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312 SERGEANT WILLIAM DEAN
ROYAL SAPPERS AND MINERS
by
© Lieutenant Colonel Edward De Santis, 1999

Early Life

William Dean was born in St. Mary’s Parish in the town of Woolwich, Kent, in April of 1809. 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. It is probably safe to surmise that William 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.

Enlistment

William 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. 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.

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 1^st 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, i.e. his birthdate, may have been due to the fact that he did not know his exact birthdate. 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 Dean’s service papers 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 service 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.

Promotions and Conduct

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

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.

2. 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 service 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." 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.

Marriage and Family Information

William Dean was married when he was a Private, probably without leave. His wife 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. There are no further details available in Sergeant Dean’s service papers concerning his family.

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 upwards of 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.

Member: Captain A.T. Storer, R.E.

Member: Captain J.T. Twigge, R.E.

On the day the board convened, Sergeant Dean’s total service was recknoned 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. and were found to be correct. Sergeant 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.

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.

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.

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.

Maps

1. BAEDEKER, K. Great Britain Handbook for Travellers. Karl Baedeker, Publisher, Leipzig, 1910.
2. BARTHOLOMEW, J. Reference Atlas of Greater London. John Bartholomew & Son Ltd., Edinburgh, 1957.

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