Thomas Unett CB


Thomas Unett was born in Staffordshire on 12 Nov 1800. His father was John Wilkes Unett of The Laurels, Handsworth, Staffordshire. Thomas was the fourth of 10 children. He entered the army on 27 Nov 1821, at first into the 7th Dragoon Guards. On 25 Jan 1831 he transferred to the 67th Regiment as a captain, and went on half pay in 1841. He was unattached for 4 years and then exchanged into the 19th on 14 Feb 1845. At the battle of the Alma (20 Sep 1854) he was senior major in the regiment, taking over from the CO, Robert Sanders who was severely wounded in that battle. He was promoted without purchase to lieutenant-colonel on 9 Mar 1855.  On 10 July 1855 he was gazetted to be a Companion of the Order of the Bath. But in the autumn he was with the regiment at Inkerman and in the siege of Sevastopol. It was in the assault on the Redan that he was mortally wounded, and died on 14 Sep 1855. He left a widow, Mary Anne (nee Ditmas) who he married in 1830, and a child, Alexander Fraser Unett, who was born on 16 Dec 1831, in Beverley, Yorkshire.  The portrait shows him in undress uniform with embroidered crown badges on the collar. The 1855 Dress Regulations stipulate a crown as the rank badge of a lieutenant-colonel. These badges and his medals must have been added to the portrait post-mortem; the CB with red ribbon, and Crimea medal with three clasps for Alma, Inkerman and Sevastopol.


Regimental Details | Commanding Officers


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by Stephen Luscombe