Waterloo veteran perhaps?

If the recording of 'war memorials' is interpreted quite loosely, as appears to be the policy of the UKNIWM, then some interesting stories emerge.

On the south wall of the chancel at Urswick parish church, facing the graveyard, is an old and rather weathered neo-classical funereal monument. The inscription on the central panel, inscribed in fine copper-plate, reads;

The non-commissioned Officers and Privates of the Furness Cuirassiers erected this monument in the memory of THOMAS GARDNER their Drill Sergeant formerly of the first Regiment of Life Guards who was killed by a fall from his Horse on the 21st Day of April 1821 in the 32nd Year of his Age

After the French Revolutionary wars and the defeat of Napoleon the armed forces were disbanded. Many of the veterans, particularly officers, subsequently raised units of volunteers. One such was the Furness Troop of Yeomanry known as The Furness Cuirassiers. They were raised at Ulverston on 22nd September 1819 under the command of Captain Thomas Richard G. Braddyll, formerly Captain and Lieut. Colonel in the Coldstream Guards. On 15th May 1828 the troop amalgamated with other local volunteer units to become the Lancashire Yeomanry Cavalry.

Given his age and the date of his death it is reasonable to assume that he may have fought in the Peninsula or at Waterloo. However, various early nineteenth century rolls, available online, do not include a Thomas Gardner serving with the Life Guards during the Napoleonic wars so any certainty about his service history must reamain unresolved.