- John Callaghan accepted the call to arms and went
on to have a notable career in the Army of Queen
Victoria. He was at Gallipoli sixty years before the
ANZACs, served in two significant military campaigns in
opposite corners of the globe, suffered captivity at the
hands of the Russians through an almost intolerable
winter, and was then among some of the earliest British
soldiers to settle in South Australia. But not content to
merely make Adelaide his home, he then volunteered for
further service, coincidentally, just as the South
Australian volunteer force was becoming more formally
structured in anticipation of a feared Russian invasion.
- In early 1854, he embarked for the Crimea with
the regiment. John Callaghan maintained a parchment diary
during this service, recording his experiences of death
in the snow,
- 3 June 1855 recorded that the English infantry
had lost a total of 1 Sergeant and 28 men as Prisoners of
War or Missing. Throughout the whole campaign, the 50th
lost a total of 512 men killed; further, 198 were
invalided home and there were three deserters, while 25
were taken prisoner-of-war. Among them was John
Callaghan, taken on the night of 20 December 1854 during
one of the Crimea's worst ever winters, when the Russians
made a sortie in strength from Sebastopol in two columns.
One column attacked the 34th Regiment on the right flank
while, simultaneously, the other column attacked the left
flank of the British. This flanking assault, made with
considerable noise and with drums beating and bugles
sounding, was speedily repulsed by the 38th and 50th
Regiments with considerable losses to the Russians: the
50th itself lost 13 men killed and 18 wounded, with ten
missing - snatched by the Russians.
- John Callaghan was exchanged on 21 October 1855,
and he rejoined the regiment on the 26th. The 50th was
one of the last of the British Army to leave the Crimea,
and was present on 12 July 1856 when Balaklava was passed
over to the Russians. Callaghan was a witness of these
events
- On 29 May 1860, it is recorded that he forfeited
one penny per day good conduct pay for some minor
offence, while in the period October-December that year,
he spent 38 days in hospital in Colombo. In 1864, the
regiment sailed to New Zealand where John Callaghan
served as a Corporal in the 50th as the British Army
again tried to impose peace on the Maoris. \par \par The
landing of the first Governor, Captain Hobson, on 29
January 1840 and the subsequent signing of the Treaty of
Waitangi on 6 February had led to an increasing
perception by the native Maoris of a European
infiltration and occupation.
-
- In John's obituaries, there were extensive
references to his service with the 50th Regiment, of
which he was undeniably proud, and the Adelaide
Advertiser referred to him as
- a Crimean veteran who had made South Australia
his home
- Captain de Passey represented the Military
Commandant in Adelaide, Colonel Lee, who had given his
permission for any member of the military forces to
attend the funeral in uniform, and several navy and army
veterans attended. The firing party consisted of cadets
from Christian Brothers College under command of Sergeant
M Hogan. It was recorded that, "
- had been connected with the State Forces for many
years and consequently his funeral was largely attended
by old comrades
- . Of some significance, among the pall-bearers
was Patrick Connors who had served with Callaghan as a
Private in the 50th Foot during the Crimean campaign.
Notably, Connors had been wounded during the Russian
attack from Sebastopol on the night of 20 December 1854,
during which Callaghan had been taken prisoner. He was
again wounded on 26 July the following year. His other
pall-bearers were all veterans of Victorian campaigns
around the globe:
- Private Eugene McCarthy, 33rd Foot Wounded at the
Battle of Inkermann, 5 November 1854
- Corporal George Thomas, 57th Foo Wounded during
the first attack on the Redan on 18 June 1855
- Corporal George Thompson, 1st Madras Fusiliers
Defence and Relief of Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny,
1857.
- H A Braham, Royal Navy Second China War, 1857-60,
and the expedition to Abyssinia, 1867-68.
- Sergeant T Hanley, 92nd Gordon Highlanders
Kandahar, Second Afghan War, 1880
- Despite marrying twice, John Callaghan had no
surviving children. But from the three step-children he
raised through their adolescent years, there were 28
step-great-grandchildren, producing quite a considerable
number of step-great-great-great-grandchildren who, as
Adelaide residents, are today mostly in their teens. To
his stepson John Patrick Jackson, he had left large
photographs of himself and Frances Callaghan, a gold
ring, his war medals and parchment diary, and various
items of clothing. There is no trace of these items
today, but his step-great-grand-daughter (grand-daughter
of John Patrick Jackson), Elaine Mary Jackson, born in
Adelaide in 1918, still recalls as a child wearing a coat
made for her from John Callaghan's scarlet tunic.
- He had received the Crimea War Medal (1854-56)
with clasps 'Alma', 'Inkermann' and 'Sebastopol', the
Turkish Crimea Medal, and also the New Zealand Medal for
the Second Maori War (1860-66).
- Ann's headstone is
inscribed:
- All my friends as you pass by
- As you are now so once was I
- As I am now so you will be
- So think of death and pray for me
- The above was the beloved wife of
- John Callaghan Late Sergeant HM 50th Q.O.Regiment
-
- This paper was produced with the assistance of
Mrs Marie Mills of Adelaide,
step-great-great-grand-daughter of Sergeant John
Callaghan.
-
- E- mail address
- © Copyright B & M Chapman
(QLD) Australia
- Last revised: January 17, 2004.