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312 Sergeant
WILLIAM GEORGE DEAN
Royal Sappers and Miners
 

by 

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, P.E., MinstRE
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(Revised, May 2023)
 

1.      INTRODUCTION

                Majority of the information regarding Sergeant Dean’s military service was taken from his service papers (WO97/1360) obtained from the National Archives in London.  These consisted solely of his discharge papers and did not include many of the documents normally found for a soldier in the Royal Engineers.  All other information dealing with his life was obtained from the references presented at the end of this narrative.  It should be noted that his service papers show his name to be only William Dean, however more detailed research from family trees posted on Ancestry.com indicates that it was actually William George Dean. 

2.      EARLY LIFE

            William George Dean was born in St. Mary’s Parish in the town of Woolwich, Kent, in April of 1809.  No information could be located regarding his parents. 

            St. Mary’s Church is located south of the Royal Dock Yard and north of the Royal Infantry and Royal Artillery Barracks in the heart of the Woolwich military complex.[i]  It is probably safe to surmise that William George Dean was the son of a serving soldier.  The place of his birth and the fact that he would enlist in the Army as a Boy Soldier are two pieces of evidence to validate this assumption.   

            As a young boy he may have worked for a tailor, or he may have been a tailor’s apprentice, since this is the trade shown on his military service papers.  He may have even worked as an assistant to a military tailor in the Woolwich area. 

3.      Enlistment

            William George Dean was 14 years old when he enlisted in the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners.  This enlistment took place on the 16th of May 1823, during the reign of King William IV, the father of Queen Victoria.  Since he was under age for regular enlistment, he was taken on the rolls of the Corps as a Boy Soldier.[ii]  After his enlistment, he was assigned Regimental Number 312 and was given such duties as were appropriate for a Boy Soldier at the time.  In his case he probably continued to learn the trade of a tailor, since tailoring was one of the three principal trades taught to Boy Soldiers.[iii]

4.      Assignments and Campaign Service

            There is very little information available in the service papers of Sergeant Dean to indicate where he was assigned during his more than 38 years of service.  He was taken on the rolls as a Private in the Royal Sappers and Miners on the 1st of April 1827, having attained the age of 18 years during the second quarter of that year.  This reckoning, based on the first day of the quarter rather than a specific date, that is, his birth date, may have been due to the fact that he did not know his exact birth date.  He may have known that he was born sometime during the spring of the year.  The Army gave him the benefit of the doubt by assuming that it was the 1st of April. 

            William George Dean’s service papers[iv] indicate that he was serving near Halifax, Nova Scotia in September of 1840.  Royal Sappers and Miners had been posted to Canada since 1811 performing a number of different duties there.  These duties included surveying, road building, the construction of fortifications and many other engineering and pioneering tasks.  The paucity of information contained in Dean’s discharge papers provides little information regarding his unit of assignment or his duties.  His records do indicate, however, that he served in Canada for seven years and one month. 

            Following his return from Canada, his records give little indication of his postings with regard to either his units or his location.  Again, his son's service papers show that in 1862 Sergeant Dean was residing at Lower Barracks in Brompton, Kent.  By this time, Sergeant Dean had served more than 35 years.  It would be reasonable to assume that he was probably serving as a Supernumerary for the Corps at this time.  He appears to have served at the Corps headquarters at Woolwich and at Chatham for a good part of his career after returning to England from Nova Scotia.[v]

5.      Promotions and Conduct

a.      Promotions

            Sergeant Dean’s promotions during his service with the Colours are summarized in the following table: 

Date of Appointment or Promotion

Rank

16 May 1823

Boy Soldier

1 April 1827

Private

14 March 1847

2nd Corporal

1 September 1848

Corporal

13 October 1852

Sergeant

 

            It is interesting to note that after his promotion to Sergeant, he served over 13 more years without any further promotions.  As will be seen in the section below, his conduct was certainly not the cause of his not being promoted further.  

 b.  Conduct 

      At the time of his discharge, Sergeant Dean was in possession of the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and a gratuity of 10 Pounds.  Dean became eligible for this medal in 1845 when he completed 18 years of service, reckoned from the date of his entry into the ranks after reaching the age of 18. 

Sergeant Dean’s character and conduct were rated as “Exemplary.”  His discharge papers contain an entry that reads that he “would have been in possession of nine Good Conduct Badges had he not been promoted to Sergeant.”  This entry is lined out with the note that as “he enlisted previous to the date of the present Good Conduct Warrant, he did not avail himself of its advantages, having enlisted under a previous warrant.”[vi]  The “present Good Conduct Warrant” referred to in this statement is the Warrant of 1860; that is, the last Warrant placed into effect prior to his discharge. 

