Having found out that Henry had been a soldier the next thing to do was get hold of his service record. Luckily this proved to be very simple at fold3.com and in next to no time I was looking at it. The first page of his service record lists his medals
Henry’s Medals
So that’s Alma, Balaclava, Inkermann and the Siege of Sevastopol plus the Turkish Medal.
When I read this I didn’t know what these battles and siege were, but a quick bit of googling later it became clear that Henry had fought at the main battles of the Crimean War as a member of the Rifle Brigade! Wikipedia has excellent pages on the British Crimea War medal and the Turkish Crimea War medal
British and Turkish Crimea Medals
Was there anything else that Henry’s service record could tell me about his time in the Crimean War? On the second page the detailed statement of the services table records that Henry joins the 60th Foot regiment on the 18th of July 1852. On the 1st of April 1854 he transfers to the 1st Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. This was a consequence of the 1st battalion of the Rifle Brigade being ordered to ready itself for travelling to the Crimea. Henry was one of 100 volunteers from the 60th Foot regiment.
Henry’s Detailed Statement
The next entry states that he deserted from the 4th of September 1855 to the 26th of September 1855. The Crimean War ran from the 16th of October 1853 till the 30th of March 1856. Henry deserted during the Crimean War. If you deserted during the Crimean War you were shot plus where did you desert to in the Crimea to return just over three weeks later? Luckily it looked as if the Rifle Brigade muster books at the National Archives would be able to provide some answers on this as they were the record books for the regiment including a listing of all of the men.
On my first trip to the National Archives I found the record of Henry’s desertion.
Muster book record of Henry deserting
He hadn’t been in the Crimea when he deserted, he’d been in Chesterfield recruiting!
I was short of time on my first visit to the National Archives so I decided to return to find out when Henry had travelled to and from the Crimea. After looking at a couple of muster books I realised that there was another Swendell, Thomas, recorded in the Rifle Brigade’s muster books.
Muster book record of Henry and Thomas Swendell
A quick check of my family tree on ancestry.com showed that Henry had had a younger brother called Thomas born in 1832, 2 years after Henry, and that I’d been unable to find him after his marriage to Mary Canavan in Bethnal Green on the 19th of February 1854. There was a good chance that Thomas was Henry’s brother. Working backwards through the muster books I found the record of Thomas joining on the 23rd of May 1854.
Thomas Swendell joins the Rifle Brigade
With the rest of the 1st battalion Henry and Thomas set sail for the Crimea aboard the Orinoco on the 14th of July arriving at Varna in the Crimea on the 6th of September. Beyond what I’ll cover in a moment I’ve been unable to find details specific to Henry and Thomas’ time in the Crimean War. The awful conditions that the British army endured in the Crimea and the various battles that they were engaged in are well documented so I won’t repeat them here.
Looking further into the muster books Thomas is recorded as having died on the 1st of March 1855. Later on there is a list of deaths with Thomas’ name in that convinces me that he is Henry’s brother. His birthplace is listed as Shoreditch and his occupation as french polisher. This is consistent with Thomas’ entries in the 1851 census and his marriage certificate.
Thomas Swendell on a casualty list
Going back onto fold3.com I found that Thomas had been recorded as slightly wounded on the 11th of December 1854 during The Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Final bombardments of Sebastopol and Minor Actions. By the winter of 1854 wounded British soldiers were being treated better than at the start of the conflict thanks to the efforts of Florence Nightingale and her nurses. Sadly, it seems, this better treatment didn’t save Thomas.
Shortly after Thomas’ death Henry is sent back to England sometime between the 1st of April and the 30th of July 1855. With a group of 15 other men Henry is recorded as Invalided from Scutari to England in a column titled How became non-effective
Thomas Swendell recorded as invalided from Scutari to England
Scutari was the location of the hospital made famous by Florence Nightingale. I can’t find any record of Henry being injured so I don’t know why he was in Scutari.
The Crimean War is notorious for the hardship that the soldiers endured. For Henry this must have been made worse by the death of his brother. It’s impossible to know how much time Henry and Thomas spent together in the Crimean War. As they were in the same battalion they must have seen each other fairly regularly. It’s impossible to know whether Thomas’ death was a factor in Henry’s desertion or his return to England, but it seems possible.
The other casualty in this saga is Thomas’ wife Mary. Mary and Thomas were married on the 19th of February 1854. Thomas joined the Rifle Brigade on the 23rd of May 1854 and set sail for the Crimea on the 14th of July 1854. I’ve been unable to find evidence on whether Mary went to the Crimea or stayed in England. If she did stay in England she had less than six months of married life with Thomas. I’ve found Mary in the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses but nothing after that so I don’t know what became of her.
Timeline
As I’ve written this in the order in which I made discoveries the chronology of events may be a bit confusing. I’ve listed them here.
- 18th July 1852 - Henry Swendell joins the 60th Foot regiment.
- 19th February 1854 - Thomas Swendell and Mary Canavan marry.
- 1st April 1854 - Henry Swendell transfers to the Rifle Brigade.
- 23rd May 1854 - Thomas Swendell joins the Rifle Brigade.
- 14th July to 6th September 1854 - The Rifle Brigade travel to the Crimea.
- 11th December 1854 - Thomas Swendell recorded as slightly wounded.
- 1st March 1855 - Thomas Swendell dies.
- 2nd quarter 1855 - Henry Swendell returns to England.
- 4th of September 1855 - Henry Swendell deserts for 3 weeks.
Books on the Rifle Brigade in the Crimea
- The History of the Rifle Brigade by Sir William H. Cope published 1877. Hosted at the Project Gutenburg.
- Rifle Green in the Crimea by George Caldwell and Robert Cooper. Published 1994.