Letters from the Light Brigade: The British Cavalry in the Crimean War

Introduction: Letters Home

The Crimean War was perhaps the first media war: it was not the first conflict to have war correspondents or the first time letters from the front were published in the press, but it was the first fought under the scrutiny of the domestic press.¹ Increased levels of literacy allowed private soldiers, rather than just officers, to write home ‘from the front’. This meant that the ordinary soldier now had a ‘voice’ which could be heard, thus reconciling Britain to her army: the letters caused ‘the heart of the nation to go out to its soldiers as it had never before’.² The period 1854–6 saw the readership of newspapers massively increase as well as the broadening of the scope and social diversity of their readers. Newspapers, via their readers, developed a degree of ‘political clout’ heretofore unknown.³ For the first time the common soldier in Britain was commemorated in death and awarded medals, such as the newly-instituted Victoria Cross. No longer were the officer and the class they represented the war-hero, but now it was the everyday soldier who won Britain’s wars in spite of the blunders of its generals: a narrative which would run through British military history to the Second World War and beyond but may have indeed held back serious reform.⁴ The same was true in France, Britain’s ally during the war; the common soldier was seen no longer as a drunk and miscreant but a national hero, and the army an instrument of that unique French quality, La Gloire.⁵ The cult of the solider, in particular the veteran, became more focused through Napoleon III’s introduction of the Médaille de Saint-Hélène (Saint Helena Medal) for veterans of the army of the First Empire in 1857.⁶

The period 1854–6 also saw the readership of newspapers, and their social diversity massively increase. Newspapers developed a degree of significance heretofore unknown.⁷ This led to the newspapers becoming the biggest maker of opinion in mid-century Victorian Britain. The press saw its readership increase during the Crimean War due to demand for information on the war and also from the abolition of stamp duty. More jingoistic than its military counterpart, the domestic press could build itself up into hysterical ‘war fever’.⁸

The Provincial Press

Whilst the impact of the reports from the Crimea by W.H. Russell of The Times (which had the largest circulation in Britain, 60,000 copies being sold per day), it was the provincial press which, through its publication of Russell’s reports and letters home from local soldiers – that gave Russell’s accounts both local colour and verification – turned the mood of the country against the Aberdeen government and towards the soldiers at the front. Many of the leading provincial towns and cities had their own newspaper, often several, usually one liberal and the other Tory. Indeed, the majority of the letters presented here were published in the provincial press, rather than the metropolitan titles, as they provided much needed ‘copy’ and were full of local (human) interest. Manchester, for example had three papers, of which the radical, Nonconformist Manchester Guardian was the most widely read and influential (circulation of 23,000 per day in 1855) of the provincial dailies, both in the north and nationally. The liberal, tri-weekly Leeds Mercury was the next most influential (circulation of 10,000 per day) of the northern papers.⁹

The Ordinary Soldier

Letters from ordinary soldiers and the despatches of the various ‘special correspondents’ that were full with the human drama of the war contrasted greatly with the official, somewhat terse despatches of the British commander in the Crimea, Lord Raglan.¹⁰ Furthermore, as the ‘official’ version of events often arrived after ‘unofficial’ accounts, suggested that Raglan was writing to contradict the press. In most of his correspondence with the Duke of Newcastle (Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, 1852–4; Secretary at War 1854–5) or Sidney Herbert (Secretary at War 1852–5), Raglan was writing a stream of rebuttals to complaints about him and the army in the press.¹¹ Lord Panmure (Secretary of State for War 1855–8) noted that Parliament relied on the ‘vast number’ of letters home written by officers in the Crimea, ‘which we hear daily quoted and hear daily read’. Lord Raglan did not ‘deny’ what was written in the letters home, but simply ‘despised’ that they had been written at all.¹²

Letters like those published here are both useful documents for revealing not only how the ordinary soldier lived and spent his time in the Crimean War, but also his response to and feelings towards the war. These letters became all the more important because of the ‘human interest’ they generated in the plight of the common soldier in those ‘on the home front’ and also political ramifications they had, in bringing about a change of government and also fuelling reform of the British army, reforms which would see the day-to-day living conditions of the British ‘Tommy’ and his family vastly improve.

