John Egan

From eurekapedia
Revision as of 17:35, 9 July 2013 by Cgervaso (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

Background

Goldfields Involvement, 1854

Post 1854 Experiences

According to the Muster Lists of the 12th Regiment of Foot, John Egan, Regimental Number 3159, drummer, was in the regimental hospital for 21 days following his injury, during the period 1st October 1854 to 31st December 1854. (That is, the musters of the last quarter of 1854.) He was paid as a drummer at 1 shilling, 1 penny and 3 farthings per day to the 20th February 1855 during which time he spent one further day in the hospital. On the 21st February 1855 he was promulgated in Official Orders as Private. Later, in 1856 he was transferred with the 12th Regiment to Tasmania and was still there on 30th June 1860! [1]

The Grave

THE GRAVE OF THE DRUMMER BOY

In the Ballaarat Old Cemetery there is a gravestone, erected in recent years, to John Egan the drummer boy of the 12th Regiment of Foot. The inscription reads:


In Memory Of Drummer Boy 3159

JOHN EGAN

12TH Regiment of Foot

Killed in Line of Duty 28TH November 1854


This tombstone stands in the same consecrated ground as the monument to the military who lost their lives at the Eureka Riots. However, John Egan did not die in the line of duty at Eureka. He survived the injury that he sustained on 28th November, and went on to be court martialled and to cause trouble in the 12th Regiment for many years. Despite the popularly held belief of the "death of the Drummer Boy", current research reveals that he was still alive and was in Tasmania almost six years after the events at Eureka. [2]

See also

Military

Further Reading

Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.


References

  1. Dorothy Wickham, Deaths at Eureka, 1996.
  2. Dorothy Wickham, Deaths at Eureka, 1996.

External links



File:File name.jpg
Caption, Reference.