The Stories from the Stones 7 - By Steve Lavender

'Stories from the Stones'
Please visit the Contents Page for this section, where you will find other 'Stories from the Stones.'

These same stories are also published on Penistone Archive Group's Facebook page, their Journal and in 'The Bridge' magazine issued by St John's church, Penistone. Many thanks to their tireless author, Mr Steve Lavender, for his worthy contributions to local history and this website. - JB.

Story 7 - Thomas Moore (1824 - 1857), a British Soldier in Burma

When we were collecting the data for the Burial Ground Project, there were a number of stones which I specifically took a mental note of to return to when I could. This stone to the Moore family of the early 1800s was one of those – the inscription for Thomas Moore being:

... Also of Thomas, Son of the above named Thomas and Sarah Moore, who served in Her Majesty’s Service (Queen Victoria), 2nd Madras European Light Infantry (Toungoo Burmah) and died in the Hospital, Calcutta, April 14th 1857, aged 35 years.

After quite a few false leads I eventually discovered that Thomas is actually buried in the Toungoo Cemetery in the Bago region of what is now Myanmar (previously Burma) and that he had died as shown on the gravestone, at hospital in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

I was keen to learn more about why he might be fighting in this arena and so I followed the history of the 2nd Madras Europeans and discovered that this regiment was redesignated as the 2nd Madras (European) Light Infantry in 1842. It was sent out to Burma in 1853 during the 2nd Anglo-Burmese war and then was sent to India in 1857. The regiment was part of the British Army and raised by the Honourable East India Company. In 1859 it became the 2nd Madras Light Infantry and later renumbered as the 105th Regiment of Foot (Madras Light Infantry).

The history of India and British involvement is complex during this period but in respect of our Thomas Moore it seems that he would have been one of the early soldiers to be involved in what was to become the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Although this rebellion (which was also known as the Sepoy Rebellion; the Indian Insurrection; and the First War of Independence) began officially on 10th May 1857, there were incidents prior to this and it would appear from the date of Thomas’s death, 14th April 1857 – that he died in the Calcutta Hospital as a result of such an event. He was returned to the cemetery in Toungoo then in Burma where his body lies today.

There is further intrigue to this story however – also mentioned on this stone are Thomas’s parents and siblings which make for a tragic family history. Brother Joseph died aged 2 in 1816; sister Ellen died aged 18 in 1838 and mother Sarah passed away in 1835, aged 46, father Thomas Snr died at the young age of 31 in January 1821. With the death of our Thomas in 1857, the whole family had passed away.

I am sure there is much more to this story than I have been able to find but even a slight insight into the story of Thomas Moore has been fascinating. Our burial ground is bringing to life many such stories and we will remember the Moore family and Thomas who rests in a cemetery a long way from his family.

My thanks to Ancestry.com and the Forces War Records in providing information surrounding this story. S.J.Lavender, Chair Friends of St John’s Church Penistone, April 2021.