Critical Analysis

Newspaper editors were keen to publish letters, especially provincial papers, those from local soldiers. Some papers, such as the Nottinghamshire Guardian, unable to afford a ‘Special Correspondent’ paid soldiers for their letters and indeed commissioned local soldiers from regiments stationed in and around Nottingham to send a monthly letter reporting on the events in the Crimea. It will be noted that, despite the title of this book being Letters from the Light Brigade, the majority of the correspondence was generated by the Heavy Brigade; and this pattern is not just due to the relative proportion of casualties resulting from the Battle of Balaklava as the trend is observable in the months preceding that battle. This trend may be due to different literacy rates between the Heavy and Light Brigade or that the men of the Heavy Brigade regiments had greater opportunities to write home. Furthermore, the Heavy Brigade correspondence is further biased toward the Scots Greys – perhaps because as a Nottingham regiment some of their rankers, such as Sergeant-Major Sturtevant were commissioned by the Nottinghamshire Guardian to send letters home. Similarly, because Corporal Thomas Morley was a Nottinghamshire man, letters from the 17th Lancers dominate the Light Brigade material. Correspondence from the Scots Greys is also more frequent in the metropolitan titles than other cavalry regiments, and naturally so in the Scottish press.

Most letters home contained three main topics: the health of the writer, the writer’s travelogue (many soldiers having never served outside the British Isles) and comments on their allies. Most writers were also self-censoring: these letters are not literal blow-by-blow accounts, but only include details that the writer deemed were important or felt were of interest to the reader at home. Most writers often reserved the more gruesome sights of the battlefield for a male reader to preserve the modesty and feelings of a female reader. Many writers commented that their readers would be universally surprised by the French soldiers and how well the allies got on, and reflected naı¨ve belief that the war would be quick and over by Christmas. Letters provided an immediate, snapshot level of immediacy and intimacy that the official despatches or those of Russell et al. did not.¹³ Whilst letter writers record events that they remember and deem of sufficient important or interest to write home about, these are not objective or literal records of the events the writer has been involved in. The writers are reporting events they believe they remember or perceive; the closer to the event the letters were written the more likely the reporting is to be uncontaminated from other sources and closer to the experience of the writer. The more detached in time from the event, the less reliable the recording, often contaminated by what has been absorbed from other sources (usually the media, books, contact with other soldiers), subsequent experiences or distorted by a sense of grievance or, usually, self-importance. As Paul Fussell notes, oral history and memoirs tend toward being a combination of historical fiction and autobiography, stressing the role or importance of the writer than any objective or literal form of history per se.¹⁴ The further the written narrative shifts away in time from the events which took place, the closer the written narrative becomes to a figurative fiction. The recollection of crucial events will be re-evaluated and re-contextualised throughout the life of the author to the point of creating the written record – personal memoirs become influenced by the socio-political, socio-economic environment and experiences of the author will have an impact on how they recall and event. Furthermore, as critical or evaluative historians, we must also take into consideration that observers do not always understand what they saw or thought they saw.¹⁵ Ultimately, however, these are personal narratives, written down by combatants: each of the writers of the letters included in this work, had a personal and unique experience of the Crimean War – what they experienced will be different from participant to participant, but it is useful to note the shared experiences between different accounts, too.

The Crimean Peninsula, showing the major towns.

CHAPTER 1

Going to War:

1 May–1 September 1854

Preparing the Cavalry for War

British cavalry regiments had seen little or no active service after 1815, being mostly employed in a policing role, such as at the ‘Peterloo Massacre’ or the Bristol Riots.¹ The Scots Greys, for example, hadn’t seen active service since 1815 whilst the 8th Hussars had not served outside mainland Britain since 1823. Four regiments of light cavalry, however, served in India during the first and second Anglo-Sikh Wars: the 3rd and 14th Light Dragoons and the 9th and 12th Lancers. The 14th Light Dragoons fought at Ramnagar (22 November 1848) and famously charged at Chillianwallah (13 January 1849) where they were nearly destroyed; and the 14th together with the 16th Lancers fought at Aliwal (28 January 1846). Lack of service abroad made the cavalry highly attractive to rich flâneurs, who merely ‘played’ at soldiers and spent more time hunting and socialising than with their regiments, and when their regiments went on active service went on half pay or sold-out.² Officers who had seen active service or were promoted on merit were considered inferior to those officers ‘born’ to rank.³ Because of this, many subaltern officers in the cavalry were totally ignorant of drill or their duties in garrison or in the field and worse, had no desire to learn.⁴ Lieutenant-Colonel Hodge (4th Dragoon Guards) despaired that his subalterns and even his Adjutant displayed ‘such ignorance’ even with regards to equitation: ‘not one of them knew by sight the lower part of the breastplate [part of the horse harness]’ and they certainly did not how to pitch their tents or live in the field.⁵ Lack of education and basic horsemanship was common amongst cavalry officers because they were accustomed to having grooms and servants do that work for them; they also had little interaction with the men they commanded which further widened the social gulf.⁶ This lack of education was not just due to apathy, but due to a lack of any educational material.⁷ General Sir Charles Napier considered that education for cavalry officers was vital. They had to be more educated than infantry officers because they were more often called to act independently. He thought that an uneducated officer could not lead his men or inspire confidence; badly led cavalry was not effective on the battlefield and could end in disaster. Bravery and chivalric conduct were no replacement for education.⁸ The British cavalry officer came in for much criticism in the press during the 1840s because of the various scandals of the Earl of Cardigan;⁹ cavalry officers were much ridiculed for their noble birth, fanciful uniforms and mannerisms (such as speaking with an affected lisp or pronouncing Rs as Ws¹⁰) most notably by The Times newspaper,¹¹ Punch Magazine¹² and the social reformer Charles Dickens in Household Words.¹³

