‘Sergeant Thomas Mealling, 1st Royal Dragoons, who served his country for 27 years and fought in the Peninsular War. Born 1775 in Dorset, died 28th October 1859, whose remains are buried close by’.

Thomas Mealling was born in the parish of Sherborne in Dorset, 1774-5. His father, Robert, was a master baker, who paid taxes on the apprentices he housed. Thomas had two older sisters, Mary and Ann. In 1797, at the age of 22-23, he enlisted to serve in the 1st Royal Dragoons, a cavalry unit that had been formed in 1661, and which wore a distinctive red and grey uniform.

From 1808-1814, the regiment was involved in the Peninsular War, first under the command of Viscount Wellesley, (later Duke of Wellington), during the retreat to Terres Vedra (1810) and the charge at the Battle of Fuentes de Onero (1811). It also fought at Ciudad Rodrigo (1812), Badajoz (1812), Alba de Tormes (1813), Vitoria (1813) and Pamplona (1813). Finally under the command of Major-General William Ponsonby, the regiment fought at the Battle of Waterloo (1815), the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte.

We do not know what part Thomas Mealling played in any of these actions, but he did rise to the rank of Sergeant.

In March 1825, Thomas Mealling was admitted as Chelsea pensioner. He had reached the age of 50 and had served in the regiment for 27 years. He did not live in Chelsea Hospital, but received a weekly pension as an out-pensioner. In 1828, there were nearly 86,000 out-pensioners who received the pension due to injury, illness, being ‘worn out’ or they had completed an agreed term of service: this last category may have applied to Thomas Mealling on reaching the significant age of 50. Chelsea continued to handle all army pensions until 1955.

At the age of 50, Thomas Mealling was described as having grey hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. He received a permanent weekly pension of 1s 11 ½d, equivalent to almost £6 today so not a living income. He may have returned to his previous employment as a bricklayer, but we do not know. He had possibly married twice: first in 1813 to Mary Ann Pearce in Canterbury, who died at the end of the same year, and secondly to Sarah Gray in 1816 in Ipswich. There seem to be no surviving children, but Thomas and Sarah may have adopted a girl, Charlotte Gordon.

It has been impossible to trace Thomas Mealling’s route to Shifnal. In the 1830s he was listed as the head of a household in Selkirk, Scotland. The 1841 census shows that Thomas and Sarah were still living in Selkirk, at New Wark School House, with a seven year old girl, Charlotte Gordon, who had been born c.1834 in Midlothian. In 1845, Thomas was arranging for his pension to be transferred from Scotland, indicating a move back to England. By the time of the 1851 census, he was 76, living in a cottage in Haughton with Charlotte Mealling, now aged 17, and his sister Mary Cross, 79, a farmer’s widow. What had brought the family together and in Shifnal is impossible to say. Interestingly, during the local disturbances of 1848 between Irish and English Navvies, 1st Dragoon Guards were part of the force who arrived to quell the rioters.

Mary Cross died early in January 1859 and Thomas Mealling later in the same year on 28th October. Charlotte Mealling was the sole executrix. After the probate was proved on 2nd December 1859 she inherited less that £100. Early the next year, Charlotte married Thomas Pointon, a local man. According to the censuses, they moved regularly taking on bigger farms in the East Shropshire area – from Shifnal, to Willey, to Madeley and finally to Shipton. Charlotte died in 1907 at Gatacre farm, near Bridgnorth. She had a large family – what a pity that all these grandchildren were born too late to hear the stories that Thomas Mealling might have told them.

Although much of the information for this article was researched from the internet, particularly the Ancestry website, information about local servicemen can be found at the Local History Exhibition in the Fire Station in Shrewsbury Road. It is open every Friday 2 – 4pm and Saturday mornings 10 – 12noon.