Sergeant John Duet was born near Grantham and enlisted into the 14th Foot in Sheffield in January 1823, aged 17 years. Embarking with the Regiment for the East Indies, where he would remain for over 20 years, Duet was present in the Bhurtpoor operations and gained advancement to Corporal in September 1835 and to Sergeant in January 1839. Subsequently tried by Court-Martial for drunkeness in May 1845, he was reduced to the ranks, but his C.O. remitted the sentence a few days later on the grounds that the offence had not been committed while on duty. With his pension and pay salved, Duet was shortly afterwards discharged as medically unfit - 'In the hot season of 1844, he had a severe attack of cholera, followed by fever, from which his convalescence was very slow'.