Trooper Thomas McNally with Introduction By Lyn John
In 2012 Llanelli Community Heritage received a request to install two interpretive panels at the Llanelli District Cemetery. As to be expected, we were inundated with subjects, far too many for the two panels planned for the burial ground. One of the many characters who drew our attention was Trooper Thomas McNally. Not only had he been through the Crimean War but he had actually been at the Charge of The Light Brigade!
In February 1898 an old soldier of the 13th Regiment of Hussars was buried at this cemetery with full military honours. He had served Queen and country with distinction in the Crimean War having been awarded the Crimea Medal with clasps for Alma, Inkerman, Balaclava, and Sebastopol. It was believed at the time of his death that he had taken part in the Charge of the Light Brigade when the cavalry charged the Russian guns at Balaclava as a result of a battlefield communications error. Of some 700 men who rode towards the guns, only 195 returned and 500 horses were killed.
In February 2021 Lucy Anthony presented Llanelli Community Heritage with a sepia photograph of a be-medalled Victorian soldier in the uniform of a Hussar. It was quickly identified as the photograph of Trooper McNally, prompting us to reveal more of his background as follows.
Thomas M
cNally’s official records show that he was born in 1827 at Chapelizod, about three miles from Dublin, where he enlisted with the British Army on 18th July1846, at the age of nineteen. He was described as being five foot eight inches tall with a fair complexion, grey eyes and light brown hair. By trade he was a plasterer. In the 1851 Census he is listed as being at Hamilton Cavalry Barracks, Lanarkshire. He was discharged from the army at Leeds on 1st August 1871 "of his own request, to pension, after 24 years service". His character and conduct having "been very Good". He was in possession of five Good Conduct badges and a school certificate. He was forty-four years of age at the time of his discharge having served two years abroad in Turkey and the Crimea, followed by two years and ten months in Canada.
In 1887 Trooper McNally was reported as the licensee of the Army & Navy Inn in Pembroke and was fined £4 "for permitting drunkenness" (a). He moved to Llanelli c1891 when the Census records show him living in 39 Old Castle Road and working as a Groom. Shortly afterwards he moved to his final home in the town at 14 Annesley Street, where he died on 13th February 1898. He was buried with a military funeral following a service held at the Catholic Church in Lloyd Street (b). Father Byrne ministered at his death, at the service in the church, and at the graveside. "His dying wish was that his Balaclava medal should be hung up in the Little Catholic Church of Llanelly, so that those who see it may pray for his soul " (c).
He left his effects and £50-12s-4d in his will to James Thompson, who was described as an ‘Iron Dresser’, probably a task that was performed in a foundry.
There were other Crimean Veterans linked to Llanelli, such as Admiral Henry James Raby VC and Colonel Murray Cowell. A brass memorial plate for Colonel Murray Cowell can be seen within the Parish Church of Llanelli.
Notes and Citations
Llanelli Community Heritage are grateful to Lucy Anthony for bringing her photograph of Trooper Thomas McNally to our attention and Llanelli Library for the photograph of St Mary's Catholic Church ILL7120 B
(a)The South Wales Daily News 27 July 1887 p4
(b)The Welshman 1st April 1859 p5.
(c) South Wales Daily Post. 22 February 1898.
The events leading up to and the famous action known as Charge of the Light Brigade are well published, but Trooper McNally’s full story in Llanelli can be read here in The South Wales Press of 1898.
Download the PDF to read the full story as published by the reporters of the day.
 Download PDF 844KB ~ 4 Pages |
Trooper McNally South Wales Press 1898 |
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