FARRIER MAJOR (FARRIER SERGEANT) W. AITKEN, 5TH (ROYAL IRISH) LANCERS, WHO TRANSFERRED FROM THE 2ND DRAGOONS TO THE 5TH LANCERS WHEN THAT LATTER REGIMENT, WHICH HAD BEEN DISBANDED IN 1799, WAS BROUGHT BACK INTO SERVICE IN 1858. AITKEN WAS THE NEWLY RE-RAISED 5TH LANCERS' FIRST FARRIER MAJOR AND THE FIRST OFFICER OR MAN FROM THE REGIMENT TO BE OFFICIALLY AWARDED A MEDAL, FOR EITHER CAMPAIGN OR LONG SERVICE. Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, Victoria, type 2, with small letters reverse, swiveling scroll suspension and officially impressed naming (issue of 1855-1874), (officially impressed: 106. FAR - MJR. W. AITKEN. 5TH. LANCERS.). Couple of small edge nicks, otherwise attractively toned and Good Very Fine to Almost Extremely Fine.
Medal accompanied by biographical details, 4 pages copied discharge papers, Chelsea Pension admission record, and extracts 1881, 1891 and 1901 census returns.
William Henry Aitken was born in Cupar, Fifeshire, on 14/5/1818. He enlisted into the 2nd Dragoons (Scots Greys) at Cupar on 5/5/1838. At the time of enlistment he was 19 years and 10 months old and gave his trade as that of Blacksmith. Aitken transferred to the 5th Lancers on 1/3/1858 with the rank of Private and was promoted Farrier Major (Farrier Sergeant) on 17/3/1858. Aitken was discharged from the 5th Lancers at his own request at Norwich on 24/2/1863, after 24 years and 123 days service with the colours. At the time of discharge, Aitken was 44 years old and gave his intended place of residence as at the premises of a Mr Abells, horse dealer at Norwich. Discharge papers note Aitkens's conduct as having been "Good" whilst serving and confirm that, by the time of discharge, he had been awarded the Long Service Medal with gratuity. Service papers also state that, in addition to service at home, Aitken saw service for seven months in the Crimea, presumably with the 2nd Dragoons, but with no medals awarded for that campaign. Aitken was admitted a Chelsea Out-Pensioner in 1863, his pension initially being paid from 24/2/1863 at Norwich and at the rate of 1 shilling and 9 pence per day. Subsequent pension payments were made in West London, East London and from 1874 in North London at the rate of 1 shilling and 8 pence per day.
William Aitken is recorded in the 1881 census as a 61 year old married livery stables manager resident in Marylebone with his 56 year old wife Ellen, a daughter and a grandson. He is recorded in the 1891 census as a 71 year old widowed foreman of a livery stables living in Marylebone with his daughter and in the 1901 census as an 82 year old married man living on his "own means" in Marylebone with his 56 year old second wife, Esther.
The 5th Royal Irish Lancers, originally raised in 1689 as the Royal Irish Dragoons, was re-titled the 5th (Royal Irish) Dragoons in 1756. The regiment was disbanded in 1799 as a result of mutinous behaviour during the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland, but was brought back into service as the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers in 1858 in order to satisfy the need for additional mounted troops to serve in India following the outbreak of the mutiny there.
The regimental history records that the regiment was re-raised on 9/1/1858 by drafting officers and men from other regiments. The total number of officers and men who transferred in to the regiment totalling 660. Aitken transferred to the new regiment as 103 Farrier Sergeant. Aitken's low service number indicates that he was one of the first recruits to the newly re-formed 5th Lancers. The regimental history also records the newly re-raised regiment as having only one Farrier Sergeant in 1858, which would have been William Aitken.
William Aitken's Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was awarded on 4/12/1860. Because the regiment had been disbanded in 1799 it did not see active service during the French and Napoleonic Wars and although re-raised during the Indian Mutiny, did not see service in that campaign or in any of the earlier campaigns between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Indian Mutiny. Aitken's was the first Long Service Medal awarded to a man serving with the 5th Royal Irish Lancers after the regiment was brought back into service, and thus the first official medal, for campaign or long service, awarded to an officer or man from the 5th Lancers.
William Aitken married Ellen McSweeney (1823-1889) of County Cork, Ireland, in 1840. He subsequently re-married, his second wife being recorded in the 1901 census return as Esther Aitken.
