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Auction: 24002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 135

Pair: Private T. F. Arms, 4th (Queen's Own) Light Dragoons, latterly Bugle Major, Norfolk Regiment, who was severely wounded in the charge at Balaklava and is said to have been nursed by Florence Nightingale at Scutari

Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Sebastopol (Pte. Fredk. Arms, 4th Dragoons), contemporary engraved naming; Turkish Crimea 1855, British die, unnamed as issued, fitted with replacement ring suspension, both medals fitted with silver riband brooches, very fine (2)

Thomas Frederick Arms (or Armes) was born in the Parish of St Peter’s, Norwich, one of six sons of Thomas Arms, a leather cutter, of Dove Lane. He was enlisted at Norwich by No. 1215 Sergeant William Waterson on 26 May 1852, aged 21 years 11 months.

Both he and his horse were wounded in action in the charge at Balaklava. Lummis and Wynn state that he was left for dead on the field at Balaklava after a Cossack ran a lance through his leg. However, there is nothing in the medical report to substantiate this claim nor on his documents that ‘he was promoted to Corporal on the eve of Balaclava but rode in the Charge as a Private.’ He was sent to Scutari General Hospital on 26 October 1854, where he is said to have been nursed by Miss Florence Nightingale and Miss Stanley, the daughter of the Bishop of Norwich, before being invalided to England on 17 February 1855.

Arms was discharged from Chatham Invalid Depot on 16 October 1855, being:

‘Unfit for further service - Disabled by loss of fifth phalange of middle finger and injury to index finger of left hand by fragment of shell at Balaclava. Ring and little finger also contracted.’

He afterwards returned to Norwich where he became Bugle Major of the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment. In about June 1865 he married Emily Mary Ann Probyn. He attended the first Balaklava Banquet in 1875 and was a Member of the Balaklava Commemoration Society in 1879. He died at All Saint’s Green, Norwich, on 21 January 1885, as reported in Norfolk Annals for 31 January of that year:

‘Died at All Saint’s Green, Norwich, Thomas Frederick Armes, Bugle Major of the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment. Formerly in the 4th Light Dragoons, he took part in the famous light cavalry charge at Balaclava, in which he was wounded and left for dead on the field.’

In also recording his death, the United Services Gazette of 31 January 1885 added:

‘Towards the close of the famous engagement at Balaclava Armes was struck by a round shot in the ribs, which sent him flying out of the saddle. He was at first supposed to have been killed, but through careful nursing at Scutari he, to a great extent, recovered his health, although he always suffered more or less from his wounds, especially at certain seasons. Two fingers of his right hand were cut off by a Russian cavalry soldier. Armes lay so long at Scutari that when he was finally discharged from the hospital there, the Crimean war had terminated.’

He was buried in the City Cemetery, Norwich, where he was later joined by his wife who died in March 1919. The inscription on the erected tombstone reads:

‘In memory of Thomas Frederick Armes, formerly of the 4th Light Dragoons and for 17
years Bugle Major of the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment, who died at Norwich on the 21st of January 1885, aged 54 years.

He took part in the famous Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in the Crimea in which he was severely wounded and for 30 years he bore with exemplary patience the suffering from these wounds, which subsequently caused his death.

This monument was erected by his comrades in the Volunteers to whom he was endeared by the unselfishness of his character as a man, and by the unflagging discharge of his duties as a soldier.

Blessed are the dead which lie in the Lord.’

For the Medals of a relative, please see the next Lot.

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Sold for
£5,800

Starting price
£1100