A Unique FOUR CLASP CRIMEA & TURKISH CRIMEA PAIR.
(A NEW 13th LIGHT DRAGOONS “LIGHT BRIGADE” CHARGER)
Subsequently Served With “THE HEAVY BRIGADE” 6th Dragoonsas
(Cornet & Riding Master)
A man with an incredible service history.
665 Private, Corporal, Sergeant, R.S.M., Quartermaster, Cornet & Captain. Thomas E.Anderson.
13th Light Dragoons & 6th Dragoons
[BIOGRAPHY]
-circa 1817 until 1863-
665.Pte Thomas E. Anderson joined the 13th Light Dragoons (Part of The Light Brigade) as an ordinary Private soldier on 26th July 1833.
Assuming a normal attestation age of 17-18 he was born in circa 1816-1817, and chronologically he could well have been the son of man discharged from the Army in late 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo.
He was quickly promoted to Corporal on 7th February 1834, and to Sergeant on 1st September 1834. To rise from private to sergeant in just over 12 months was very good going indeed. However, he was then “Reduced to Private” for a currently unknown misdemeanour on 9th June 1835.
He subsequently re-climbed the promotional ladder via Corporal & Sergeant in 1837 & 1839, to Regimental Sergeant Major in 1841 and to Quartermaster in 1847. In this capacity he continued to serve with the 13th Light Dragoons (Light Brigade) until he transferred to 6th Dragoon Guards (Heavy Brigade) on 10th November 1854.
As is the case with very many of the men who like Thomas Anderson actually did charge at Balaclava, he did not attend the later and much vaunted Light Brigade reunions and anniversary dinners, upon which the now “greatly challenged” and “highly suspect” lists of confirmed chargers are based, and is thus not currently listed as a charger.
As indeed he should be.
In fact it has long been well recognised that there were also many attendees at the earlier annual reunions who claimed to have charged, but actually did not, & some of these had not even been in the army !
After much deep examination of the facts surrounding the career of Thomas Anderson and his medal, and after paying particular attention to the unique details of its naming, it has become quite obvious that Anderson, as a greatly skilled horseman & Quartermaster who was serving on the full strength of 13th Light Dragoons certainly DID take part in The Charge of The Light Brigade on 25th October 1854.
Importantly and as the late great John Hayward often remarked.
“Most members of the Light Brigade entitled to the Balaclava clasp, in the absence of any evidence or status details to the contrary, took part in the Charge”
Looking at the medal rolls for 13th Dragoons, they are frankly a complete mess, and as with so many of the other Crimea & Light Brigade unit rolls, many known and confirmed “Charger” members of the units are not even listed for their medals !
The Crimea medal and its four available clasps was actually the very first “mass produced multi-clasp medal” and was the first medal awarded in such huge numbers. As such, the entire issuing procedure and the recording of it and it’s four clasps was a new, challenging and problematic venture. The surviving Crimea medal rolls are notoriously inaccurate, patchy and problematic or even missing ....and in many cases show major errors in the spelling of names, problems with lateral line register and other compilation issues with in some cases the complete omission of many details.
Indeed the 13th Dragoons didn’t even produce a complete and separate roll for the Balaclava clasp and the listed mens’ entitlements to the Balaclava clasp are merely confirmed with a capital “B” in the third “remarks” column of the Alma & Inkermann roll.
(Ref: page 456 WO.130/24)
There never was or ever has been (or perhaps can be) a complete and totally accurate listing of all the men who actually did take part in the charge. Newly arriving medals to previously unknown or unconfirmed chargers continue to regularly show up. Of those 673 men who apparently charged, I estimate that slightly less than 375 of their medals are currently known, so there’s plenty of scope for other surviving medals to show up over the coming years.
So looking at the situation from an “on the ground” & “on the day” point of view, it’s clear that anyone serving with any of the light brigade units who was present and on a horse that day charged down the famous valley at Balaclava....well over six hundred of them.
