Neal, James

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PERSONAL DETAILSJames NEAL
Birth date and placec. 1833 St. Luke’s, London, Middlesex, England.
Baptism date and place
Civil Census Residences
England, Wales & Scotland		1 Spencer Street, Shoreditch, Middlesex (1841 tentative).
4 Brick Lane, Finsbury, Midddlesex (1851 tentative).
See Musters below (1861, 1871).
Occupations pre-WAHatter.
Physical DescriptionHeight: 5 ft. 10½ ins. Complexion: pale. Eyes: brown. Hair: brown.
Marriage date and placec. 1856 [E J Boys, 2000].
SpouseEliza ?
ChildrenNone.
Death date and place
Burial date and place
Will and Probate
Death Notices and Obituaries
ARMED FORCES
Regiment(s)8th (King’s Royal Irish) Hussars.
Regiment No. and Rank#1185 Private.
Attestation date and place8 Aug 1851 Hounslow, Middlesex.
Service/CampaignsTurkey & Crimea 2 years – embarked on Echunga 15 Maya 1854 [Dutton p.113].
Musters1861 Meerut, East Indies [WO12-852].
1871 Dublin [WO12-862].
PromotionsPrivate to Corporal 11 Nov 1854.
Corporal to Sergeant 15 Dec 1854.
Sergeant to Troop Sergeant Major 18 Dec 1855.
Troop Sergeant Major to Quarter Master Sergeant 14 Dec 1856.
QM Sergeant Major to Troop Sergeant Major 1 Nov 1859.
Troop Sergeant Major to Sergeant (reverted) 22 Mar 1866.
Sergeant to Sergeant Instructor of Musketry 23 Aug 1867.
Medals, Clasps and BadgesCrimea War Medal clasps Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol.  Turkish Crimea Medal.
Distinguished Conduct Medal (£10 gratuity) 1855.
Indian Mutiny clasp Central India.
Five Good Conduct Badges (if had not been promoted).
Long Service & Good Conduct Medal.
Casualty/MedicalNone.
Regimental Courts MartialNone.
Once in Regimental Defaulters Book.
District Courts MartialNone.
General Courts MartialNone.
Discharge date and place4 Nov 1873 Longford.
Length of Service22 years 86 days.
Chelsea Pension ReferenceWO97/1747/253.
Post Discharge ResidenceCupar, Fife.
Post Discharge Pension District?
Pension Amount2/7d. per diem.
ARRIVAL AND LIFE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
ShipUnknown.
Departure and ArrivalJames Neal has been identified as “residing in Perth [WA] in 1875”.
References for this are E J Boys article in Sabretache, 1 Jun 2000; Roy Dutton Forgotten Heroes: the Charge of the Light Brigade, 2007; M S James A Superior Body of Men, 2016. None offer a source for this information and it may well have come from the earliest published source (E J Boys).
None of the sources record the ship that Neal arrived on. He is not listed in the Rica Erickson Dictionaries of Western Australia. He was not in the Enrolled Pensioner Force or Enrolled Guard.
I have searched for Neal in the 1874, 1875 and 1876 editions of The Herald Western Australian Almanack in Perth, Fremantle and regional areas of WA without success. This, however, does not preclude James and Eliza Neal from residing here, since I believe this publication was by subscription. It is unlikely that he was confused with the convict of the same name who arrived on the Belgravia in 1866 and died in 1889.
Why is it important to know that James Neal came to live in Western Australia? He was possibly one of the survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade which would have put him in the elite company of John Richard Gray (Warder) and Henry Dyson Naylor (Enrolled Pensioner Force).