PRIVATE WILLIAM CLARKE, 6TH (ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE) REGIMENT (THE POST 1880 ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE REGIMENT). Indian Mutiny Medal, no clasp, an officially renamed, late issue or replacement medal

PRIVATE WILLIAM CLARKE, 6TH (ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE) REGIMENT (THE POST 1880 ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE REGIMENT). Indian Mutiny Medal, no clasp, an officially renamed, late issue or replacement medal (engraved in running script: 2086. Pte. W. Clark, 6th. Ryl. Warwickshire Regt.). Note incorrect spelling of surname, suspender claw tightened, otherwise Good Very Fine and a rare medal to a survivor of the “Birkenhead” disaster of 1852.

The engraved naming on this medal is in the same style as that seen on India General Service Medals awarded from the mid 1860’s onwards. The inclusion of Clarke’s regimental number in the naming also indicates a late issue award.

Medal accompanied by 4 pages of copied service papers (recipient’s surname spelt Clarke), copied extracts from medal rolls for South Africa Medal 1834-53 (original and published) and original Indian Mutiny Medal roll, along with details re the sinking of HMS Birkenhead.

William Clarke was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, and enlisted into the 6th Foot at Leeds on 15/5/1844. He never rose above the rank of Private, and was eventually discharged on 12/2/1861. At the time of enlistment Clarke was 18 years of age and gave his trade as that of cloth dresser. In addition to service at home, Clarke saw service at the Cape of Good Hope for 11 years and 101 days, and in the East Indies for 1 year and 284 days. Clarke was discharged “at his own request Free, with passage to Cape of Good Hope and a gratuity of £14”, his destination being given as Port Elizabeth. Service papers confirm entitlement to “Kaffir War Medal 1850-53” and “Indian Mutiny Medal”. Indian Mutiny Medal roll confirms that 2086 Private Clarke was “engaged at the Battle of Baraown near Ingdespore under Colonel Corfield” (entitled medal without clasp).

There are two William Clarkes on the Indian Mutiny Medal roll for the 6th Foot, 1845 Private William Clarke, who is recorded on the roll as being “Dead”, and 2086 Private William Clarke, the recipient of this medal. There are also two William Clarkes (one of whose surname is spelt “Clark”) on the original medal roll for the South African campaigns of 1834-53, both of who saw service there during the 3rd Kaffir War of 1850-53. Eveson in his published roll for the South Africa Medal 1834-53 records only one William Clarke, 1845 Private William Clarke. The service papers of the recipient of the Indian Mutiny Medal offered here clearly state that he was also entitled to the South Africa Medal 1834-53, and he would thus appear to be the other individual recorded on the original medal roll (surname spelt Clark) whom Eveson failed to record.

There is a Private Clark of the 6th Foot confirmed in both David Bevan’s “Drums of the Birkenhead” (London, 1989) and Addison & Matthews “A Deathless Story, the Birkenhead and its Heroes” (London, 1906) as having been a survivor of the 1852 Birkenhead disaster (surname spelt Clark in roll of survivors in both publications). Unfortunately, neither of these publications give the regimental number of the Private Clarke who survived.

The troopship Birkenhead sailed from Cork harbour for South Africa on 17/1/1852, carrying some 638 passengers and crew, including 476 British soldiers, drafts for various regiments serving at the Cape, and 20 women and children. After a brief stopover at Capetown she sailed for East London at the mouth of the Buffalo River, to land the drafts of reinforcements that she was carrying for various regiments then serving at the Cape. The Birkenhead struck a reef at Danger Point at 1.50 a.m. on the morning of 26/2/1852. The metal hull of the boat was torn open and over 100 soldiers were immediately drowned where they lay sleeping. The rest of the troops rushed up on deck and tried to help the ship’s crew man the pumps and free the lifeboats. In the event, the soldiers and crew were only able to free three lifeboats, into which they ushered the women and children. As the ship was sinking, the ship’s captain, sensing that the end had come, called out “every man for himself”. Realising that a disorderly evacuation risked swamping the lifeboats, the senior army officer on board, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Seaton, drew his sword and ordered the men to stand fast, with the result that order was maintained in the ranks even as the main mast crashed on the deck. As the ship sank, 40 men climbed into the ship’s rigging, which protruded from the water, and from which they were rescued the next day. Others clung to floating wreckage or swam for shore through the shark-infested waters. Some 445 people died during the sinking, many drowning as the ship sank and others being savaged by sharks as they tried to swim to shore. Only 193 people survived, the women and children in the lifeboats and seamen and soldiers who managed to swim ashore. The survivors included 113 soldiers, 6 Royal Marines, 54 seamen, 7 women, 13 children and 1 male civilian. Of the 63 officers and men of the 6th Regiment aboard the Birkenhead, only 13 survived, a Sergeant and 12 Privates, the Privates including William Clarke.