THE CRIMEA MEDAL AND TURKISH CRIMEA MEDAL PAIR TO PRIVATE H. WATTS, 3RD BATTALION GRENADIER GUARDS, WHO DESERTED ON 13/11

THE CRIMEA PAIR TO PRIVATE H. WATTS, 3RD BATTALION GRENADIER GUARDS, WHO DESERTED ON 13/11/1853 PRIOR TO HIS BATTALION EMBARKING FOR THE CRIMEA, BUT WAS AWARDED A CRIMEA MEDAL WITH THE SINGLE CLASP ALMA, DESPITE NOT BEING RECORDED IN THE MUSTER ROLL OR HIS DISCHARGE PAPERS AS RETURNING TO DUTY WITH THE 3RD GRENADIER GUARDS UNTIL 30/10/1855, AFTER THE FIGHTING IN THE CRIMEA HAD COME TO AN END. WATTS UNDOUBTEDLY RE-ENLISTED INTO THE 3RD GRENADIER GUARDS PRIOR TO THE BATTALIONS DEPARTURE FOR THE CRIMEA, USING AN ALIAS IN ORDER BOTH TO CONCEAL HIS IDENTITY AND THE FACT THAT HE WAS A DESERTER, AND THEREBY AVOID BOTH THE HARSH PUNISHMENT FOR DESERTERS AND ALSO OBTAIN THE SUBSTANTIAL ENLISTMENT BOUNTY PAID TO RECRUITS DURING THE CRIMEAN WAR. WATTS AFTERWARDS SAW SERVICE IN THE CRIMEA WITH THE 3RD GRENADIERS, SEEING ACTION AT THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA RIVER, 20/9/1854 AND IS RECORDED AS HAVING “REJOINED” THE 3RD GRENADIERS ON 30/10/1855, BEING COURT MARTIALED BUT IMMEDIATELY PARDONED THE FOLLOWING DAY. THE FACT THAT WATTS ONLY SAW SERVICE AT THE BATTLE OF ALMA RIVER AND NOT IN ANY OF THE OTHER ACTIONS THAT THE 3RD GRENADIERS TOOK PART IN, BALKLAVA, INKERMAN AND SEBAPOSTOPOL, INDICATES THAT HE WAS INVALIDED AFTER THAT BATTLE, AND HIS IMMEDIATE PARDON AFTER REVEALING HIS TRUE IDENTITY SUGGESTS THAT HE PERHAPS PERFORMED AN ACT OF GALLANTRY DURING THAT BATTLE. Two: Crimea Medal, 1 clasp, Alma (officially named, impressed in serifed block capitals: H. WATTS. GRENADr. GDs.) Turkish Crimea Medal, Sardinian flag to the fore and “La Crimea” legend (depot impressed naming: 5126. H. (..)ATTS. 3.BN. G. GDS.). Turkish Crimea holed to take original ring and jump ring suspender (as issued), scattered rim nicks, edge bruises and surface contact marks, partially obscuring first letter of surname on the Turkish Crimea Medal (as indicated), otherwise with an attractive old dark tone, Very Fine to Good Very Fine.

Group accompanied by biographical details, 4 pages copied discharge papers, copied medal roll for the Turkish Crimea Medal, copied Crimean War Medal rolls (2) confirming entitlement to the Crimea Medal and Turkish Crimea Medal, copied roll of officers and men of the 3rd Grenadier Guards killed in action and wounded at the battle of the Alma, muster rolls (2) for the monthly periods during which Watts was recorded as having deserted from and then re-joined the 3rd Grenadier Guards, 2 page copied Certificate of Service, 2 copied contemporary letters from Watts’s Soldiers Papers file, copied extract Chelsea Pensioners Documents Index (Grenadier Guards), along with extracts from 1851, 1871 and 1881 census returns. Service papers confirm that, although Watts saw service in the Crimea with the 3rd Grenadiers from February 1854 to July 1856, he was only entitled to the Crimea Medal with the single clasp Alma.

