COMMISSARIAT CLERK (LATER DEPUTY ASSISTANT COMMISARY GENERAL) F.W. CALLAGHAN, COMMISSARIAT STAFF, LIGHT CAVALRY BRIGADE WHO SAW SERVICE WITH THE LIGHT BRIGADE'S COMMISSARIAT STAFF THROUGHOUT THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN, INCLUDING THE BATTLE OF BALAKLAVA. Crimea Medal, 4 clasps, Alma, Inkerman, Balaklava, Sebastopol (officially named, engraved in upright serifed block capitals by Hunt & Roskell's "split S" engraver: F.W. CALLAGHAN. COMMt. STAFF Lt. Cy. Be.). Old minor repair to suspension (suspender re-affixed), otherwise Good Very Fine and with a length of original silk ribbon.
Medal accompanied by copied medal rolls, confirming medal and clasps, that Callaghan saw service as a Commissariat Clerk with the Commisariat Department during the Crimean War and was also entitled to the Turkish Crimea Medal. Balaklava clasp scarce to the Commissariat Staff, the medal roll recording a total of only 24 awarded (one of which was subsequently struck out and cancelled), and rare to members of the Commissariat Staff attached to the Light Brigade.
Medal also accompanied by extract from the Statement of the Services of Commissariat Clerks, Writers, Storekeepers, Issuers, Conductors, etc, re Callaghan's service with the Commissariat Department (WO 61/14).
Frederick William Callaghan was born in Chatham, Kent, in 1833 (baptised 31/7/1833). He is recorded in the 1851 census as being a 17 year old clerk, the son of Daniel Callaghan, a 60 year old Chelsea Pensioner, and his 54 year old wife Isabella. Callaghan first saw active service during the Crimean War as a Clerk employed by the Commissary-General's Department stationed in Malta from 15/5/1854, initially being paid at the rate of 6 shillings per day, with his pay subsequently increased on 23/5/54 to 7 shillings and sixpence per day. He joined the Commissariat Corps with the rank of Clerk on 1/1/1855 and after seeing service with the Commissariat Department, attached Light Brigade, during the Crimean War, Callaghan, then still a Commissariat Clerk, passed the examination for promotion to the rank of Deputy Assistant Commissary-General, Commissariat Department in 1860, with seniority of 4/7/1860. That appointment was cancelled shortly afterwards, the notification of the cancellation being posted in the London Gazette of 5/2/1861. Frederick Callaghan died at Grenwich, England, in 1863 and was buried at St Margaret's Church, Plumstead, Grenwich, on 15/3/1863.
The Commissariat Staff was a uniformed civilian department of the War Office. The department traced its origins to the appointment by James II in 1685 of a civilian Commissary General tasked with supplying the army with food and transport. The Commissariat was much reduced in the years leading up to the outbreak of the Crimean War and as a result famously struggled to deal with the complexities of supplying the Army during Crimean campaign, and as a result, in December 1854, control of its military functions were transferred to the War Office. The Commissariat remained a uniformed civilian service until 1869, when its officers transferred to the new Control Department as commissioned Army officers. The Control Department then went through a number of incarnations, before becoming the Army Service Corps in 1888.
For details of the "split S" Hunt & Roskell engraver and officially engraved Crimea Medals, see "By Order of Her Majesty -The Crimea Medal", by Satterley, Pickering and Martin (Orders and Medals Research Society).