In order to augment those regiments being sent to the East, men and horses had to be begged, borrowed or otherwise. Hodge records how his regiment received fifteen horses transferred from the 1st (King’s) Dragoon Guards and a further five from the 3rd Dragoon Guards. The twenty Hodge gave them in return were ‘young ones – a great set of brutes as ever I saw. I felt quite ashamed of the transaction’. In the following month he received an augmentation of 100 men and had an order to ‘buy fifty more horses’.¹⁴ Similarly, the Scots Greys purchased 3,000 tons of forage from merchants in Leeds in March 1854 and 150 ‘dark bay, brown and chestnut’ horses at the York Horse fair for remount purposes.¹⁵ The problem faced by most commanding officers, however, was the dramatic increase in the price of horseflesh following the declaration of war. At the Drogheda Horse Fair ‘first class cavalry horses’ sold for £80–£100, double their usual price,¹⁶ and at Doncaster:

two or three army agents, who it is said have a commission to purchase 1,000 horses for cavalry and artillery purposes [were present]. Only about 50 could be picked up, and those at very high prices. Good nags and roadsters were also scarce, and realized from 30L to 60L each . . .¹⁷

Amongst the private soldiers of the cavalry division was a mix of recruits, experienced men and those who had joined up in the New Year of 1854 on the surge of patriotism generated by the ‘Great Russian War’. Private Brookes (13th Light Dragoons) had served from 1842 and had fought during the Sikh Wars (1845–6 and 1848–9) whilst Trumpeter Smith (11th Hussars) had been in the ranks from 1836 and fought in Afghanistan (1839). Amongst those who had enlisted out of patriotic fervour was Private Thomas Tomsett, a former bricklayer, who enlisted in the 4th Light Dragoons 25 January 1854 or George Wootton, a baker, who enlisted two days later in the 11th Hussars.¹⁸ Private William Henry Pennington (11th Hussars) had only been with his regiment for a few months by the time he was ordered to the East. His father, Albert, wrote on 23 December 1854:

. . . my son, a youth of 21 years of age, who last spring, in a military fit, enlisted in the 11th Hussars, and in the incredibly short time of six weeks has passed through all the rough riding and other drills in to his troop as a competent soldier, though the extent of his horsemanship before was a pony ride on Blackheath!¹⁹

Mobilisation for war also led to desertion: two bandsmen from the 17th Lancers (the brothers Deakon) absconded from their regiment and joined the orchestra at the fashionable Argyle Rooms in London.²⁰

The Voyage Out

Overall command of the cavalry was vested in the Earl of Lucan. The Earl of Cardigan was to command the Light Brigade and Sir James Yorke Scarlett the Heavy Brigade. Captain Lewis Nolan (15th Hussars) was to superintend all the ‘cavalry arrangements’ and left Manchester on Monday 13 March 1854 for that purpose. He also carried ‘special instructions’ to purchase 1,000 cavalry remounts in Constantinople.²¹

The 11th Hussars and 4th Dragoon Guards departed Dublin on 11 March 1854, accompanied by Captain Maude’s troop of Royal Horse Artillery.²² The 1st Royals were barracked in Manchester and sailed for Turkey from Liverpool, ‘where nothing could exceed the hospitality and kindness’ of the inhabitants.²³ According to Lieutenant-Colonel Yorke, they were to sail in five vessels: forty-eight horses and men on board The Gertrude (1,300 tons); fifty on board The Coronetta (850 tons); sixty-eight on board Rip Van Winkle and a final forty-eight on board The Pedestrian. In addition there was a small ‘luggage steamer’ which accommodated a further thirty horses.²⁴ They sailed for Boulogne from ‘London Dock’ on 12 May 1854.²⁵ From Boulogne the regiment was to sail to Marseilles and thence ‘for such a destination as deemed advisable. This route . . . is said to be determined for keeping the horses in condition ready for action.’²⁶

