John Newstead (1836-1913) - An Indian Mutiny Veteran
Mini Biography by Chris Phillips
John Newstead whose gravestone (D261) records that he was “An Indian Mutiny Veteran” was not an Ely man by birth having been born and raised in Rackheath, a village a few miles from Norwich where his father worked on the land as a labourer. The parish register shows that he was baptised on 2nd October 1836 and later census returns indicate that he stayed in the village until he joined the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of Fusiliers on 26th September 1853 in Norwich. He was seventeen years and four months old, a groom by occupation and his papers describe him as 5ft 5½ins tall, of fresh complexion with grey eyes and dark brown hair. He was not able to sign his name but affirmed his enlistment for ten years with his 'X' and received his £4 bounty. A few weeks after his eighteenth birthday he was posted with his regiment to Mauritius – a British possession in the Indian Ocean – and then, on the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny in 1857 to India where he took part in some sixteen engagements and was part of the force that relieved Lucknow and then held the town for three months before the siege was finally lifted. For this he received the Indian Mutiny Medal with a clasp for the defence of the city. Later in life he described his experience by saying that “the principal food we had was shot and shell, for dinner, breakfast and supper” and to those happy to listen he recounted tales of narrow escapes and desperate actions against the enemy.
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After the Mutiny was finally put down John and his regiment remained in India stationed at Fort William in the city then known as Calcutta. This was the scene of an unhappy episode in his life when on 14th September 1860 he faced a Garrison Court Martial on a charge of “Assaulting the Police in the execution of their duty and destroying two Police Coats”. A guilty verdict saw him sentenced to twenty days imprisonment and “placed under stoppages until the cost of replacing the coats be made good.” After what nowadays would be called this 'blip' in his career he returned to his duties and remained in India until 1862 although for over six months he was forced to recuperate in Cape Town after a severe bout of dysentery.
At the end of 1862, back in Aldershot, he decided, like so many soldiers of his day, to re-enlist and signed on for a twelve year period of engagement. Twelve months later, however, on 3rd December 1863 he was discharged 'by purchase' – in other words he bought himself out of the army.What prompted this decision is not known but interestingly on his discharge papers he was able to sign his name – he had been taught to read and write - and the same documents record that he left the military some 4½ inches taller than when he joined up! |
Following his discharge John seems to have gravitated back to his native Norfolk and there on 30th May 1866, aged 29, he married Elizabeth Susannah Clane in the church of St James-with-Pockthorpe, Norwich. His occupation was stated as 'Butler' and although there is nothing to say where he was working at that moment, the 1871 census shows him holding a post in the household of a well-to-do county family in Horstead-with-Staininghall. By that time a son, John Benjamin, had been born to John and Elizabeth in 1867, a daughter, Alice Elizabeth in 1869 and a second daughter, Charlotte Louise in 1871. At some point in 1872 the family moved to Ely – John to take up the post of butler to the Bishop. This was a prestigious appointment which would have meant him being in charge of a household of a dozen or so servants but this same year ended on a sombre note with the death of little Alice. Two more daughters were added to the family – Edith Maria in 1873 and Constance Mary in 1875. In 1876 came the death, aged 9, of John Benjamin and in 1878 the birth of a son Percy Charles completed the family line-up.
Exactly how long John remained in the Bishop's service is not absolutely clear but the Cambridge Chronicle in October 1878 advertised that the Dolphin Inn on the corner of High Street and Dolphin Lane was to let and the Cambridgeshire Times of 10th October 1879 recorded that John was to be the new licensee of the public house – and so began a third phase of his life and a long and successful business career in the city. To the day-to-day business of the Inn was added outside catering to events held in Ely and later a fish, poultry and game business was opened in separate premises on the Butter Market and run with the help of Elizabeth and later Percy Newstead.
In addition to his business life John was active in many organisations – the Territorials, the National Reserve, the Oddfellows and the City of Ely Football Club to name but a few. In 1907 he was a guest at Sandringham and in 1911 was given the honour of raising the Union Jack in the Market Place at the festivities marking the coronation of George V. When he died at the Dolphin Inn on 10th January 1913 he was accorded a full military funeral on the 14th and the Cambridge Independent Press of the 17th reported that the procession, escorted by the City Band with muffled drums, left the Dolphin shortly after 2 pm and made its way along High Street, Lynn Road and Nutholt Lane to the cemetery. The coffin was draped in the Union Jack and four sergeants from John's old regiment acted as bearers. The crowd was, according to the newspaper, very dense and every organisation with which John had been associated was represented. At the graveside the Territorials fired three volleys and a bugler sounded the Last Post. It must have seemed a fitting end to a veteran's life.
Exactly how long John remained in the Bishop's service is not absolutely clear but the Cambridge Chronicle in October 1878 advertised that the Dolphin Inn on the corner of High Street and Dolphin Lane was to let and the Cambridgeshire Times of 10th October 1879 recorded that John was to be the new licensee of the public house – and so began a third phase of his life and a long and successful business career in the city. To the day-to-day business of the Inn was added outside catering to events held in Ely and later a fish, poultry and game business was opened in separate premises on the Butter Market and run with the help of Elizabeth and later Percy Newstead.
In addition to his business life John was active in many organisations – the Territorials, the National Reserve, the Oddfellows and the City of Ely Football Club to name but a few. In 1907 he was a guest at Sandringham and in 1911 was given the honour of raising the Union Jack in the Market Place at the festivities marking the coronation of George V. When he died at the Dolphin Inn on 10th January 1913 he was accorded a full military funeral on the 14th and the Cambridge Independent Press of the 17th reported that the procession, escorted by the City Band with muffled drums, left the Dolphin shortly after 2 pm and made its way along High Street, Lynn Road and Nutholt Lane to the cemetery. The coffin was draped in the Union Jack and four sergeants from John's old regiment acted as bearers. The crowd was, according to the newspaper, very dense and every organisation with which John had been associated was represented. At the graveside the Territorials fired three volleys and a bugler sounded the Last Post. It must have seemed a fitting end to a veteran's life.
- There is a little information (not always accurate!) about the Newsteads on the Cambridgeshire Community Archive Network (CCAN) with some good photographs of family members and of both the Dolphin Inn and the fish, poultry and game shop. A photograph of John Newstead is to be found on Ancestry.co.uk for those with a subscription to that website.
- Local newspapers of the Victorian period can be accessed through Find My Past and the British Newspaper Archive – but these too are websites requiring subscriptions.
