Gryphem: The Last Surviving Veteran of the Crimean War

I came across a fascinating bit of history yesterday, something that I had never known before. Because I was so impressed, it occurred to me that Gryphem readers might also want to learn about the longest living survivor of the Crimean War. I hope you will find this as fascinating as I did.

I was looking into the roots of the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine in Crimea, on the northern shore of the Black Sea. You probably know that the current conflict is not the first war fought in or for Crimea. In fact, there was a major international conflict known as the "Crimean War" back in the 1850s. It was power struggle primarily between Czarist Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), France, and Britain.

Timothy was a veteran of the Crimean War. Timothy was on board British Royal Navy Ship HMS Queen at the siege of Sevastopol in 1854-55. Only 15 or 16 years old at that time, Timothy survived the Crimean War and went on to serve on board a number of other Royal Navy ships for the next 38 years. Timothy finally retired as a guest of the Earl of Devon to Powderham Castle in Devonshire (southwestern England) in 1892. That’s interesting, but I think what follows makes it more so.

The First Amazing Fact:

In 1926, when Timothy was 87 years old, it was revealed that Timothy was, in fact, female. Apparently, no one had ever noticed before. Wow.

But that’s not all. There is the question of whether the Earl and Countess of Devon knew what they were getting into when they offered lifetime accommodations to 53-year-old Timothy. Because Timothy was destined to live a very, very long time.

The Second Amazing Fact:

Timothy lived long enough to receive nationwide recognition as the oldest surviving veteran of the Crimean War. At the time of her death Timothy actually was the oldest resident of the entire British nation. Timothy was witness to the invention of the telephone (at age 37), publication of the first Sherlock Holmes story (at age 48), the end of World War I (at age 79), the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (at age 113), and the successful conclusion of the Falklands War (at age 143), to name but a few events. Timothy survived to the ripe old age of 165 years old, finally passing away peacefully in 2004.

All completely true.

Anticipating your curiosity, I sought out a picture of this amazing Crimean War veteran and witness to three centuries.

Here is a picture of Timothy taken in her later years at Powderham Castle.