Getting the horses on board the transports was no easy matter. Albert Mitchell (13th Light Dragoons) described how:

Each horse was led up the ship’s side . . .; a sling was placed beneath the horse’s belly, and fastened to the tackle on the main-yard. The order was given to ‘hoist away’, when about a hundred convicts manned a large rope, and running away with it, the poor Trooper was soon high in the air, quite helpless.²⁷

Sergeant-Major Smith (11th Hussars) notes it took four hours to embark all forty-six horses of his troop on their transport because ‘some of the horses resisted violently’.²⁸ The horses were next lowered into the hold – which had been well padded – where each one was ‘provided with a separate stall. They were placed with their heads towards the ship’s side, and heads towards each other, with a passage between them.’ The animals had no means of laying down and had to stand throughout the voyage.²⁹ This method of transporting horses proved controversial, however. Retired cavalry officer W.J. Goodwin suggested that during the Napoleonic Wars (1800–15) horses had been transported ‘with their heads to the side of the ship’ and, crucially, had larger stalls, which allowed the horse to lie down to rest and also to lie down during storms at sea. Most importantly horses, which had ‘stood for six weeks’ were in much worse condition than those which had had room to move and lay down.³⁰

The 17th Lancers embarked at Portsmouth between 18 and 25 April. Headquarters, under Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrenson were on board the Eveline, one troop under Major White onboard Pride of the Ocean with the remaining troops on board Ganges, Blundell and Edmunsbury. Captain Godfrey Morgan records that the Edmunsbury had on board forty horses, four of which belonged to him, and eighty men of his troop and their horses. Also on board was the paymaster and an Irish doctor and his wife. The ship was dirty, the food poor and Morgan reported that he soon tired of the company of the doctor. In the Bay of Biscay they sailed into a gale: ‘My first real gale at sea truly awful sight, with 40 horses on board kicking and plunging and dashing themselves to pieces.’³¹

Morgan’s troop lost one horse on 1 May from sea sickness and others quickly followed: Morgan’s second charger, ‘Atheist’, died on 4 May; one troop horse died on 5 May and another on 9 May. By the time the 17th Lancers arrived at Constantinople at the end of May, they had lost twenty-six horses and, whilst camped at Varna, lost four more.³²

Lieutenant-Colonel Hodge and the 4th Dragoon Guards embarked at Kingstown 25 May on board five transports; The 5th Dragoon Guards, quartered in Ballincollig under Sir James Yorke Scarlett, left for Dublin at the end of March and sailed from Kingstown in the Himalaya.³³ Hodge had forebodings about things to come: he insured his horses ‘pretty largely, as I fear we cannot help losing some’ and was very concerned about how the horses were to be fed and quartered once in Turkey, fearing that they would ‘soon fall off’ in condition.³⁴

All was not plain sailing. On 14 May the transport Harkaway carrying fifty-six cavalry horses had a ‘narrow escape’ after getting in to a strong current and drifting toward rocks on the Portuguese coast. With the aid of ‘two boats and thirty men’ she was refloated.³⁵ But worse was to come. The Inniskillings sailed from Plymouth on Tuesday 30 May on board five transports: tragedy struck just one day later when the Europa carrying the HQ, ‘portions of each of the four troops and 13 officer’s chargers and 44 troop horses’ caught fire ‘about 200 miles from Plymouth’.³⁶

The Scots Greys and the 4th Light Dragoons were the last cavalry regiments to sail for the East. The Greys were quartered in Nottingham Cavalry Barracks. The barracks had been built in 1819 due to fears of civil unrest from unemployed silk weavers. The regiment consisted of three squadrons, each squadron consisting of two troops. One squadron was quartered in Loughbrough Cavalry Barracks (built in 1839 as a conversion from the former workhouse); one troop was quartered in Mansfield and the remainder were in Nottingham.³⁷ The order to Prepare to Embark was received at Nottingham on Monday 3 July 1854: the Greys were to proceed to Manchester via Chesterfield, Matlock and Buxton prior to embarking at Liverpool for Turkey.