Of the total compliment of the Light Brigade, there were 130 horsemen of 13th Light Dragoons formed up in the front line with 110 from 11th Hussars & 145 from 17th Lancers.
[THE MEDAL NAMING]
After becoming a commissioned officer, and being on better money, Tom Anderson clearly went to the trouble and extra expense of having his Crimea Medal superbly engraved by Hunt & Roskell in their classically identifiable small neat serifed capitals style and at the same time he also had it silver plated.
The naming reads:
CORNET & RIDg MASr. T.E. ANDERSON. 13 Lt DRAGs
Now a bit of detective work and deduction. Interestingly & critically, and although his medal was engraved well AFTER his transfer & promotion to 6th Dragoons on 10th December 1854 he still very proudly had his original unit of “13th LIGHT DRAGOONS” (Light Brigade) applied to the medal....Interestingly, he elected to have his earlier (Light Brigade) unit details, combined with his later & higher 6th Dragoons rank of “CORNET & RIDING MASTER” (Heavy Brigade) described on the medal. This was obviously a rank & title which he actually did not hold while serving with the 13th Light Dragoons, where he was serving as Quartermaster !
Thus, what we have here is the totally correct & contemporarily named medal of a proud charger who was quite obviously determined that his service with 13th Dragoons at Balaclava would be correctly recorded on his medal, and yet, he also made sure that his later commissioned rank and better title was also stated on his medal.
ie: He was clearly saying, “I was with the Light Brigade and I’m now an Officer with a better title”
During my own 47 year career in medals, I’ve personally had at least 6 Crimea Light Brigade medals which have arrived with me as either “status unknown” or “might have charged”.....and I’ve also seen a good number arrive “out of the blue” with other dealers. Most of these were “automatically dismissed” by the “so called” experts, but ALL were subsequently fully confirmed as chargers after much careful deduction and later arriving research.
Three of my previously owned medals were then gladly purchased by The late Reverend Lummis himself who added them to his famous collection of Light Brigade chargers. The officially impressed *medal to Pte David Purcell, 11th Hussars, who was killed in the charge, being one of those in 1979.
*That particular medal just turned up one evening at a private house call in Warrington in late 1978.
I am therefore 250% confident that Thomas Anderson is yet another previously unidentified charger. As far as we can see, the medal has never appeared at auction and as it’s a new private purchase it’s clearly never been professionally assessed before.
Thus, it has been established that on 10th November 1854, just 16 days after the two Balaclava cavalry charges that Thomas Anderson transferred to 6th Dragoons (The Heavy Brigade) and was commissioned as “Cornet & Riding Master” As an obviously skilled horseman it’s looking as if he had performed well during the charge and was hence immediately promoted and given the important position of ‘Riding Master’ with the 6th Dragoons with further promotions to Lieutenant on 9th October 1857 and to Captain on 26th July 1858.
Four years later in 1862 at the end of his Heavy Brigade service with 6th Dragoons, Captain Tom Anderson then transferred to 24th Regiment (South Wales Borderers) on 28th January of that year.
This regiment was of course famous for its later actions at Rorke’s Drift & Isandlwana.
He is shown on half pay on 6th February 1863 when he was about 46.
Interestingly and as mentioned above the Crimea medal was also silver plated. It’s clear that this work was done after the engraving was completed as some silvering is still present in some of the lettering.
Over the last 170 years it has lost some areas of the plating is now looking slightly uneven in colour. Importantly we have not had the medal cleaned or altered in any way as this past early silvering is yet another clear statement that this has always been an important medal.
The suspension claw and swivel are totally undisturbed, tight and correct, as are the ribbon bar ends, which are both totally original and correctly finished, with all six clasp rivets being the totally matching and undisturbed originals. The medal shows quite normal contact marks at the word “DRAGs” at the end of the naming due to contact with his Turkish medal.
