fusiliers, by the care of their colonel, had everything that could be procured by exertion and foresight. He never missed a turn of duty in the trenches except for a short time, when his medical attendant had to use every effort to induce him to go on board ship to save his life’ (Russell, p. 495).
In the summer he had command of a brigade of the light division, and in the assault of the Redan, on 18 June 1855, he led the column directed against the left face. It consisted of a covering party of a hundred riflemen, a ladder party of about two hundred, a storming party of four hundred men of the 34th, and a reserve of eight hundred men of the 7th and 33rd. Leaving the latter under cover for the time, he went forward with the rest. They had a quarter of a mile of open ground to cross under such a shower of grape as the oldest soldiers had never seen before. Yea reached the abattis with the wreck of his parties, but there he was shot dead. His body was brought in next day, and he was buried on the 20th.
Lord Raglan, in his despatch of the 19th, said: ‘Colonel Yea was not only distinguished for his gallantry, but had exercised his control of the royal fusiliers in such a manner as to win the affection of the soldiers under his orders, and to secure to them every comfort and accommodation which personal exertions could secure for them.’ Sir William Codrington, then commanding the light division, wrote to Yea's sisters in similar terms, but more fully (Monday, p. 109; cf. also Russell, p. 494). His eldest sister put up a marble monument to him in his parish church of Taunton St. James's, Somerset. A headstone marks his grave in the cemetery at Sebastopol.
Yea was unmarried. His father survived him, dying on 20 May 1862, when the baronetcy passed to Lacy's younger brother, Sir Henry Lacy Yea (d. 1864), third and last baronet. In face Yea bore a strong likeness to Napoleon I, and he once went to a fancy ball at Bath in that character, with his brother officers as his suite.
[Monday's History of the Family of Yea, Taunton, 1885; Waller's Records of the Royal Fusiliers; Kinglake's War in the Crimea; Wood's Crimea in 1854 and in 1894; Russell's Letters to the Times, reprinted 1855; Gent. Mag. 1855, ii. 203.]
YEAMANS, Sir JOHN (1610?–1674), baronet, colonial governor, eldest son of John Yeamans (d. 1645), brewer, of Bristol, was born at Bristol and baptised at St. Mary Redclyffe on 28 Feb. 1611. He attained the rank of colonel in the royalist army, and about 1650 migrated to Barbados. In July 1660 he was on the council of that colony. In 1663 a number of planters in Barbados made arrangements with the proprietors of Carolina for establishing a colony at Cape Fear. The proprietors, by the exercise of their influence at court, secured a baronetcy for Yeamans, conferred on him 12 Jan. 1664–5, and on 11 Jan. 1665 they appointed him governor of their colony, with a jurisdiction extending from Cape Fear to San Mateo. The country was called Clarendon. Yeamans was also instructed to explore the coast south of Cape Fear. He sailed with three vessels from Barbados in January 1665, and reached Cape Fear, but sustained heavy loss by the way from rough weather. Accordingly he soon returned to Barbados, leaving the management of the new settlement to a deputy, Captain Robert Sandford. When in 1667 Locke drew up for Carolina a fantastic paper constitution entitled the ‘fundamental constitution,’ which was never exactly applied, Yeamans was created a landgrave. In 1669 Yeamans was again commissioned by the proprietors and attempted a settlement, but without success; and in the following year he, under authority given by the commissioners, nominated William Sayle [q. v.] to the governorship. Sayle died in March 1671. Before his death he nominated as his successor the deputy governor, Joseph West (Cal. State Papers, America and West Indies, 1669–74, p. 472), and this appointment was approved by the colonists. The proprietors, however, on 21 Aug. 1671, to the great dissatisfaction of the people, appointed Yeamans to the governorship. He was proclaimed at Charles Town on 19 April 1672. The colony during his governorship suffered from internal dissensions, and was threatened both by the Spaniards and the Indians. The proprietors found fault with Yeamans as extravagant and indifferent to their interests. The colonists objected to his profits as an exporter of food-stuffs from Barbados. In April 1674 the proprietors superseded Yeamans in favour of his predecessor West, and in the same year he returned to Barbados, where he died in August. His connection with the colony is still commemorated by the ancient mansion of Yeamans Hall, on Goose Creek, near Charles Town. Sir John's considerable wealth in Barbados passed to his son, Major Sir William Yeamans, second baronet, and great-grandfather of Sir John Yeamans of Barbados, whose son, Sir Robert (d. 19 Feb. 1788), was the last baronet.
[Burke's Extinct Baronetcies; Gloucestershire Notes and Queries, 1884, ii. 95, and 1894, v. 307, 431; Colonial State Papers, ed. Sainsbury; Carroll's Historical Collection of South Carolina;
