Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A good ‘Heavy Brigade’ D.C.M. group of three awarded to Private J. Thomas, 1st Royal Dragoons, who is recorded as having been taken prisoner during the famous charge at Balaklava, 25 October 1854, only to escape from the clutches of eight Cossacks, despatching two of them during his flight


Distinguished Conduct Medal, V.R. (John Thomas. 1st Rl. Drags.); Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (Pte. J. Thomas 1st Rl. Drags.) contemporarily engraved naming, top lugs removed; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed as issued, plugged with small ring suspension, all with contemporary silver top riband buckles, light contact marks, generally very fine (3) £6000-8000

D.C.M. recommendation dated 9 January 1855.

John/Evan Thomas was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. He was baptised ‘Evan’ and known locally by this name, but recorded as ‘John’ in all military records. Thomas attested for the 10th Hussars in 1838, and transferred to the 1st Royal Dragoons the following year. He served with the Regiment in the Crimea, and took part in the famous charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaklava, 25 October 1854. Thomas wrote to his mother during the Crimean war, and three of his letters were published in the local paper for Haverfordwest. Including the following, written three days after the Battle of Balaklava:

‘Camp, near Sebastopol, Crimea, October 28th, 1854....

Dear Mother - I give God thanks that I am spared to write this letter. I will now inform you as well I can the position the army occupied on the morning of the 25th, when the battle of Balaklava was fought. The infantry and artillery were with the guns that were playing on Sebastopol, the Dragoons, and the Heavy and Light Brigades about a mile behind them, then the 93rd Highlanders and the Horse Artillery behind us (the Dragoons), and about half-a-mile behind them were 600 Turks. They had the command of three high hills, with a fort on top of each, and each fort mounting four 32-pound guns.... You will no doubt have an account of it in the papers before you get this. On approach of the enemy, which was at five o’clock in the morning, we were all ready for them, for ever since the cannonading began upon Sebastopol we have been mounted every morning at three o’clock, as we have been expecting this reinforcement every day. There were 22,000 came on us at five this morning, with 48 pieces of field artillery with them, and such an engagement took place as was never witnessed before - not even at Waterloo....

The Heavy Dragoons received orders from Lord Lucan to charge them; and at 12 o’clock at mid-day my Regiment (1st Royal Dragoons), the Scots Greys, and the 4th Royal Irish Dragoons, charged at 20 guns in front of us, and ten on our left and right, besides the infantry firing on us. We charged! - at this time it was awful slaughter - the field being covered with dead or wounded men and horses. I cannot half describe it to you: - to see some running with their heads nearly blown off, others with arms and legs blown to pieces, and blood covering nearly every one of us. My regiment had ten horses killed, twelve wounded. We only had two men killed, and eight wounded. The Colonel had his leg blown off; my Captain was shot through the leg; the man next to me had his arm blown off; and we had two Captains and one Lieutenant wounded.... We fought hand to hand for about eight hours; then we gained the hills that the Turks lost. I got one sword cut on my foot. Balls and shells flew about us in such numbers, that there was not one that I have talked with since who expected to return to camp.’

In another letter, Thomas describes showing his newly awarded D.C.M. to his nephew (who also served in the Crimea):

‘Camp, near Balaklava, June 11th, 1855...

I am glad to inform you that he [nephew] had the pleasure of seeing his uncle with a medal on his breast - not the Crimean Medal, but one for Distinguished Bravery in the battle of Balaklava. On one side of it there are swords, shields, and trumpets; on the other side are the words - “For Distinguished Bravery in the Field”; and on the edge of it is my name and regiment. There were six given to each regiment; so I happened to be one of the six. I shall also get £5, which is to be given to each of the six men on leaving the regiment. At the end of the month we shall get the Crimea Medal and Clasps for Balaklava and Inkermann. So that will be a second for me, please God I live to wear them.’

Thomas was discharged 27 January 1863, having served 24 years and 50 days. He died of Typhus in November 1864. Thomas’s obituary appeared in the Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser, 11 November 1864, and gives the following:

‘He was actively engaged in the memorable battle of Balaklava and was one of the ‘heavies’ whose terrific charge scattered the Russian cavalry like chaff before the wind. Towards the close of the celebrated charge of the Light Brigade, Mr Thomas was taken by a band of eight mounted Russians. His captors deprived him of his carbine, but allowed him to retain his sword, probably thinking that further disarming was unnecessary, and that their prisoner would not attempt to escape in the face of such great odds.

Mr Thomas, however, when marching to the Russian camp, with a Cossack on each side of him, and six others between him and the British lines thought of the severity with which Russians treated English prisoners, and to use his own words he came to the conclusion that it would be better to lose his life in an attempt to regain his liberty than to rot in a Russian prison. He drew his sword, and being an active as well as a powerful man, he quickly cut down the guard on each side of him, and putting spurs to his horse he galloped off for the British quarters. So rapidly was this daring feat performed, that Mr Thomas had ridden several yards before the Russians had recovered from their surprise.

They commenced a pursuit, and fired several shots after him, but the British dragoon being the better mounted, increased the distance between himself and his pursuers at every stride. The unequal contest had been witnessed by the men of his own regiment and a large portion of the British army, who looked on anxiously, expecting to see their comrade fall beneath the Russian bullets. But on he rode, and as he approached the English lines, several dragoons who had mounted as quickly as possible, started off to his assistance, which however was not needed, as the Russians, seeing that they could not overtake him, gave up the pursuit and returned to their own camp.

One shot struck Mr Thomas’s horse, the only effect of which was to make it go faster. On reaching the English lines, he was received with the most deafening cheering: his comrades were overjoyed at his return, and also proud of the courage he had shown, and he received the warmest congratulations of several distinguished officers.

For this daring deed - one of the most prominent among numerous instances of individual bravery which the war produced - he received at the hands of the Queen a medal for ‘distinguished bravery in the field.’ In the Balaklava... during the charge of the ‘Heavies’ he received a slight cut on the sword hand, and also a blow from a sabre on his boot, which penetrated the leather, but did not injury to his foot....

He was a great favourite in his regiment, and on the occasion of the Queen placing on his breast the medal for distinguished valour, he and five other veterans who were similarly decorated, were drawn in a carriage through the public streets by their comrades....’

1 of 8 D.C.M.’s awarded to the Regiment for the Crimean Campaign.

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