Dalton, Edward (brother of George)

Bandsman

2nd Royal , Private 2211

West Surrey (Queens) Regiment

Survived

Edward Dalton was born around 1873 in Chelsea. He was the second child of Edward and Elizabeth (maiden name unknown). Edward was employed as a cab driver.

On the 1881 census the family were living at 40, College Road, Chelsea. The house was shared with two other families.

In 1883 both of young Edward’s parents died, his mother at the beginning of the year and his father at the end. He was admitted to Beechholme then known as the Kensington and Chelsea District School, in 1884, the year only being recorded. His age was given as ten years at this time.

Edward enlisted on the 21^st ,of January 1888 at Guildford into the Queens regiment. The following is his description from his army service records :- he was four feet seven inches tall and weighed sixty nine pounds. He was fresh complexioned with brown eyes and hair. He had no distinguishing marks. His apparent age was fourteen years and ten months and his occupation was given as musician.

Edward was appointed bandsman on the 7^th of June 1888 and then promoted to private on the 9^th of April 1895.

His South African service was from the 20^th of October 1899 until the 29^th of November 1900 when he was invalided to England. He was discharged on the expiation of his period of army service on the 16^th of January 1901 and he was paid a South African war gratuity of £5.

His next of kin was given as an unnamed sister who was in a school in Sutton, and his brother George who was in Beechholme in Banstead.

Edward was awarded the Queens South African medal with Orange Free State,Transvaal, Elandslaagte, Relief of Ladysmith and Laing’s Nek clasps.

By the time the 1911 census was taken Edward had married and had three children. He was living at 7, St Leger Terrace, Harrow Road, Warlingham in Surrey. According to the census he had been married for nine years but we could find no marriage entry that fits the date. His wife was called Mary and she was nine years younger than Edward. Edward was aged thirty eight and employed as a builder’s foreman. Also living with them was his younger brother George who was employed as a military instructor.

Edward’s date of death is unknown.

Dalton, George (brother of Edward)

Sergeant 5489

2nd Royal West Surrey (Queens) Regiment

Survived

George Dalton was born around 1876 in Chelsea. He was the third child of four born to Edward and Elizabeth (maiden name unknown).

For details of the 1881 census see his older brother Edward’s story.

He was admitted to Beechholme in 1884, the year only being recorded, and his age was given as eight at this time.

George Dalton must have had an incredible desire to join the military as can be seen from the following.

On the 20^th of May 1890 George enlisted into the Kings Own Scottish Borderers in London. His age was given as fourteen years and four months and his occupation was musician. He was just over four feet seven inches tall and weighed seventy two pounds. He had a fair complexion with grey eyes and auburn hair. He had no distinguishing marks. He was discharged on the 10^th of September 1890 due to being found medically unfit for army service. The reason given was rheumatism.

His next of kin was given as his brother Edward.

Not to be deterred George enlisted again on the 20^th of July 1892 into the same regiment. He had grown a little as his height was now four feet ten inches and he weighed seventy four pounds. Once more he was declared medically unfit and discharged on the 13^th of February 1896.

Three months later and he is trying again with the Scottish Borderers where he was again rejected so he joined the Royal Marines in 1897.

This was short-lived as on the 12^th of June 1897 he enlisted with the Royal West Surrey regiment at London. He was now aged nineteen.

This time he was successful and was appointed to the rank of Lance Corporal on the 19^th of September 1898, and then to Corporal the following year, eventually attaining the rank of Sergeant on the 27^th of November 1901. His period of service was extended to complete twelve years with the colours.

George’s South African service was from the 20^th of October 1899 until the 5^th of June 1901 followed by a brief spell in England and then back to South Africa until the end of 1902.

George was awarded the Queens South African with Orange Free State, Transvaal, Elandslaagte, Relief of Ladysmith, and Laing’s Nek Clasps. He was also awarded the Kings South African medal with 1901 and 1902 clasps.

His regiment  was sent to India following the Boer War and George remained there for three years.