Henry James Watts (1829-1892), born Brighton, Sussex, enlisted into the Grenadier Guards at Bow Street Police Court, London, on 23/2/1847. At the time of enlistment he was 18 years and 3 months old and gave his trade as labourer. On enlistment Watts was allocated the regimental number 5126, saw service initially with the 2nd Grenadier Guards and subsequently with the 3rd Grenadiers, deserting from and then re-enlisting into that latter battalion, presumably using an assumed name, and only revealing his true identity, and that he had previously deserted, in October 1855. Watts never rose above the rank of Private and was eventually discharged on 4/4/1871, after 21 years and 322 days pensionable service with the colours. Chelsea Pensioners Documents Index confirms that Watts was discharged to a Free Permanent Pension of 1 shilling per day, his application being dated 7/3/1871 and granted on 10/3/1871. At the time of discharge Watts gave his intended place of residence as Chelsea, London.

Watts’ service papers confirm that he deserted from the 3rd Grenadier Guards on 13th November 1853, and was still serving with that battalion when he revealed that he was a re-enlisted deserter on 30th October 1855. On the day that Watts deserted, 13/11/1853, the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards were stationed in London. The fact that Watts re-enlisted into the 3rd Grenadiers after deserting is confirmed by his service papers, which record him as having seen service in the Crimea from 22/2/1854 to 1/7/1856. These dates correspond exactly with the period during which the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards saw service overseas during that campaign, the 3rd Grenadiers embarking at Southampton for the Crimea on 22/2/1854, landing in the Crimea on 14/9/1854 and returning to Portsmouth at the end of the war on 1/7/1856.

During the period 13/11/1853 to 22/2/1854 Watts is continually marked “absent” in the 3rd Grenadier Guards muster rolls.

The 3rd Grenadier Guards were still serving in the Crimea when Watts is recorded as having revealed himself as a re-enlisted deserter on 30/10/1855. Whilst stationed in the Crimea the 3rd Grenadier Guards took part in the battles of the Alma, 20/8/1854, Inkermann, 5/11/1854 and Balaklava, 25/10/1854 and the siege of Sebastopol, 11/9/1854 to 9/9/1855. Watts’s service papers, however, clearly state that he was entitled to the Crimea Medal with Alma clasp only, suggesting that he had been invalided during or immediately after the battle of the Alma. After deserting in London on 13/11/1853, Watts subsequently re-enlisted into the 3rd Grenadiers, presumably using a false name. Since Watts was only entitled to a clasp for the battle of the Alma River, and since he was immediately pardoned for his act of desertion, which is, to say the least, highly unusual, one has to assume that he was wounded in action at the Alma and perhaps distinguished himself in some way during that battle, and that these factors were taken into account when he was court martialed and then immediately pardoned.

If Watts did distinguish himself at the battle of the Alma, a pardon was perhaps the most that he could have expected in the circumstances, the sole rewards for gallantry then available being the Victoria Cross and the Distinguished Conduct Medal, both sparingly awarded and only for acts of great gallantry (after the Alma the Commanding Officer of the 3rd Grenadiers recommended six men for the Distinguished Conduct Medal, only one of which awards was granted). The battle of the Alma was undoubtedly a significant event in Watts’s military career, so much so that, after being discharged, he named his future home “Alma Cottage”.

Henry Watts is not recorded by name on the original Crimea Medal roll for the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards for the Alma clasp, because he did not reveal himself as a re-enlisted deserter into the 3rd Grenadiers until after that roll was compiled (though his alias is perhaps recorded). He is, however, listed on a roll of men who had seen service in the Crimea with the 3rd Grenadiers who were entitled to the Crimea Medal, dated 12th February 1859, and another roll dated 24th February 1859, confiming entitlement to the Turkish Crimea Medal, Watts being listed in these latter rolls because, by February 1859, he had revealed his true identity. Watts’s Alma clasp was therefore presumably a late claim. The National Archive medal rolls for the Crimea can now only be viewed online. Since only the original rolls are online, and not the late claims, it has not been possible at this stage to locate the late claim roll for his Alma clasp, but Watts’ entitlement to the Alma clasp only is clearly stated in his discharge papers.

After returning to the 3rd Grenadier Guards in October 1855 Watts had at least two more brushes with the military authorities. He was again absent without leave from 13/9/1856 to 2/10/1856, being confined awaiting trial from 3/10/1856 to 13/10/1856, and subsequently sentenced to 28 days imprisonment, eventually being released on 3/11/1856. Then, on 16/8/1860 Watts was sentenced by the civil authorities for “larceny”. Subsequently imprisoned, he was not released until 1/10/1860. As a result of these offences, although he had over 21 years service with the colours, Watts was not awarded an LSGC Medal.

