Exeter Barracks as a centre for recruitment.
Topsham and Plymouth.
Paget & Portal describe the excitement of the people at the send-off.
4LD
George Warwick HUNT - born Burley House, near Plymouth. Died Torquay.
1464 Thomas Hiscock ASHFORD - born Sidmouth.
1201. Walter Oliver BEST - born East Budleigh.
1206 Henry GOULD - born Bishop's Tawton.
743 William GREENING - born Dowaster, near Bridport. [Devon then/now?]
1180 Joseph GRIGG - born in the Precinct of the Close, Exeter. (Many connections with Devon to follow up.)
1205 Thomas HERBERT - born Bideford, enlisted Exeter 1843, returned to live in Northam, Devon.
1219 John ISAACS - born Farringdon, near Barnstaple, enlisted Exeter 1844, sent to Scutari 3 Nov. 1854, returned December 1854, died Scutari 8 October 1855.
1202 Richard LABBETT - 1202, 4th Light Dragoons - born at "Firstock" [presumably Finstock, near Barnstaple], Devonshire.
1442 James SALTER - born in Exeter, Devonshire.
1212 Joseph SALTERN - born at Barnstaple, Devonshire. Enlisted at Exeter on the 6 of January 1844.
2185 Frederick SHAIRP - born at Ilfracombe, Devonshire, and baptised there on the 9 of June 1835, the son of Stephen Shairp and his wife, Ann Amanda. Enlisted at Exeter into the 3rd Light Dragoons on the 4th of March 1854. Regtl. No. 2144.
852 John STOREY - born at Plymouth, Devon.
1203 William THORNE - born at Barnstaple, Devonshire. The Barnstaple parish records in Devon County Record Office show him as having been baptised on the 17 of November 1821, the son of William Thorne of Castle Ditch, a labourer, and his wife, Mary. Enlisted at Exeter on the 26 of December 1843. Died Thorne - Feb. 3rd at Hardaway Road, Barnstaple, Mr. William Thorne, aged 62.
1527 Charles WAIGHT - born (place?) in Devonshire.
8H
1889 William John ANDREWS - born at Tavistock, Devonshire c.1833.
1201 Frederick Henry CHESHIRE - born in the parish of All Saints, Exeter. Buried in the churchyard of All Saint's Church, Whipton, Exeter.
1287 George DARE - born at Sidbury, Devonshire.Enlisted at Exeter on the 1 of April 1854.
1153 William Stephen John FULTON - born at Devonport, said to be the son of a Thomas Fulton.
1400 George HAYES - born in Plymouth, Devonshire. Enlisted at Exeter on the 29 of September 1854.
1274 George MILLS - born at Combpyne, near Axminster, Devon.
1265 James RAWLIN(G)S - born in Thorverton, near Exeter, Devon, the son of James Rawlings, a labourer, and his wife, Charlotte. [Does JR say anything about his childhood in his memoir?]
1289 William SEARLE - born at Rockbeare, near Exeter.
11H
1408 John FALCONER - born at Exeter, Devonshire.
1931 George HALSE - born in Colyton, Devon.
1590 George HOARNE - born at Axminster, Devon.
1930 Richard NEWBURY - born in the parish of St. Sidwell's, Exeter. Enlisted into the 1st Devon Militia at Exeter on the 21 of November 1854, into the 15th Hussars on the 21st of December 1854 and sent to the 11th Hussars on the 24 of December 1854.
1402 George SAMPSON - born at Axminster, Devonshire. Enlisted at Hounslow on the 20 of September 1848.
13LD
1713 James CHILCOTT - born at Washfield, near Tiverton, Devon.Enlisted at Westminster on the 13 of December 1854,
1784 John MARNEY - born at Stoke, Devon. Enlisted at Exeter on the 23 of January 1855.
1071 John PEDRICK - born at Exeter, Devonshire. Enlisted at London on the 14 of November 1840.
17LD
Archibald CLEVLAND - born at Tapely Park, near Bideford, Devonshire, on the 16 of May 1833, the son of Colonel Augustus Saltren Willett and his wife, Margaret Caroline. Died at Inkerman 1854.
