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Rank : Private

Army Number : 3466

Unit : 17th Foot & 1st Bn

Biography :

Killed in action 23.7.1855 serving in the Crimean War. He is commemorated on a memorial tablet at Leicester Cathedral.

Further information provided by Marigold Cleeve, Principal Researcher, Loughborough War Memorial Museum.

This is another soldier who is an enigma. John McCarthy’s origins are unknown. He was probably born in the 1830s and, given his surname, possibly in Ireland. At the time our soldier was alive there were many men from Ireland in the Army. So there is a fairly high probability that he was Irish.

John was Private 3466 in the 17 th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot. In 1853 and until September 1854 the 17 th Foot were stationed in Ireland, in Kingstown and Dublin. They were then dispatched to the Crimea. The British and French fleets departed from the Bulgarian port of Varna on 5th September 1854, heading towards Kalamita Bay in the Crimea. By the 14th, the troops began to land; within four days the Allied force of 61,400 infantry, 1,200 cavalry and 137 guns, was ashore. Thirty-three miles (~53 km) to the south of the landing zone, beyond the Bulganak,  lma , Katcha and Belbek rivers, lay the Russian naval base and fortress of Sebastopol, the key Allied objective in the Crimea.

They marched their way to a point south of Sebastopol after they had won the Battle of the Alma on 20 September 1854. The Russians counterattacked on 25th October
in what became the Battle of Balaclava and were repulsed, but the British Army's forces were seriously depleted as a result. The 17 th Foot, however, were not involved
in either of these battles. A second Russian counterattack, at Inkerman (November 1854), ended in a stalemate as well. Again, the 17 th Foot were not involved.

The Siege of Sebastopol began in October 1854. In 1855 the 17 th Foot were in action at Kertch, in the 2 nd Bombardment of Sebastopol (9 th April) and the 3 rd Bombardment of Sebastopol (6 th June), the successful assault on the Quarries (8 th -9 th June). They were again involved in the 4 th Bombardment of Sebastopol on 17 th June and in the allied assault on the Great Redan (18th June). John was killed in action on 23 rd July 1855, precise location unknown. He may have been buried in Cathcart Cemetery near Sebastopol but this cemetery is now in a complete state of disrepair and no memorials remain. John is remembered on the war memorial in St. George’s Chapel, Leicester Cathedral, to members of the 17 th Foot who lost their lives in the Crimean War.

I have only found one record online which specifically relates to Private 3466 John McCarthy, on the Military Campaign and Medal Award Rolls 1793-1949.

Date of Birth : 1830s

Date of Death : 23.7.1855

Place of Death : & Crimea & Russia

Period of Service : 1850s

Conflicts : Crimean War

Places Served : & Crimea & Russia