: Woolley & Wallis, 1980s.
Sold with roll confirmation of all four clasps. The recipient was present at Balaklava; together with an old note stating 'Rode in the Charge'.
[Source: TheSaleroom.com: Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps etc, J. Thorp. 4th Light Dragoons (accessed 6.7.2018)]
[CP, 4.10.18: Ian Smith, Oswestry, notes July 25th/26th Medal News records Spink sold Thorpe's medals for Hammer Price £1800.]