His name appeared once in the Regimental Defaulters’ Book, but he was never tried by court martial.  Unfortunately, his service papers do not indicate the infraction he committed to have his name placed in the Book. 

6.      Marriage and Family Information

            William George Dean was married when he was a Private, probably without leave.[vii]   His wife’s name was Mary Ann[1] and she was with him in Nova Scotia.  There is a good possibility that he married a woman he met in Halifax.  His wife gave birth to their son, George, near Halifax on the 3rd of September 1840.[viii]  There are no further details available in Sergeant Dean’s service papers concerning his family; however, the 1861 Census of England does provide some additional information.[2]  That census shows that in 1861 Sergeant Dean and his wife were living in the Parish of Gillingham, in the Parliamentary Borough of Chatham, near the Town of Brompton.  From this information one can assume that he was serving at Brompton Barracks, the headquarters of the Corps of Royal Engineers.  

            By 1861 the Dean had already had four children: George born in 1841, Josiah John born in 1835, Frederick Willis born in 1843 and Sophia born in 1851.  The census shows that only Frederick Willis, age 18, was living with his parents at the time.  Both George and Josiah had already enlisted in the Royal Sappers and Miners and poor Sophia had died in 1857 at the age of 6 years.

7.      Discharge

            On the 21st of September 1865 a discharge board was proposed by the War Office at Horse Guards in London to consider the discharge from service of Sergeant Dean as a result of his having served well beyond 21 years.  From the wording in his service papers, it appears that the War Office felt that it was time for Dean to leave the service.  He does not appear to have applied for his discharge. 

            A Regimental Discharge Board convened at Chatham on the 1st of January 1866.  The board was composed of the following officers: 

                        Board President:         Major G. Longley, R.E.[ix]

                        Member:                      Captain A.T. Storer, R.E.[x]

                        Member:                      Captain J.T. Twigge, R.E.[xi]

On the day the board convened, Sergeant Dean’s total service was reckoned at 38 years and 276 days.  His papers indicate that his service was reckoned from the 1st of the quarter in which he attained the age of 18 years.  The board members examined Dean’s service record and found him eligible for discharge.  The proceedings of the board were then examined by Captain R.M. Parsons, R.E.[xii] and were found to be correct.  Sergeant William George Dean’s discharge was subsequently approved on the 8th of January 1866 by the Assistant Adjutant General of the Royal Engineers, Colonel J.F.M. Browne, R.E.[xiii] 

            Dean was finally discharged from the Army on the 16th of January 1866.  On that date his total service was reckoned at 38 years and 291 days.  His description on discharge was as follows: 

            Height: 5 feet 7-1/2 inches. Complexion: swarthy.  Eyes: hazel.  Hair: light grey.  Sergeant Dean had no scars or distinguishing marks worthy of note. 

            Upon leaving the service, Sergeant Dean indicated that his intended place of residence was Chatham, Kent.


ADDENDUM NO. 1


 ADDENDUM NO. 2 

The information contained in this addendum was provided by Kim Sadlier JP.  Kim has done a considerable amount of research on the Dean family.   For clarity, William Dean (1809-1883), is Kim’s 3 times great grandfather. 

Kim notes that in my research I indicated that William Dean had the middle name of George and that this determination shows no source other than “a family tree on Ancestry.”   Dean family history would dispute this as speculation, however a cemetery record of his first son, Edward Charles indicated his father to be William G DEAN and mother Margaret Elizabeth née Edwards.

There are many anomalies in the Dean family research having him also as William Henry and his wife as Margaret Ann. Other researchers have provided the same information.  In my research I have indicated that William also had 4 children commencing while he was stationed in Halifax Nova Scotia. Census records rarely indicate any middle name, and most associated with William and Margaret Dean are the same.    

Family evidence indicates William was married to Mary Ann (or Elizabeth) EDWARDS in Woolwich on 2 May 1831 and their first born was Kim’s 2 times great grandfather, Edward Charles DEAN born in 1833, possibly at  Woolwich.  He was another member of the family who was engaged in military service coming to Perth, Western Australia as a member of the Royal Engineers and was appointed Clerk of Works at Fremantle in 1865. The 1861 Census has him at Hampshire in 1861.  He married Elizebeth YOULE in Ireland in 1855 while he was stationed at Enniskillen.  She was the daughter of a soldier at Woolwich.  His siblings were Josiah John (1835-1891) born in Gillingham, Kent, Mary Ann (1839 -1872), George  (1841 -?) born in  Halifax, Nova Scotia, Frederick Willis (1843 – 1847) also born in Halifax, Alfred (1845-1846) born in Woolwich, Josephus Alfred (1847- 1848) and Sophia Matilda (1849- 1857).  His Canadian service would appear to run from 1836 through to 1843, but as I have indicated in my work, records for this period are scant. 