William MORRIS - born at Fishleigh, Hatherleigh, Devonshire, on the 18 of December 1820, the son of William
John Henry THOMSON - born on the 5 of February 1832 and christened at Cathcart, Scotland, on the 29 of March 1833. His elder brother, General Sir Robert White-Thomson, (born 21 of February 1831) erected a railing and gates around a monument placed on Hatherleigh Moor, Devonshire, to the memory of William Morris, and the two shields on the gates are inscribed:- "This frontage was erected by Sir Robert White-Thomson, K.C.B. in memory of his brother, John Henry Thomson, Lieutenant, 17th Lancers, who fell at Balaclava, October 25th 1854, when the Regiment was commanded by Captain, afterwards Colonel Morris, C.B."
NB Amazing dream story
In 1989 an American wrote to the then Regimental Secretary telling him of a recurring dream he had since a child...
Extracts (in his own words) from a statement by one William B. Jenna, of Maryland, America:
It all began in October of 1938, when I was seven years old...
Justus Saltren WILLETT - born circa December of 1817, the son of John Saltren Willett, Esq., of Petticombe, Monkleigh, North Devon, and No. 21 Upper Grosvenor Street, London.
1389 James FROST - born at Exeter, Devonshire, and baptised in the church of St. Francis the Apostle on the 11 of July 1834, the son of James and Frances Frost. His father had married Frances Frost at the church of St. Mary Steps, Exeter, on the 1 of February 1829...
652 Robert HARRIS - born at Deptford, near Modberry, Devon. Enlisted at London on the 17 of June 1840.
1155. James RYAN - born at Youghal, Co. Cork. Lived at Tapely Place, Devonshire, and was still there in 1875.
________
Jemmy!
From John Doyle's pamphlet...
We had a little dog called Jemmy, which a man named Lennan brought from Devonport as a little puppy and was taken great care of by the men. He used to follow the spent shot and shell, snapping at the fuse and trying to pull it out. A shell landed under Captain Long worth's horse that would have blown him and his horse sky-high but for Jemmy the dog, who flew at it and pulled out the fuse.
From the Regimental History... No visitor to the Officer's Mess of the 8th is likely to forget that Jemmy, a rough-coated terrier, went all through the charge of the Light Brigade, where he was wounded in the neck by a splinter of shell. He returned to England with the Regiment and at Dundalk Colonel De Salis gave him the collar which is still preserved in the Mess. He embarked with the Regiment for India and marched with them daily until after the engagement of the 14th of August 1858. He was drowned in September of that same year whilst crossing the river Chambul, the current proving too strong for him. On the collar are the clasps awarded to Jemmy for war service at the Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, Sebastopol, and the Indian Mutiny. (A Major Otley of the regiment wrote an article in 1956 for the Regimental Journal in which he said that "The famous dog collar belonging to "Jemmy" who, incidentally, was wounded at Inkerman and not at Balaclava, is also in the Officer' s Mess..."
1192 Robert FERGUSON.
1180 Joseph GRIGG.
CLEVLAND
THOMSON
Clevland's servant Ryan, who married a Tapeley servant.
PAGET - married in West Ogwell, near Newton Abbot.
CHECK: 1192 Robert FERGUSON - married Topsham [?St Thomas's Exeter?]
George Warwick HUNT - died Torquay.
1201 Walter Oliver BEST - died Plymouth.
Text
Mayow tablet in Norval Church.
Text
NB Chagford Church memorial to John Evans - 88th Regiment, Connaught Rangers.
"Dedicated to the memory of Captain John Evans late 88th Regiment Connaught Rangers, in which regiment he served in the Crimea during the war with Russia, and was present at the seige of Sebastopol attack on the quarries 7th June and Redan 18th June 1855 and although badly wounded in the trenches 8th August, he continued with his regiment to India as adjutant, and was severely wounded in action with the mutineers of the Indian Army at Cawnpore on the 27th November 1857, from the effect of which he died at Babbicombe [sic on memorial? Babbacombe is near Torquay.] on the 5th October 1861 at the early age of 23 years and was buried in the churchyard of the parish of St. Marychurch in this county. This monument is erected as a tribute of affectionate regret to his memory by his maternal grand uncle E.S. Baily, Esq. of Whiddon Park, in this parish."
Is he in Roger Fenton's photograph of the 88th?
https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/2500450/officers-of-the-88th-regiment
The Revd Sabine Baring-Gould's Onward Christian Soldiers (1865?) possibly draws on the Charge poem? (written when living in Yorkshire, but subsequently associated with North Devon, near the homes of several officers who had fought (and in several cases died) in the Charge.]
It's bit of a stretch, but there are similarities. The great body of people relentlessly moving forward, its pounding metre [more marching than galloping, of course], all in the service of a greater good, its wider historic significance etc. And of course repetitions of certain key words e.g. Onward, Forward...
