... on 1 March 1851 only to forfeit it on 29 July 1852. Promoted corporal on 9 May 1856, he was reduced to private a few months later on 27 August 1856. A confirmed private for the tenure of his service, Timmons was convicted of drunkenness and confined from 27 August 1858 to 25 September 1858. He seems to have settled down after this and was granted three consecutive good conduct pays on 27 September 1860, 27 September 1862, and 26 September 1864. Patrick Timmons was discharged after 21 years, 121 days with the colours on 27 October 1866.
Patrick Timmons would spend one year, seven months in the Crimea, earning this medal and its clasp for “Sebastopol”. Timmons was also entitled to the Turkish Crimea Medal but the current whereabouts of that award are uncertain.
After the end of hostilities with Russia, Timmons and the 46th would spend two years, five months on the Greek Ionian island of Corfu. From the idyllic Greek isle, it was on to just over seven years of garrison duty in India. Although not specifically stated in his discharge papers, Timmons must have ended his service while in India since the 46th did not return to England until 1869.
Timmons stated in his discharge papers that he intended to reside in his hometown of Blessington. We may well assume he did although no records relating to him after leaving the army have come to light.
Unlike most Victorian-era campaign medals, that for the Crimea was issued unnamed although with a proviso that they could be returned to be officially impressed with the pertinent information in uniform Roman capitals. That many soldiers failed to do so is not surprising. Many medals were impressed or engraved by the recipient’s battalion or regiment. This resulted in a wide variety of font styles being used. Thirdly some recipients had their medals privately engraved by jewelers, watchmakers, or silversmiths, quite often in some form of a running script. I believe that Timmons’ medal falls into the second category.
This medal is named in Roman capitals but curiously was done so upside down. Normally when one reads the naming on a medal’s rim it is done so from left to right with the medal’s obverse facing up. In this case, the naming is read left to right with the medal’s reverse side facing up. Why or how this “mistake” occurred is unknown. While this curiosity adds no monetary value to the medal, it does add a bit more unique personality to it.