George was then sent back to England where he qualified at the school of musketry Hythe in 1906 and was finally discharged on the 24^th of September 1908 at Colchester. His conduct and character were exemplary. His intended place of residence was 7, St Leger Terrace, Warlingham with his older brother which is where he was found on the 1911 census. He was single and a  military instructor.

It is not known whether he ever married and like his brother his death date is unknown.

Dove, Henry John William (listed as W Dove on the Boer War Panel. He was also the brother of Herbert Daniel Dove)

Corporal

8th Hussars 3479

Discharged by Purchase 1903

Henry John William Dove was born on the 10^th of May 1877 and baptized on the 30^th of the same month at St John the Evangelist Hammersmith.  He was the third eldest son of George Henry and Jane nee Hedges. His father was a hairdresser.

On the 1881 census the family are living at 2, Callow Street, Chelsea next to the Baptist Chapel. Eight children had been born to the couple by the time of this census, one more would be born shortly which was Henry’s youngest brother Herbert.

Callow Street was coloured pink on Charles Booth’s poverty map which signified that the people living there were fairly comfortable with good ordinary earnings.

All this was to change when in January 1882 Henry’s father committed suicide (see brother Herbert’s story)

Henry was admitted to Beechholme with two older sisters, Rose and Dora on the 31st of March 1882 after being admitted to Britten Street workhouse together. His next of kin was given as his mother Jane. He is then listed under the name of William. He is still listed as being resident in Beechholme in 1891 when he was aged 13 with his younger brother Herbert. Henry was discharged on the 17th of May 1892 to the 8th Hussars at Norwich.

Henry has surviving service records which give a little information about him. His name is given as being Henry on these.

His age was

He enlisted in London on the same date as discharged from the school, his age recorded as being 14 years and 11 months. His occupation was given as musician. He was 4 feet 5 ½  inches in height and weighed just 64 pounds . Henry was described as being fair complexioned, with blue eyes and dark brown hair. He had no distinguishing marks.

His next of kin is given as his mother Jane who was living in Richmond at this time. She had remarried by this time and this corresponds with where she was living on the 1901 census which was in Canbury Park Road, Kingston.

The service records state that he had an older brother Henry serving in the Rifle Brigade at this time. This should read George .

Henry’s service in South Africa would have mirrored his brother Herbert’s as they were in the same regiment .

Henry survived the war in South Africa and passed an examination in April 1903 which enabled him to be promoted to the rank of Corporal.

However, something must have changed his mind in the next four months as he was discharged by purchase on the 11^th of August 1903.

This would have cost him £18 which was a lot of money at the time.

Henry was awarded the South African medal with Cape Colony and Orange Free State clasps.

Nothing further is known of him after 1903.

He cannot be found on the 1911 census, nor could a death record be found for him. 

Dove, Herbert Daniel (brother of Henry John William)

Trumpeter 3845

8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars

Survived

Herbert Daniel Dove was born on the 1^st of May 1881 and baptized the 15^th of May at St John’s, Worlds End. Herbert was the youngest child of nine born to George Dove and Jane nee Hedges. Herbert’s father was employed as a hairdresser.

Less than a year after Herbert’s birth in January 1882 his father committed suicide and this sad story was reported in the Lloyds Weekly London News dated the 8^th of January.

“Yesterday afternoon Dr Diplock held an inquest at the Britannia Tavern , Camera Square, Chelsea, relative to the death of a hairdresser named George Henry Dove aged 36,who resided at 4, Callow Street, Chelsea. Jane Catherine Dove, the widow, who cried while giving her evidence, said she lived at 373 Kings Road, Chelsea. She was accustomed to take her husband’s meals to 4, Callow Street. His conduct lately had been very strange. He had frequently passed his hand across his forehead, remarking “I am going out of my mind. I know I cannot live.” Witness last saw him alive on Wednesday night. The following afternoon she went to his shop on Callow Street. The front door was locked. A neighbour named Stocker got into the house and found the deceased dead in one of the rooms. William Alfred Stocker, who discovered the body, stated that he saw Dove alive on Thursday morning. He then appeared to be “watching” witness. Mr. F.Glanville, surgeon of Fulham Road said he found Dove quite dead. A piece of  twine was round his neck, the string being fastened to the handle of a door, and death had evidently been caused by the man throwing himself down a flight of three or four stairs, which were rising to the door where the twine was attached - strangulation being the result. A verdict of “suicide by strangulation was returned."

