Private Frederick John White, 7th Queen’s Own Hussars, is buried in the churchyard of St. Leonard’s Church in Heston, Middlesex. He was sentenced, at the age of 27, to 50 lashes for some unrecorded misdemeanor. The flogging over, he was unwise enough to mouth off and was sentenced to a further 50 lashes by the colonel (a relative of Private White). The second 50 lashes were too much, and Private White died on July 11, 1864.
There was close to a mutiny in the barracks, so great was the anger of Private White’s comrades. Col. White fled to avoid retribution. Parliament took up the issue, and eventually the maximum possible punishment was reduced from 150 lashes to 50 and then abolished altogether. Col. White was sent to India in disgrace.
The first stone was erected “by his comrades as a testimony of their sympathy for his fate and their respect for his memory.” The stone was re-erected by the officers of the 7th Hussars in 1886.
Photograph by Passante.
