BRITAIN’S OLDEST MAN.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1923, Page 16

BRITAIN’S OLDEST MAN.

Maori war veteran. REMARKABLE STORY. AGE GIVEN AS 114 YEARSAn inquiry as to who is the oldest survivor in Britain of the Crimea has elicited a remarkable story of an old soldier who, if he is correct in stating the date of his birth, must now be not only the oldest veteran of the British Army, but probably the oldest man in the kingdom. Mr. James Carroll resides at Cornmarket Street, Birr, Ireland. He was. he says, born on March 11, 1809, in the parish of St. Kierans, only a few miles away from where he is now living. If this be correct he is now 114. Whether he is 114 or not, he is certainly very old. But despite his age he is still vigorous and in possession of al 1 , his faculties, except that he is somewhat deaf, and his memory is not so good as it used to be. He served in the old 14th Foot and is | a member of the Old Comrade's’ Association of the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales Own). He takes particular pride in his regiment and states that he is the only survivor of the officers and men who served in it in his time.

Seated at the fire at his lodgings his eyes lighted up as he recalled memories of his Army days for the edification of an interviewer. He could not tell the exact date of his enlistment. He was then, he said, 40 or 50 years of age, but was put down as 35, and was accepted- He joined up in Birr and was sent to Kilkenny, where the regiment was then stationed, and where several other Birr men also were soldiering. REGIMENT TO NEW ZEALAND. “They are all gone now,” he said. “I am the only one left. If the Prince of Wales heard of me he would help me, belonging as I do to his regiment. Some day or other he may hear of me- That would make me happy. We did not Ir.nd in Crimea,’’ he said in reply to a question. "We were under orders for there, but the orders were countermanded at the last moment, and we sailed for New Zealand instead.

"It took us a long time to get to Auckland, where we landed. The morning after we arrived my company (the ninth) and another company were sent to the Te Whaiti country. Up there we saw heavy fighting with the Maoris. It was there that I was wounded, and Col- Lawton and Capt. Felts, my company commander, were killed.” “One day volunteers were called for a special service. I was one of those that volunteered. There were about 50 of us in the party. The two officers were shot dead, as were three or four of my comrade’?. I got a bullet wound under the stomach, and I had to tie it up myself as I lav in the bush. I do not know how long I lay on the ground, but I was taken down to Auckland, where I recovered. “A soldier's hfe. was then different from what it is now. When the rations allowance and stoppages for barrack damages and other things were paid up we had very little to get—about a penny or two a day. On pay-day a bag of coppers used to be brought in. A couple of pounds in coppers then went a long way. HEALTHY IN SPITE OF GREAT AGE. “When I left the Army 1 got sixpence a day pension, afterwards increased to Is (id a day. When the Old Age Pensions came out I got one; I had Ss a week old age pension last yearWhen I got an increase of my army pension to 2s 3d a day. my old age pension was stopped and I am worse On now than I was before I got the

Questioned as 4o his family, Mr. Carroll stated that he has one son and three daughters. One. daughter is in America and the other two are in England. All have their own families. Mr. Carroll invariably wears on his breast the medal of the New Zealand campaign. His landlady, Mrs. Clarke, herself the wife of an ex-member of the Leinster Regiment, whose sons served through the Great War, said that Mr. Carroll, despite his great age, is very healthy. She added that it difficult for him to live on his pension, and to get some of the little comforts that he requires. Mr. Carroll lias an excellent Army discharge- He has been a hard-working, industrious man all his life, and is held in the highest esteem by all who know him.