All in all, this is a truly wonderful, correct and historically important medal fit for inclusion in the finest collection.
All four clasps are confirmed on the rolls.
“Another Charger Comes Home”
Both Medals are GVF or Better
£4950
665 Private, Corporal, Sergeant, R.S.M., Quartermaster, Cornet & Captain. Thomas E.Anderson.
13th Light Dragoons & 6th Dragoons
[BIOGRAPHY]
-circa 1817 until 1863-
665.Pte Thomas E. Anderson joined the 13th Light Dragoons (Part of The Light Brigade) as an ordinary Private soldier on 26th July 1833.
Assuming a normal attestation age of 17-18 he was born in circa 1816-1817, and chronologically he could well have been the son of man discharged from the Army in late 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo.
He was quickly promoted to Corporal on 7th February 1834, and to Sergeant on 1st September 1834. To rise from private to sergeant in just over 12 months was very good going indeed. However, he was then “Reduced to Private” for a currently unknown misdemeanour on 9th June 1835.
He subsequently re-climbed the promotional ladder via Corporal & Sergeant in 1837 & 1839, to Regimental Sergeant Major in 1841 and to Quartermaster in 1847. In this capacity he continued to serve with the 13th Light Dragoons (Light Brigade) until he transferred to 6th Dragoon Guards (Heavy Brigade) on 10th November 1854.
As is the case with very many of the men who like Thomas Anderson actually did charge at Balaclava, he did not attend the later and much vaunted Light Brigade reunions and anniversary dinners, upon which the now “greatly challenged” and “highly suspect” lists of confirmed chargers are based, and is thus not currently listed as a charger.
As indeed he should be.
In fact it has long been well recognised that there were also many attendees at the earlier annual reunions who claimed to have charged, but actually did not, & some of these had not even been in the army !
After much deep examination of the facts surrounding the career of Thomas Anderson and his medal, and after paying particular attention to the unique details of its naming, it has become quite obvious that Anderson, as a greatly skilled horseman & Quartermaster who was serving on the full strength of 13th Light Dragoons certainly DID take part in The Charge of The Light Brigade on 25th October 1854.
Importantly and as the late great John Hayward often remarked.
“Most members of the Light Brigade entitled to the Balaclava clasp, in the absence of any evidence or status details to the contrary, took part in the Charge”
Looking at the medal rolls for 13th Dragoons, they are frankly a complete mess, and as with so many of the other Crimea & Light Brigade unit rolls, many known and confirmed “Charger” members of the units are not even listed for their medals !
The Crimea medal and its four available clasps was actually the very first “mass produced multi-clasp medal” and was the first medal awarded in such huge numbers. As such, the entire issuing procedure and the recording of it and it’s four clasps was a new, challenging and problematic venture. The surviving Crimea medal rolls are notoriously inaccurate, patchy and problematic or even missing ....and in many cases show major errors in the spelling of names, problems with lateral line register and other compilation issues with in some cases the complete omission of many details.
Indeed the 13th Dragoons didn’t even produce a complete and separate roll for the Balaclava clasp and the listed mens’ entitlements to the Balaclava clasp are merely confirmed with a capital “B” in the third “remarks” column of the Alma & Inkermann roll.
(Ref: page 456 WO.130/24)
There never was or ever has been (or perhaps can be) a complete and totally accurate listing of all the men who actually did take part in the charge. Newly arriving medals to previously unknown or unconfirmed chargers continue to regularly show up. Of those 673 men who apparently charged, I estimate that slightly less than 375 of their medals are currently known, so there’s plenty of scope for other surviving medals to show up over the coming years.
So looking at the situation from an “on the ground” & “on the day” point of view, it’s clear that anyone serving with any of the light brigade units who was present and on a horse that day charged down the famous valley at Balaclava....well over six hundred of them.
Of the total compliment of the Light Brigade, there were 130 horsemen of 13th Light Dragoons formed up in the front line with 110 from 11th Hussars & 145 from 17th Lancers.