Henry Watts married Thorena “Thirza” Brown in Chelsea, Middlesex, on 3/11/1858. Together they had four children, two daughters and two sons. The 1871 census records Henry Watts as being employed as a shoemaker and living at 1 Gregory Place, Kensington, Chelsea, with his wife “Thirza”, two daughters and two sons. The 1881 census records him still employed as a shoemaker and living at the same address with his wife, one son and one daughter. Henry James Watts is recorded in the England and Wales Deaths Register as having died at Kensington in 1892.

Henry Watts’s Soldiers Papers file contain two interesting letters seeking financial support for his widow and daughter. The first letter, dated 2/7/1896 and written by Lady Maria Brodie to “The Officer Commanding The Grenadier Guards” enquiring whether it might be possible to provide Private Watts’s widow and daughter with an annuity. Lady Brodie must have been well acquainted with the Watts family and seen Watts’s discharge papers, since she confirms that Watts had “died several years ago”, had seen service in the Crimea, 22/4/1854 to 1/7/1856 and been awarded the Crimea Medal with Alma clasp and Turkish Crimea Medal. Lady Brodie also gives a fuller description of the Watts family and their home than is recorded in the census returns of the period, noting that Thirza Watts “has occupied her present house called Alma Cottage, Gregory’s Lane, Holland Street, Kensington, for upwards of twenty years”. Lady Brodie also gives extensive details regarding Mrs Watts’s income, relating that she has supported herself and a “delicate” daughter with needlework and an allowance of 2 shillings and sixpence weekly from her married son, a clerk in a lawyer’s office, with the addition of 1 shilling weekly from “a lady”. Lady Brodie goes on to note that Thirza Watts is now destitute and “in the greatest want, being crippled and unable to use her hands through rheumatism”. Lady Brodie, having outlined the efforts made by Thirza Watts to support herself in her straitened circumstances and stating that she has never claimed parish relief, and ends by further enquiring whether there is any fund that might be used to provide Mrs Watts and her daughter with an annuity. This letter was forwarded to the then Grenadier Guards Adjutant Captain, The Hon. Walter Lewis Baggott, who replied on 1/7/1896, “I am sorry that the enclosed does not come within the provision of the Cambridge Fund as that charity is exclusively for the benefit of soldiers. Perhaps Mrs Watts might obtain relief from the Patriotic Fund.”

In 1896 Lady Brodie was living at Victoria Road, Kensington, and Private Watts’s widowed wife and daughter were living in Gregory Place, Kensington. These two addresses are about 400 yards apart on opposite sides of Kensington High Street. The “lady” who was providing Watts’s widow with financial support to the tune of 1 shilling per week was presumably Lady Brodie.

A copy of the casualty roll for the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards for the battle of the Alma River, which records the battalion as having had 54 other ranks wounded in action during that battle, also accompanies the group. That casualty roll perhaps worthy of further research to establish whether any of the names on it are the alias used by 5126 Henry Watts when he re-enlisted into the 3rd Grenadier Guards after deserting in 1853, and also whether that alias is recorded in the Grenadier Guards Crimea Medal roll for the Alma clasp.

Two men by the name of Henry Watts saw service with the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards in the Crimea, 5126 Private Henry Watts (the recipient of this pair of medals) and 6457 Private Henry Watts. Group also accompanied by Crimea Medal rolls (4) for the latter Henry Watts, 3rd Grenadier Guards, awarded a Crimea Medal with 4 clasps and Turkish Crimea Medal. This latter Henry Watts is, as his regimental number indicates, a different man. No service papers traced for this second Henry Watts of the 3rd Grenadier Guards, but the Crimea Medal rolls, his clasp entitlement and his regimental number confirm that he was an entirely different man.

Lady Maria Brodie (nee Waldergrave, 1844-1911) was the third daughter of William, 8th Earl Waldegrave. She is recorded in the 1895 Electoral Register as being resident at 32 Victoria Road, Kensington, London.