ABSTRACT
Buck Adams served in the 7th (Princess Royal’s) Dragoon Guards for twenty-four years between 1843 and 1867. He remained a private for twelve years, which he attributed to the fact that he had a reputation for being a ‘lawyer’. In spite of being known apparently as a trouble maker, he was subsequently promoted to NCO, retiring as a troop sergeant major. Adams had been born in Spitalfields in 1826 or 1827, the son of a turner. He was unusually small for a heavy dragoon, weighing only 10 stone 6 lbs, with a height of 5 feet 7½ inches. Adams served five years in South Africa, taking part in actions at Zwartkoppies (against the Boers) and in the War of the Axe (against the Xhosa in 1846–47). Subsequently he served in India and in England. After retiring, he kept a sweet shop in London and was involved in the lumber business. He died in 1910 at age 80. The excerpt below relates Ann Moffatt’s story, who married a fellow soldier in Adams’s regiment. It is one of the few descriptions of a plebeian woman cross-dressing in the nineteenth century. In spite of her seeming determination to follow her young man, and the apparently happy resolution after finding him in the army, there are several things to note. The marriage between Mullins/Marvell and Moffatt could only take place after he got leave from his commander to marry, and upon his death, Moffatt married another soldier just nine months later, a situation not uncommon on overseas postings given the financial insecurity of widows. The editorial appendix provides fuller information about this woman.
