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

Added 17.9.11. Minor edits 13.3.14, 4.4.14. Additional info. 18.6.14, 3.9.16.

496, Private Constantine WRIGLEY - 17th Lancers

Birth & early life

Born at Great Bolton, Lancashire, the eldest son of Constantine Wrigley, a Shoemaker, and his wife Mary, on the 20th of July 1817, and christened in the Parish Church on the 12th of April 1819.

(There is a copy of his christening record in the 17th Lancer file.)

There are two dates for the recorded marriage of his father - to Mary "Lever" on the 15th of December 1812 and to Mary "Leaver" on the 27th of December 1812, both at Bolton le Moors.

1841 Census

Deansgate.

Constantine Wrigley [father], 50, Publican.

Elizabeth Wrigley, 45.

John Wrigley, 15, Ap[prentice] Printer.

Mary Wrigley, 15.

Alice Parkinson, 10.

Ann Parkinson, 10.

James Parkinson, 8.

Catherine McClean, 25, FS [?].

Helen Gunn, 19, Soldiers Wife.

Ann Rose, 30, Soldiers Wife.

[Source: http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Bolton-le-Moors/census/Great-Bolton1841-535/ho107-535-7.html (accessed 18.6.14)].

Marriage

St Peter, Bolton, Lancashire, England, 25 Oct 1840.

Constantine Wrigley, Publican, Full [age], Widower of Great Bolton.

Elizabeth Parkinson, Full, Widow of Great Bolton.

Groom's Father: John Wrigley, Brick Layer.

Bride's Father: Thomas Taylor, Cordwainer.

Witness: Samuel Cheetham; James Liptrot.

Married by Licence by: J. Slade, Vicar.

Groom signed "C. Wrigley".

[Source: Register: Marriages 1839 - 1841, Page 197, Entry 393. Microfilm of the register at Manchester Library. http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Bolton-le-Moors/Great-Bolton/stpeter/marriages_1839-1841.html (accessed 18.6.14)]

Recorded on the same register, 476 Constantine Wrigley's sister Hannah married on the 12th of December 1839, also at St Peter, Bolton le Moors.

His brother John, Printer, married at the same church on the 14th February 1847 [http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Bolton-le-Moors/Great-Bolton/stpeter/marriages_1847-1848.html (accessed 18.6.14)].

__________

At least two Constantine Wrigleys appear in the 1881 Census, possibly relations whose names were chosen to commemorate either 496 Constantine Wrigley or his father (or indeed both). One, a girl, was born in 1878 in Huddersfield, the other, John Constantine Wrigley, was born in Bolton in 1872.]

Enlistment

Enlisted at Manchester on the 27th of January 1836.

Age: 18.

Height: 5' 8".

Trade: Tobacconist.

Service

He is shown as a Corporal in the Casualty lists, but as a Private on both the muster and medal rolls.

Medals

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

Commemorations

Death & burial

Killed in action at Balaclava.

An obituary notice appeared in the Bolton Chronicle of the 24th of November 1854. At the time of his death his father was the landlord of the Ham and Chicken Inn at Bolton. (There is a copy of this in the 17th Lancer file.)



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Memorials



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"Hen and Chickens, on Deansgate, Bolton, announces closure...The historic pub is famous for a number of reasons. Above the fireplace is a painting of The Charge of the Light Brigade, a battle which claimed the life of a landlord's son on October 25, 1854. Private Constantine Wrigley was born in 1816 and enlisted in 1836. His name is still remembered in the pub."

[Source: Saiqa Chaudhari, Bolton News (accessed 3.9.2106).]



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