THE THIRTEENTH LIGHT DRAGOONS
Private 1452 William SEWELL
Born 1830 at Mickleham, Surrey. Employed as a coachman. Enlisted 1851-2. Severely wounded during the Charge on 25 October 1854. His horse was killed. Later promoted to Sergeant. Medal: Crimea (B&S). Married in 1860 to Mary McMillen at Liverpool. Died 6 January 1910 at 18 Rose Lane, Mossley Hill, Liverpool and was buried on 13 January 1910 at Woolton Parish Churchyard, Liverpool. A member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1879, he attended the Annual Reunion Dinners in 1892, 1895, 1899 and 1906. He had been badly wounded in the head and a metal plate was fixed over its site, which he wore for the rest of his life. On leaving the army he worked as a coachman to the Earl family and married their cook. The uniform he wore at Balaclava is now at the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London.
http://www.sole.org.uk/lightbri.htmAnd this is a surprise ... I didn't think there were that many !!
LIVERPOOL cavalrymen, who rode in the Charge of the Light Brigade, are to be remembered on its 150th anniversary.
Eight city soldiers took part in the ill-fated charge during the Crimean War.
Three were killed when they rode into the 'Valley of Death' immortalised in a Tennyson poem and in Hollywood film starring Errol Flynn.
Now descendants of the Liverpool cavalrymen and others interested in the city's connection with the Light Brigade are invited to a commemoration on October 31 at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.
Terry Brighton, from the Queen ' s Royal Lancers Museum in Grantham, said: "A number of Liverpool men are known to have ridden into the Valley of Death.
"Some didn't return - John Barry, James Larkin and Robert Layzell were killed by Russian cannon-fire.
"William Sewell was badly wounded in the head and taken to Florence Nightingale's hospital, where he had a metal plate fixed to replace the lost section of his skull.
" This must have been effective because he survived until 1910, when he was living in Rose Lane, Mossley Hill.
"James Glanister struck a Russian on the helmet with his sword and the blade snapped off. A musket ball then shattered his lower jaw, but he was led back to British lines.
"He recovered and in later life lived in Apple Terrace, Edge Hill. A notice of his death appeared in the Liverpool ECHO on March 27, 1901."
Other local men to return home included Andrew Nelson, who used his experience with horses by becoming a cab driver, Edward Hindley, who came home to Granby Street, Princes Park, and John Mortimer who lived in Court Union Street.
Mr Brighton said: "All who survived were welcomed back as heroes and a Light Brigade medal and good story of the Charge were worth a free quart of ale in any hostelry!"
Anyone descended from these calvalrymen who would like to take part should write to Mr Brighton at the Queen's Royal Lancers Museum, Lancer House, Prince William of Gloucester Barracks, Grantham NG31 7TJ or e-mail terrybrighton[at]btopenworld. com
Source- Liverpool Echo