Ths is the version from
https://www.challies.com/articles/hymn-stories-onward-christian-soldiers
App. it was frequently re-written [check variants]
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, [Half a league, half a league, half a league onward]
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
Forward into battle see His banners go! [Forward the Light Brigade]
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee;
On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise; [Hell]
Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.
Like a mighty army moves the church of God;
Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod.
We are not divided, all one body we,
One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.
What the saints established that I hold for true.
What the saints believèd, that I believe too.
Long as earth endureth, men the faith will hold,
Kingdoms, nations, empires, in destruction rolled.
Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane,
But the church of Jesus constant will remain.
Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail; [cf. They that had fought so well Came thro' the jaws of Death, the mouth of Hell]
We have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail.
Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng,
[Onward]Blend with ours your voices in the triumph song.
Glory, laud and honor unto Christ the King,
This through countless ages men and angels sing. [When can their glory fade...]
________________________________________________________________________
The article begins
Hymn Stories: Onward, Christian Soldiers
June 9, 2013 #hymns
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Onward, Christian Soldiers" was written in 1865 with no intention of ever being published, especially in adult hymn books. Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, its author, was at that time the curate of a parish in Yorkshire county in the north of England, and he recounts how and why he wrote it:
It was written in a very simple fashion - Whitmonday is a great day for school festivals in Yorkshire, and one Whitmonday it was arranged that our school should join its forces with that of a neighboring village. I wanted the children to sing when marching from one village to the other, but couldn't think of anything quite suitable, so I sat up at night resolved to write something myself. "Onward, Christian Soldiers" was the result. It was written in great haste, and I am afraid some of the rhymes are faulty. Certainly nothing has surprised me more than its great popularity.
Though it was never meant for publication, it was nevertheless found its way into a periodical later that year, and soon it became included in English hymnals around the world. Louis Benson suspects that it caught on in the United States, at least in part, because it tapped into the "soldier-spirit left in the hearts of young and old Americans by the four years of the Civil War" which had just ended.
In 1871 Arthur Sullivan wrote the tune "St. Gertrude" for the hymn, which further popularized the hymn and has ever since been its standard melody.
Due to its militaristic theme and martial melody, the hymn has encountered some resistance in recent years, and some church denominations have removed it from their hymn books entirely. However, it is appropriate to remember that Paul commands Timothy to "share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:3), and that he instructs the church to "put on the whole armor of God" because we wrestle against the spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6).
The words of the hymn make it clear that the focus is on this spiritual battle - that our foe is Satan, not men, and that our King and Commander in Chief is the eternal, omnipotent Christ whose kingdom cannot fail.
LIEUT FREDERICK HENRY CHESHIRE & TRUMPETER JAMES DONOGHUE
Frederick Henry Cheshire
All Saints Churchyard, Whipton
FREDERICK HENRY CHESHIRE LATE 8TH HUSSARS
ONE OF THE SIX HUNDRED
WHO DIED FEB. 16TH 1912
AGED 79.
Lt Frederick Henry Cheshire was born in Whipton in 1833. He was a member of the 8th Hussars who made that fateful charge at Balaclava on the 27th April 1854, when he lost a leg in the action. The Light Brigade consisted of the 8th and 11th Hussars, 4th and 13th Light Dragoons and the 17th Lancers, under the command of Major General the Earl of Cardigan. The action was a disaster and 118 men were killed, 127 wounded, and 362 horses lost.
Trumpeter James Donoghue
There is a second survivor from the Charge of the Light Brigade with connections to Exeter. Trumpeter James Donoghue enlisted in 1848 and sailed for the Crimea on the H T Medora in April 1854. He had his horse shot from under him in the charge. After he retired, he became the Band Master of the 1st (Exeter and South Devon) Volunteer Regiment and lived in Blackboy Road. He is buried in Warrington.
[PB: Where on earth has this Lieutenancy come from? See Frederick Cheshire's page on this site, and in Hughes and Trigg (2008), pp.50 - 51.]
Some of the 17th Lancers went out from Portsmouth on HMS Ganges:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ganges_(1821)
"In 1930, after over a century in service, she was finally broken up at Plymouth. The captain's cabin in the stern was used in the construction of the Burgh Island Hotel in Devon, where it remains to this day. In 1933, timbers from the ship were also used to construct the cross which stands outside the eastern end of Guildford Cathedral in Surrey."