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Thomas (Murray-)Prior's army career
| Date | Rank | Regiment | Notes |
| 6 August 1803 | Cornet | 11th Light Dragoons 1)2) | |
| 22 August 1805 or in 18063) | Lieutenant | 11th Light Dragoons4) | |
| 30 September 1813 | Lieutenant | 1st of Foot, Royal Scots5) | An exchange with Lt. T.B. Wall6) |
| 6 January 1814 | Lieutenant | 18th Hussars7)8) | |
| 25 March 1817 | Lieutenant | 18th Hussars9) | On 23 April 1817, peace means that Prior and others put on half-pay, ie. not on active service, and receives half his usual pay as a form of pension.10) |
| 9 August 1831 | Lieutenant | 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot | An exchange with Lt Robert McGregor means that, after previous unsuccessful applications, Thomas Prior was back on full pay11) |
| 'soon' after August 1831 | Lieutenant? | Grenadiers | until September 1834 when the Grenadiers 'departed for Gibraltar’12) |
| 28 November 1834 | Captain | Unattached (to any regiment) | Back on half pay.13) |
| 9 November 1834 | Brevet Major14) | unattached | |
| 2 October 1849 | Captain | 73rd of Foot (Perthshire) Regiment | Restored to full pay15)16) |
| 25 October 1850 | Captain | 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot | back to half-pay |
| 20 June 1854 | Brevet Lieutenant Colonel | 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot17) | On 3 July 1858, the Belfast News-Letter reported that 'Colonel Murray Prior arrived at the Curragh Camp from Cork.' |
| 20 February 1859 | Brevet Colonel | 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot? |
Service during the Napoleonic Wars
| 3 May 1811 | ‘sailed for Portugal … under Lt. General Sir H.J. Cumming, Colonel of the 12th Lancers’18) |
| 25 September 1811 | in the Battle of El Bodon, Portugal |
| 22 July 1812 | awarded the 'War medal with clasp’ for service during the 1812 Battle of Salamanca |
| Spring (March-June) 1815 | arrived in Flanders |
| 17 June 1815 | Commanded skirmishes as officer of the 18th Hussars, and receiving 'the first fire of the enemy’ on Namur Road |
| 18 June 1815 | In Battle of Waterloo, Belgium, when Napoleon was irrevocably defeated. Awarded the Waterloo medal 19)20) |
| 18 June-3 July 1815 | Took part in the capture of Paris, receiving another medal |
| 23 September 1815 | found guilty by a military court after a fight with an anti-English French actor at the Boulogne Theatre, losing 6 months Army and Regimental rank21) |
1)
in c. 1840 renamed 11th Hussars, Prince Alberts own. Dragoons and Hussars were light cavalry regiments. Thomas Prior's career in the 11th is recorded at the regimental history, see 11th-hussars-prince-alberts-own
2)
, 4)
, 6)
, 8)
, 11)
, 12)
, 18)
, 21)
The United Service Gazette c. 1846, QJO, Praed papers 10/7/1a.
3)
Online record says 1806, just after 16th birthday. Need to subscribe to see full record, https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/records/1085480/lieutenant-thomas-prior-british-army-light-dragoons-hussars
5)
'Foot' means an infantry regiment
7)
confirmed by Thomas Prior’s copy of A List of all the Officers … in which he has written that he was a ‘Lieutenant 18th Hussars, London 1815’. On p.133 it lists ‘Thomas Prior’ as Lieutenant in the 18th Regiment from this date.
9)
further evidence is his prayer book in which he's written ‘Thomas Prior, Lt. 18th Hussars, London November 27th 1824.’ Provenance: J. Godden
10)
The United Service Gazette c.1846, QJO, Praed papers 10/7/1a; Waterloo Roll Call p.91.
13)
Waterloo Roll Call p.91;Thomas Prior's copy of A List of all the Officers … with his hand-written note that he was a “Captain unattached 28th November 1834”
14)
Brevet refers to a promotion without a corresponding pay rise. In this instance, Thomas Prior retained his army rank of Captain (half-pay, unattached) while being a Brevet Major.
15)
Andrew Darbyshire, A fair slice of St Lucia, St Lucia History group Research paper no.8
17)
Andrew Darbyshire, A fair slice of St Lucia, St Lucia History Group Research paper no.8.
20)
The United Service Gazette c. 1846, QJO, Praed papers 10/7/1a. The Waterloo Medal was the first official service medal ever issued by the British Government; they are now quite valuable. Steve Brown, 'An Australian at Waterloo', History. Magazine of the Royal Australian Historical Society September 2015, p.9. The location of Thomas Prior's medal now is unknown.