[THE MEDAL NAMING]
After becoming a commissioned officer, and being on better money, Tom Anderson clearly went to the trouble and extra expense of having his Crimea Medal superbly engraved by Hunt & Roskell in their classically identifiable small neat serifed capitals style and at the same time he also had it silver plated.
The naming reads:
CORNET & RIDg MASr. T.E. ANDERSON. 13 Lt DRAGs
Now a bit of detective work and deduction. Interestingly & critically, and although his medal was engraved well AFTER his transfer & promotion to 6th Dragoons on 10th December 1854 he still very proudly had his original unit of “13th LIGHT DRAGOONS” (Light Brigade) applied to the medal....Interestingly, he elected to have his earlier (Light Brigade) unit details, combined with his later & higher 6th Dragoons rank of “CORNET & RIDING MASTER” (Heavy Brigade) described on the medal. This was obviously a rank & title which he actually did not hold while serving with the 13th Light Dragoons, where he was serving as Quartermaster !
Thus, what we have here is the totally correct & contemporarily named medal of a proud charger who was quite obviously determined that his service with 13th Dragoons at Balaclava would be correctly recorded on his medal, and yet, he also made sure that his later commissioned rank and better title was also stated on his medal.
ie: He was clearly saying, “I was with the Light Brigade and I’m now an Officer with a better title”
During my own 47 year career in medals, I’ve personally had at least 6 Crimea Light Brigade medals which have arrived with me as either “status unknown” or “might have charged”.....and I’ve also seen a good number arrive “out of the blue” with other dealers. Most of these were “automatically dismissed” by the “so called” experts, but ALL were subsequently fully confirmed as chargers after much careful deduction and later arriving research.
Three of my previously owned medals were then gladly purchased by The late Reverend Lummis himself who added them to his famous collection of Light Brigade chargers. The officially impressed *medal to Pte David Purcell, 11th Hussars, who was killed in the charge, being one of those in 1979.
*That particular medal just turned up one evening at a private house call in Warrington in late 1978.
I am therefore 250% confident that Thomas Anderson is yet another previously unidentified charger. As far as we can see, the medal has never appeared at auction and as it’s a new private purchase it’s clearly never been professionally assessed before.
Thus, it has been established that on 10th November 1854, just 16 days after the two Balaclava cavalry charges that Thomas Anderson transferred to 6th Dragoons (The Heavy Brigade) and was commissioned as “Cornet & Riding Master” As an obviously skilled horseman it’s looking as if he had performed well during the charge and was hence immediately promoted and given the important position of ‘Riding Master’ with the 6th Dragoons with further promotions to Lieutenant on 9th October 1857 and to Captain on 26th July 1858.
Four years later in 1862 at the end of his Heavy Brigade service with 6th Dragoons, Captain Tom Anderson then transferred to 24th Regiment (South Wales Borderers) on 28th January of that year.
This regiment was of course famous for its later actions at Rorke’s Drift & Isandlwana.
He is shown on half pay on 6th February 1863 when he was about 46.
Interestingly and as mentioned above the Crimea medal was also silver plated. It’s clear that this work was done after the engraving was completed as some silvering is still present in some of the lettering.
Over the last 170 years it has lost some areas of the plating is now looking slightly uneven in colour. Importantly we have not had the medal cleaned or altered in any way as this past early silvering is yet another clear statement that this has always been an important medal.
The suspension claw and swivel are totally undisturbed, tight and correct, as are the ribbon bar ends, which are both totally original and correctly finished, with all six clasp rivets being the totally matching and undisturbed originals. The medal shows quite normal contact marks at the word “DRAGs” at the end of the naming due to contact with his Turkish medal.
All in all, this is a truly wonderful, correct and historically important medal fit for inclusion in the finest collection.
All four clasps are confirmed on the rolls.
“Another Charger Comes Home”
Both Medals are GVF or Better
£4950