Three of the couple’s children were admitted to the Britten Street workhouse in 1882 and from there were admitted to Beechholme; one of these was Herbert’s older brother Henry John who was sometimes known as William..

Herbert, sometimes known as Bertie, had three admissions to the same workhouse with his mother Jane, and was eventually admitted to Beechholme on the 18th of July 1890. He was discharged to the band of the 8th Hussars at Leeds on the 12th of September 1896. His next of kin was given as his mother Jane of 34, Church Street.

By the 1891 census both Herbert and older brother William are there together. The two older sisters had by this time left the school.

Herbert has no surviving army service records, but Ancestry’s UK Campaign Medals ascribes Herbert Daniel Dove as having served in the 2^nd Boer War and notes his medal with clasps awarded.

The 8^th Kings Royal Irish Hussars were raised in 1693 as a dragoon unit from Protestants living in Ireland. This was only two years after the decisive Jacobite defeat at Aughrim so the new regiment remained in Ireland until 1704. The regiment was designated light dragoons in 1775 and gained the ”King’s” prefix two years later. In 1823 returning to England from India the regiment was re-named and re-equipped as Hussars.

The motto of the 8^th Hussars was “ Pristinae Virtualis Memores” the meaning of which is “Mindful of Past Courage”.

The 8^th Hussars sailed in February 1900 and arrived in South Africa at the beginning of March. Along with 7^th Dragoon Guards and 14^th Hussars they formed the 4^th Cavalry Brigade under Brigadier General Dickson.

On the 1^st of May 1900 the Boers made a stand in a strong position at Houtnek, where Ian Hamilton’s force had stiff work in turning them out. In his telegram of 2^nd of May Lord Roberts said "Hamilton speaks in high terms of the service of the 8^th Hussars under \Colonel Clowes who assisted in making the Boers evacuate their position.”

On the march from Machadodorp to Heidelberg the 8^th and 14^th Hussars and “M” Battery were under Colonel Mahon who became heavily engaged near Geluk with a body of 1100 men with 4 guns. Although heavily pressed Mahon succeeded in holding his own until French came to his assistance when the Boers were driven back in a south easterly direction having sustained some loss. The enemy on this occasion were very daring and crept up through broken ground to within 100 yards. The 8^th Hussars were for a time very hard pressed but held on well. They lost 2 officers and 7 men and 2 officers and 8 men were wounded.

In the first quarter of 1901 the regiment was in the column of Colonel. E.C. Knox, one of these columns starting near Springs swept to the Swazi border.

During the later phases of the war the Eastern Transvaal to the borders of Zululand were the principal scenes of the regiments’ operations, but a portion for a time was employed in the Orange River Colony.

After the war Herbert was sent to the army reserve as is revealed by the 1911 census where he was stationed in Butts Road, Colchester, Essex. He is described as being 29 years old and single and his rank is Corporal / Musician.

Herbert was awarded the South African medal with Cape Colony and Orange Free State clasps.

In the September quarter of 1911 Herbert married Frances White in the Colchester registration district. The couple had two daughters.

It is not known whether he had any further contact with any members of his family. His mother Jane was still alive in 1911, having married again but was widowed for the second time and living with a daughter-in-law. The 1939 register shows Herbert living with his wife at Ramleigh Lane, Colchester, Essex. His occupation was given as petroleum storekeeper.

Herbert died on the 15^th of March 1952 in the Essex County hospital Colchester. He was aged 70. His will states that he was living at 52, Maldon Road, Colchester and he left £462 pounds to his widow.