John Clement Wallington

John Clement Wallington was born in Ealing, Middlesex, on 25 July 1790. He was the son of Charles and Frances Wallington. He joined the 10th Hussars as a lieutenant in early 1815 following the acquittal of Colonel Quentin and the dismissal of most of the officers, the so-called Elegant Extracts. Wallington was one of the new replacements. He went to Belgium with the regiment and fought at Quatre Bras and at Waterloo. It was during that battle that a cannonball killed his horse and went on to kill a fellow officer behind him. The next day Wallington went looking for his cousin Major Thomas Harris and found him badly wounded. He carried him to Hougoumont were he was operated upon.
He was a long serving officer of the regiment, captain in 1825 and a major in 1834. When lieutenant-colonel Lord Thomas Cecil retired in 1838, Wallington was passed over and had to remain as second in command under John Vandeleur who transferred from the 12th Lancers. Vandeleur had a very poor opinion of Wallington’s capabilities so that when the 10th were sent to India in 1846 Vandeleur went with them but left the regiment soon after, on the understanding that Wallington take over command on a temporary basis only. So John Wallington left India and the 10th Hussars after only a brief tenure as CO.
The regimental history tells us that the regiment played cricket in India, and this would have provided Wallington with an opportunity to shine. He was a first class cricketer, playing for Hampshire and the MCC from 1817 to 1828. He married twice; his first wife was Anne, with whom he had two children, and in 1869, at the age of 79, he married Fanny Rose Bailey in Leamington. He died on 25 Aug 1872 at Leamington Priors, Warwickshire.

Regimental Details | Commanding Officers