Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Private W. Walker, 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, who probably rode in the Charge of the Heavy Brigade at the Battle of Balaklava, 25 October 1854

Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol, first clasp broken and at some point re-affixed to carriage (457 William Walker 6th. D) Regimentally engraved naming; Turkish Crimea 1855, British issue, unnamed as issued, pierced, with ring and straight brooch bar suspension, both with Bailey, Coventry, decorative top silver ‘Eagle’ riband bars, edge bruising and contact marks, nearly very fine, the latter better (2) £700-£900

William Walker was born in Glougher, co. Tyrone, in 1816 and attested for the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons on 9 May 1836. He served with the Regiment in the Crimea, as part of the Heavy Brigade, and was present at the Battles of Balaclava and Inkermann, and the actions before Sebastopol. He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, together with a gratuity of £5, on 28 April 1859, and was discharged at his own request on 20 August 1861, after 25 years and 104 days’ service.

Walker’s name appears on the latest reconstructed list of ‘Chargers’ as having ‘probably rode in the Charge’: most members of the Heavy Brigade entitled to the Balaklava clasp, in the absence of any evidence or status details to the contrary, took part in the Charge, and it is only the absence of some definite proof that means Walker is listed as a probable Charger, rather then a definite Charger.