About the product

Turkish Crimea 39th Regt

Turkish Crimea, Sardinian, Impressed naming, Pte Robert Haythorn, 39th Dorsetshire Regt, who died on service in Dagshai India in 1875, 20 years into career.

Out of stock

SKU: J7664 Category:
Origin: United Kingdom
Good Very Fine

Description

Turkish Crimea Medal, Sardinian issue, Depot Impressed naming, Private Robert Haythorn, 39th Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot, who died on service in India in 1875.

 

Depot impressed naming in neat contemporary style: “R. HAYTHORN No 3925 39 REGT”.
Fitted with a curious swivelling suspension, the ring being finely engraved to resemble a twisted rope.
Some light polishing and general wear consistent with his 20+ years of service.

 

Entitled to the Crimean Medal with bar for Sebastopol according to the medal rolls.

 

Private Robert Haythorn was a long serving veteran of the 39th (Dorset) Regiment of Foot, he was a young man in Crimea, aged about 19-20 when he earned this medal. He travelled around the world with the regiment, following on from Crimea he spent time in Canada, then a few years in Bermuda, before setting off for a lengthy term in India.

 

On 3rd August 1875, now aged 40 years old, he must have been getting very close to completing his 21 years of service and being shipped back home to pension, perhaps in that same year, when he fell ill and died, a victim of an abscess of the liver and dysentery.
It is suggested that the combination of symptoms was likely from a Parasitic infection of some kind, possible Echinococcus or Streptococcus.

 

On 5th August 1875, Robert Haythorn was buried in Dagshai, Himachal Pradesh, India.

 

Dagshai is a Hill Station, situated at an altitude of 1734 metres (5689 feet), about 400 metres higher than “Ben Nevis”.

 

At the time the British had made a Hill Depot atop the heights as a place of respite where troops could escape to in the hot weather which was so unhealthy down in the plains

 

Robert Haythorn was born circa 1835-6 in Yorkshire, England. He was the son of William and Mary Haythorn.
He was baptised on 3rd April 1836.

 

He was likely a new recruit aged 18-19 when he enlisted, and served in the Siege of Sebastopol during the Crimean War, between October 1854 and September 1855.

 

He then would have followed to Canada in 1856, before being posted with the regiment for a 5 year posting to Bermuda in 1859.

 

There he is noted on the 1861 Army Census as stationed with the 39th Foot in Bermuda.

 

The last deployment of the regiment was to India in 1869, where they were to remain until at least 1881 when they were merged with the 54th West Norfolk Regiment to from the “Dorsetshire Regiment”.

 

About 6 years into this posting, Robert died, over 20 years into his British Army service.