Page 30 - Who Was Sapper Brown

The End of a Quest–and a

Mystery Epidemic Solved

A visit to The National Archives in Kew on 13 July 2013, after the author was posted back to England,
finally revealed who Sapper Brown was. The Muster Books and Pay Lists of the 31st Company Royal

Engineers for 1878 – 1879 give his full name, regimental number, his role in the unit and the date of his
arrival in Cyprus–which turns out to have been on 19 September 1878 with a later detachment from

Chatham.28 The Muster Books also confirm the date and place of his death, they reveal the duration of his
final illness, and the location of his next-of-kin in England. One can thereby deduce the site of burial, and

the village where he grew up before he joined the Army. Fortuitously they also give the cause of his death.

(February Pay List 1879) 10470 Sapper James Brown, one of three skilled artificers in 31 Fortress Company, paid
one shilling eleven pence daily

Died in hospital at Mathiati 2 February 1879 of Remittent Fever

The preceding January Pay List shows that Sapper Brown had been hospitalised on 12 January. He was

therefore in hospital for the last 22 days of his life. He would have had his pay stopped while in hospital,

the common practice in those days, hence the Paymaster’s interest in the duration of hospital stay.

28 Muster Book and Pay Lists of 31 Company Royal Engineers (1878 – 1879). (The National Archives: WO 16/879)

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