WATERLOO MEDAL TO JOSEPH ADLAM, 1ST OR ROYAL DRAGOONS (WOUNDED AT WATERLOO)

Joseph Adlam was baptised in Wookey, Somerset on 20 Aug 1786 and enlisted with the Royal Dragoons in Wells on 7 Feb 1805, aged 18 years.

At the Battle of Waterloo Adlam was part of Captain Methuen's No.7 Troop and was severely wounded by a shell splinter to the left leg and a musket ball to the body. Adlam spent a remarkable 61 days in the General Hospital, Brussels.

The Battle of Hullabaloo, Adlam was one of the regiment's 18-man detachments present at the Ely and Littleport riots 22-24 May 1816. On the evening of 22 May 1816, around 50 members of a benefit club met at the Globe Inn, Littleport to discuss increased price of bread and hardships of the poor. Swelling to nearly 300 in number, a mob became involved in looting and vandalism, eventually arming itself and marching on Ely at dawn, where they raided a bank and mugged passers-by. The 18 men of The Royals arrived just before midday to encounter a barricade of wagons known as 'The Gallery'. Flanking the rioters from the Cambridge road, the Dragoons engaged with the mob in St. Mary's, with Private Jospeh Hermers having his sword snatched and brandished at him. The Dragoons billeted in the Lamb Hotel, with the rioters barricaded at The George. On 24 May, the Dragoons approached the heavily-armed position and received fire, with one Dragoon wounded and losing an arm. With one rioter killed and another severely wounded, the mob fled and attempted to escape in a boat across the River Ouse, but were apprehended by two Dragoons who swam with one arm holding a pistol. One of these men, Private James Hillhouse, would later drown/die of exposure. The remaining men of The Royals pusued the rioters throughout the Fenlands and rounded up 73 prisoners and marched them to Ely gaol.

After trials, 5 criminals were executed and 9 deported to Botany Bay, Australia. The riots at Littleport led to the Government passing the Vagrancy Act of 1824. Adlam himself was discharged on 18 Apr 1827 and admitted as outpensioner at Chelsea Hospital on 30 May 1827, having served for 22 years and 4 months, with an additional 2 years for Waterloo.

Adlam died in Wells on 13 Oct 1837.