Several men of the Dean family joined the Royal Sappers and Miners and as a family their involvement in soldiering was consistent across generations, mostly with the Royal Engineers. 

Kim notes that the conflict of information is always going to impact on research and digging deeper on many occasions does not help.  

 

REFERENCES 

Books 

1.  CONOLLY, T.W.J.  Roll of Officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers From 1660 to 1898.  The Royal Engineers Institute, Chatham, Kent, 1898. 

2.  CONOLLY, T.W.J. The History of the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners.  Volumes I and II.  Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, London, 1855. 

3.  FARWELL, B.  Mr. Kipling’s Army: All the Queen’s Men.  W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1981. 

4.  GRIERSON, J.M.  Scarlet Into Khaki: The British Army on the Eve of the Boer War.  Greenhill Books, London, 1988. 

5.  PORTER, W.  The History of the Corps of Royal Engineers.  Volume I.  The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1952. 

6.  SKELLEY, A.R.  The Victorian Army at Home: The Recruitment and Terms and Conditions of the British Regular, 1859-1899.  McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal, 1977. 

Census 

1861 Census of England and Wales (RG/480). 

Documents 

1.  LARIMORE, F.B.  Long Service and Good Conduct Chevrons (Badges) and their Periods of Qualification.  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, 1998. 

2.  WO97/1360.  Soldier’s Service Papers.  Public Record Office, London. 

a.   W.O. Form 83.  Proceedings of a Regimental Discharge Board. 

b.   Detailed Statement of Services (included with the discharge documents).


[1] Efforts to find her maiden name have been unsuccessful. 

[2] Other than 1861, no other census document could be found showing the location of the Deans.



ENDNOTES

[i]  The military installations in the Woolwich area today (1999) are much the same as they were in 1809.

[ii]  See Recruitment of Boy Soldiers in the Appendix.

[iii]  Ibid.

[iv]  See the narrative for 4258 Sapper George Dean in the following section of this book.

[v] Following the Crimean War the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners was re-designated the Corps of Royal Engineers.

[vi]  See Good Conduct Pay and Long Service and Good Conduct Chevrons (Badges) and their Periods of Qualification in the Appendix.

[vii]  See Marriage of Soldiers During the Victorian Period in the Appendix.

[viii]  See the narrative for 4258 Sapper George Dean.

[ix]  George Longley.  Regimental Ranks: 2nd Lieutenant, 21 December 1853; Lieutenant, 20 June 1854; 2nd Captain, 19 September 1859.  Army Ranks: Major, 9 April 1861; Lieutenant Colonel, 5 January 1872.  War Service: Crimea, 1855-1856; China, 1857.  Half pay, 6 July 1866.  Retired, 30 June 1881.  Died at Southsea, 10 January 1892.

[x]  Arthur Tillard Storer.  Regimental Ranks: Lieutenant, 1 August 1855; 2nd Captain, 3 August 1863; Captain, 5 July 1872; Major, 27 August 1872; Lieutenant Colonel, 1 October 1881.  Army Ranks: Lieutenant Colonel, 1 July 1881; Colonel, 1 July 1885.  Retired, 4 May 1892.

[xi]  John Thomas Twigge.  Regimental Ranks: Lieutenant, 1 August 1855; 2nd Captain, 9 October 1863; Captain, 5 July 1872; Major, 15 January 1873; Lieutenant Colonel, 19 October 1881.  Army Ranks: Lieutenant Colonel, 1 July 1881; Colonel, 1 July 1885; Major General, 19 October 1886.  War Service: Perak, 1875-1876.  Retired, 19 October 1886.

[xii]  Robert Mann Parsons.  Regimental Ranks: 2nd Lieutenant, 1 October 1847; Lieutenant, 21 September 1850; 2nd Captain, 23 February 1856; Captain, 1 April 1862; Major, 5 July 1862; Lieutenant Colonel, 8 March 1873.  Army Rank: Colonel, 8 March 1878; Major General, 29 October 1879.  Retired, 29 October 1879.  Died at Greenwich, 20 May 1897.

[xiii]  James Frankfort Manners Browne, KCB.  Regimental Ranks: 2nd Lieutenant, 1 January 1842; Lieutenant, 1 April 1845; 2nd Captain, 7 February 1854; Captain, 1 June 1855; Lieutenant Colonel, 2 May 1865; Colonel, 1 June 1873; Colonel-Commandant, 6 April 1890.  Army Ranks:  Major, 17 July 1855; Lieutenant Colonel, 26 December 1856; Colonel, 26 December 1864; Major General, 22 February 1870; Lieutenant General, 13 August 1881; General, 12 February 1888.  War Service: Crimea, 1855.  Retired, 5 May 1888.  A copy of an original photograph (CDV) of General Browne is in the author’s collection.