Now! Then! John Elley, a run-away apprentice to John Gelderd at Meanwood Tannery, Leeds, begins a distinguished career in the British Army, breaking the heart of his employer’s daughter

5 November 1789: John Elley, a run-away apprentice to John Gelderd at Meanwood Tannery, Leeds, begins a distinguished career in the British Army, breaking the heart of his employer’s daughter

D.H. Parry. 1899. “The Death Or Glory Boys”. London: Cassell. Get it:

Excerpt

John Elley was born in London, about 1770, and was the son of an eating-house proprietor in Furnival’s Inn Cellars, Holborn. In his fourteenth year he was apprenticed to a Mr John Gelderd, of Meanwood Tannery, near Leeds, and lost no time in falling desperately in love with his master’s buxom daughter, Anne, who was a year or two older than young Elley. The girl being rather hot-tempered, and inclined to be a little flighty, the course of true love did not run as smoothly as her swain desired, and, after a serious quarrel, he came to London and enlisted on the 5th November 1789 in the Royal Horse Guards blue.
Unhappily, the lady took it so much to heart that she fell into a rapid decline, died, and was buried in Armley Chapel, the trooper getting leave to attend the funeral in great grief. It was a bad start, and he begged his father to buy him out, without success; but, later on, he found the money for the then-warrant rank of a troop quartermaster-ship, in 1790.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

I guess Parry has the date and possibly some other details from regimental records, but here’s the source he cites:

Sir John was born in London (and not in Leeds, as is generally supposed), his father kept an eating-house, in Furnival’s Inn Cellars, Holborn. He was in the service of Mr. John Gelderd, tanner, of Meanwood, and had often, on a wet Sunday, to meet Mrs. Gelderd, at Headingley church, with an umbrella or a pair of pattens. Elley was engaged to marry Ann Gelderd, the daughter of his master, but she died, and he attended her funeral, at Armley chapel, in great grief. Elley had a desire, after a short service, to leave the army, but was induced by the Rev. John Smithson, incumbent of Headingley, to remain. The above statement was made to Henry Stooks Smith, Esq., of Headingley (who has kindly revised the above Sketch), by the Rev. Mr. Smithson, who died in 1835 (Taylor 1865).

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Original

7. SIR JOHN ELLEY, K.C.B., K.C.H. Appointed 23rd November, 1829.
This officer began life in romantic fashion, of which there are two accounts extant.
The one, quoted by Cannon, makes him a native of Leeds, articled to a London solicitor, but, preferring the army, enlisting in the Blues at Leeds as a private trooper. The other, and I believe the more correct, is given in “Biographia Leodiensis,” on the authority of the Rev. John Smithson, incumbent of Headingley, who died in 1835.
John Elley was born in London, about 1770, and was the son of an eating-house proprietor in Furnival’s Inn Cellars, Holborn.
In his fourteenth year he was apprenticed to a Mr. John Gelderd, of Meanwood Tannery, near Leeds, and lost no time in falling desperately in love with his master’s buxom daughter, Anne, who was a year or two older than young Elley.
The girl being rather hot-tempered, and inclined to be a little flighty, the course of true love did not run as smoothly as her swain desired, and, after a serious quarrel, he came to London and enlisted on the 5th November, 1789, in the Royal Horse Guards Blue.
Unhappily, the lady took it so much to heart that she fell into a rapid decline, died, and was buried in Armley Chapel, the trooper getting leave to attend the funeral “in great grief.”
It was a bad start, and he begged his father to buy him out, without success; but, later on, he found the money for the then warrant rank of a troop-quartermastership, in 1790.
He went to Flanders with the four troops of the regiment in 1793, as acting adjutant, and attracted notice for his bravery at Cateau, April, 1794, afterwards purchasing a cornetcy in June.
Lieutenant, by purchase, 26th January, 1796; captain-lieutenant, 24th October, 1799; he purchased a troop, 26th February, 1801, and served as aide-de-camp to Major-General Staveley during the invasion scare.
Major, 29th November, 1804; lieut.-colonel, 6th March, 1808, he was appointed assistant adjutant- general to Sir John Moore’s cavalry, and served during the Corunna campaign, being present at Sahagun, Majorca, Benevente, Lugo, and Corunna; continuing to hold the appointment until 1814.
He was thanked by Wellington for his gallantry and skill at Fuentes d’Onoro and Llereena; had two horses killed under him at Salamanca, and was severely bayoneted in the side with Le Marchant’s heavy cavalry brigade.
He was often wounded, and saw an immense amount of active service during the war, being pro- moted colonel, 7th March, 1813; and assistant adjutant-general of the cavalry when Napoleon escaped from Elba, and we were preparing to oppose him once more.
At Waterloo he played the double rôle of staff officer and combatant, and, possessed of great physical strength, he was reported to have slain several cuirassiers with his own sword.
Loaded with medals, crosses, clasps, and orders, the runaway apprentice was made K.C.B.; major-general, 12th August, 1819; Governor of Galway, 1821; colonel of the 17th Lancers, 1829; and lieutenant-general, 1837.
He had been returned for the borough of Windsor in 1835, but the sands of life were running out, and on the 23rd April, 1839, he died at his seat, Cholderton Lodge, Wiltshire, and was buried in St. George’s Chapel, where a bust and slab commemorate the virtues of a fine soldier.
His personalty was something under £25,000, and, after a number of charitable bequests, he left two sums of £300 to be spent on mess plate by his regiment.

588 words.