John Varney 1826-1893

He was the son of a poor mason/agricultural labourer, the only one of five children to reach adulthood. His mother died when he was five when his father seems to have returned with the boy to his own birthplace, Upper Heyford, Oxon. The boy eventually joined the army, the Duke of Cornwall's 32nd Rgt. of Foot, and must have served for some time abroad because his name appears in the Census for the first time in 1861. He was a Sgt. at the Indian Mutiny at Lucknow in 1857 and his name appears on the Medal Roll of the Indian Mutiny. He returned to England in 1860/61 when his first priority on leaving the Army must have been to find a wife. He was then living at Fulford Barracks, Preston, Lancs. where he met a maid working in the house of a Colonel at the Barracks. They married that summer when he was 35 & she was 22 and the bride took him to her home in Devon. His qualifications doubtless were not a great advantage in an agricultural community and John managed to get a job as a labourer at Dartmoor Prison. He soon became a warder when the "man-management" skills he had gained in the army must have been useful. He worked at the prison for nearly 20 years, had 7 children and retired to St. Helier, Jersey, where he died in 1893. He used to give his occupation on his children's wedding certificates as "Civil Servant".