A HEADSTONE HAS BEEN PLACED OVER THE PREVIOUSLY UNMARKED GRAVE OF PRIVATE WILLIAM NORMAN VC, 7TH REGIMENT ( ROYAL FUSILIERS ) IN WEASTE CEMETERY, SALFORD
27 January 2004



It was whilst leafing through an old family photograph album that Eric Ballinger spotted a rather unusual sepia picture of a soldier in full dress uniform with a Victoria Cross and other campaign medals pinned to his breast. Sure that no member of the Ballinger family had been awarded the VC, Eric had no idea who the soldier was. Therefore, he set out to identify the unknown soldier and was immediately directed to the 'Register of the Victoria Cross' where he was able to discover the man was Private William Norman VC, a neighbour of Eric's grandfather when he lived in Ferneley Street, Hulme, Manchester.

Further investigation produced the fact that William Norman had died on the 13th March 1896 and was buried in Common Ground in an unmarked grave in Weaste Cemetery, Salford. The reason no headstone was erected was probably financial.



The fact that William Norman had no headstone was brought to the attention of the Royal Fusiliers Museum at the Tower-of-London, and after consultation, their Regimental Trustees were tasked with designing and obtaining an estimate for a stone. Eric Ballinger stepped in again and, on behalf of the Royal Fusiliers, employed a local stonemason to make the headstone which now graces the burial plot of Private William Norman VC in Weaste Cemetery, Salford.

For the award of the Victoria Cross.

[ London Gazette, 24 February 1857 ], White Horse Ravine, Crimean War, 19 December 1854, No. 3443 Private William Norman, 7th Regiment.

"On the night of 19th December 1854, Private Norman was placed on a single sentry some distance in front of the advanced sentries of an out-lying picquet in the White Horse Ravine, a post of much danger and requiring great vigilance. The Russian picquet was posted about 300 yards to his front, when three Russian soldiers advanced under cover of the brush-wood for the purpose of reconnoitering. Private William Norman single-handed took two of them prisoners without alarming the Russian picquet."
William Norman was invested with his Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria in Hyde Park on 26th June 1857.

William Norman's VC group was sold at auction on the 20th May 1920 for £100 and again on the 18th November 1926 for £90, purchased by Officers of the regiment past and present, and then presented to the Royal Fusiliers Museum located in the Tower of London.

Medal entitlement of Private William Norman - 7th Regiment ( Royal Fusiliers )

  • Victoria Cross
  • Crimea Medal ( 1854-56 )
    • 1 clasp:
    • "Sebastopol"
  • India General Service Medal ( 1854-95 )
    • 1 clasp:
    • "Umbeyla"
  • Turkish Crimea Medal ( 1855-56 )

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Iain Stewart, 27 January 2004