James Carson
James Carson, son of Robert
and Ann Carson of Edenderry, was born on the 15th August 1823, near
the town of Lisburn, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland. He worked as a weaver before
enlisting with the British Army at Belfast, in 1844.
James, with his wife Mary and
daughter Ann, traveled to India as a private with the 57th Regiment
of Foot (The Diehards). The regiment returned to
Dover Castle, England in 1846, and later saw service in Leeds, Enniskillen,
Armagh, Dublin, and Kilkenny.In 1853 they were sent to the
Ionian Islands in the Mediterranean, and were ready for action after the Battle
of the Alma, which took place on the Crimean Peninsula.
The 57th Regiment arrived at Sebastopol in September 1854, and fought at the Crimea for the remainder of the war. James Carson was present at the battles of Sebastopol, Balaclava and Inkermann, for which service he was later presented with medals and clasps. The regiment remained in the Mediterranean at Corfu and Malta, and it was during this period that James was invalided back to England, suffering from an eye disease, which many of the soldiers had contracted due to the climatic conditions.
He came before the Medical Board at Kilmainham Hospital, Dublin in 1858, and received his discharge as “unfit for duty” later that year. From this date he was registered as a Chelsea Pensioner, first receiving his pension from the depot at Manchester, England.
At the age of 42, with his
wife and family of three, he traveled by train from Ashton-under-Lyne, to
Glasgow, Scotland, where they boarded the ship “Resolute” for passage to New Zealand. Although the immigrants were
destined to populate land in the Waikato, James and Mary did not wait to take
up their land grant, but instead sailed on to Wellington.
Ann Carson, their eldest
daughter, who had married a soldier in the 57th Regiment while the
family were in Malta, had arrived in New Zealand in 1861, when the regiment
were sent from India, to take part in the conflict over land settlements in
Taranaki.
In 1865, Ann’s husband,
Sergeant-Major Robert Fraser, was in charge of the Cuba Street Barracks in
Wellington and it is very likely that the two families wished to be re-united.
As a military settler, James
continued to draw his pension when he joined the Veteran Corps of the
Volunteers in Wellington, serving for 4½ years.
During this period he was
recruiting men on behalf of St John Braningan, and Col. Reader of the Armed
Constabulary. The family were living in Tinakori Road, and later in Parliament
Street.
James Carson fell while
stepping down from the tram at the corner of Willis and Manners Streets, and
was taken to Wellington Hospital suffering from a broken hip.
by Lynda Richards
This photo was taken at Terrace End Cemetery,
Palmerston North and is the headstone on the grave of James and Mary Carson's
son, James Henry Carson.
Private James Carson's grave at Mt Street cemetery,
Wellington no longer has a marker.
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