WHEN Mervyn Hall first volunteered at the Inniskillings Museum in 2020, he didn’t expect that a casual walk through Enniskillen would change the next five years of his life.
Asked by the curator of Inniskillings Museum to keep an eye out for traces of the town’s rich military past, he stepped into St Macartin’s Cathedral and found himself staring at a gleaming brass plaque honouring the six soldier sons of the Reverend Charles Maude.
Mervyn has since written a book, ‘Crimea War 1854–1856: The Role Played by Fermanagh and the Clogher Valley’, detailing those soldiers and the hundreds of other local men who fought in the conflict.
One name in particular stopped him in his tracks, a Maude who had earned the Victoria Cross, yet whom Hall, a former history teacher, had never heard of.
“I had never heard of this man so I went on the internet and did research and I discovered that three of his sons were in the Crimea War, the three were wounded and the three returned,” Mervyn told the ‘Herald.
“That got me thinking how many other Fermanagh men might have been in the Crimea War and so I set myself a target of about 40 men and five years later I had over 300 and I include the Clogher Valley as well because that is where my father’s family are from.”
He delved into the National Archives in London and subscription websites, pouring over army pension records so detailed he could note the soldiers’ eye colour and height.
Fascinating stories
The book is in two parts. The first explores the history of the Crimea War, highlighting connections to Fermanagh and the Clogher Valley, while the second features biographies of all 300-plus men, many with fascinating stories.
“The cover of the book has a solider called George Ashley Maude one of the three sons of the Reverend Maude and he featured in The London Times twice during the Crimea War, both for heroic actions,” Mervyn explained.
”In the second action his horse was hit in the belly by a Russian shell and blew the horse to smithereens and he survived and in the cover of the book you can see him in his royal horse artillery uniform and his arm in a sling,” Mervyn explained.
“One of his brothers called Fredrick Maude won a Victoria Cross in the Crimea War and there was a younger brother Robert Maude and he is buried in Trory Parish Church.”
Hall, who is also secretary of the Fermanagh Genealogy Centre, believes the book will be a valuable resource, as genealogical records before the 1860s are limited. Most of the men featured were born in the 1820s and 1830s.
During a recent talk in Lisnaskea given by Mervyn, two audience members discovered they were descendants of Crimean War soldiers.
“There is two reasons for the book, one, is to highlight the involvement of Fermanagh and the Clogher Valley in the Crimea War and two is to tell the story of the ordinary solider,” Mervyn said.
“I tried to follow up by looking at if there is any church records so I have been able to find the births of some of these men and if they came home their marriage so there is people walking in town today that would have an ancestor in Crimea and I hope this book will help them.”
Mervyn Hall will launch his book on Saturday, December 13, at Fermanagh House. Doors open at 1.30pm, with the launch beginning at 2pm.
The event is open to everyone, with refreshments provided, and admission is free.