In Manchester they were quartered in Preston and in the Hulme Cavalry Barracks along with the 3rd Light Dragoons. Due to lack of stabling for the horses, ‘wooden sheds’ were erected ‘on the gardens’ at Hulme Barracks for the horses of the Light Dragoons as the horses of the Greys had priority for stabling. They left Manchester at 8 a.m. on Monday 23 July, ‘played out of the yard’ by the band of the 3rd Light Dragoons and they were accompanied out of Manchester by Colonel Unnett of the 3rd Light Dragoons along Regent Road. They rested on Monday evening in Prescot before resuming their march to Liverpool on the following morning.³⁸

The Greys embarked 299 men, 14 officers and 294 horses on board the Himalaya in ‘12 minutes under the hour’ on 26 July and got under way on the 27th.³⁹ By all accounts the Greys had an uneventful voyage to Turkey, often with the band playing to entertain officers and men alike on the quarterdeck, with dancing organized on the forecastle.⁴⁰ They passed Gibraltar on 30 July and arrived at Malta on 4 August to take on coal and water. Sadly, whilst at Malta one man fell overboard and drowned. So comfortable were the officers of the Greys that upon arrival at Scutari (7 August) they presented Captain Adam Kelloc and the Purser Daniel Lane with engraved silver plate and a handsome purse. They were barracked at the cavalry barracks at Kullalie, which were in a filthy condition. For a time the Greys had to share them with a battery of Royal Artillery, commanded by Major Townshend, and a squadron of Turkish lancers.

Letter from Lieutenant Robert Scott Hunter,⁴¹ Scots Greys, to his sister Helen Carnegy Hunter.⁴²

H M S Himalaya⁴³

At Sea, July 27th 1854

My dearest Holly

We got away all right yesterday & are having beautiful weather. This is a most splendid ship, & the best idea I can give you of her size is that she is 80 feet longer than the Duke of Wellington.⁴⁴ We are now getting near the Bay of Biscay, & the ship as you may see by my writing is rolling a few, besides our screw makes such a thumping that it really is not easy to get the letter straight.

We shipped all our horses in 12 minutes under the hour. They are all right as yet & none of them have been sea sick nor any of us but Miller the Adjutant.⁴⁵ We had a very rainy night and the decks this morning were very wet but now (11.40) the sun is coming out & the officers of the ship say that they think the afternoon will be fine. I don’t suppose I shall get this finished today, as such there is no use in doing so as we do not touch anywhere till we get to Malta where we are to be 12 hours. Andrew came out as a far as the Bell Buoy with us whence the Pilot left us. I was very glad as it gave me two hours more of his company. He dined with me on board the ship the day before & will be able to tell you how well we feed. We get breakfast at 9, Lunch at 12. Dinner at 4. Tea at [blank] and grog at 9 & you know learn how we eat. I do so. I can tell, for besides the fact of my being hungry, if I happened to be sick. I should be more comfortably so, than if I had an empty bread basket. We have been allowed to take off uniform & go about the queerest figures imaginable, with all sorts of hats, wide awakes, caps, coats, boots &c. &c., & enjoying the good life in its highest sense. We expect to be by at Malta this day week – July 31st – Dearest Holly we have just passed Gibraltar. The morning is lovely & the view perfect. The rock is most curious & as we passed we cheered like anything, & our band played Rule Britannia which was answered by the garrison lining the walls & returning the compliment. There never was anything like the beautiful weather we have had. The Sea has been so smooth, & but for the heavy rolling of the ship with the enormous ground swell, you could have hardly told you were at Sea. We made land last night about 10 o’clock after looking [at] it all day from Cape St. Vincent. Just before getting to Gib. We got a splendid view of Tangiers on the African Coast & Tariffe on the Spanish side. Both sides are very rocky, especially the African, where the mountains are enormous & their summits are quite lost in, or appearing above the clouds. We expect to be at Malta about Wednesday, where we are to anchor for 12 hours.

Footnote: This ship is 364 feet long! Her engines 700 horse power & they work up to 1200!!! Imagine her size. Her mainyard is 84ft long!!!!

Letter from Sergeant John Hill (number 976), 1st Royal Dragoons, to relatives in Dublin.⁴⁶

Karajusin Camp,

July 31st, 1854.⁴⁷

Dear Mary, -

When I last wrote to Tom, we were about to disembark at Varna. We remained at Varna, encamped on the sea-coast about week, and then received orders to march for Devna. We remained on Devna plain, a fine open piece of ground close to the city – for a week, when we were removed in consequence of the cholera breaking out amongst the infantry regiments to Karajusin, where we remain encamped for the present. It is expected that a great portion of the army will move in the direction of Sebastopol very shortly, where it is intended to quarter for the winter. I had scarcely time, when I last wrote, to give you even a short sketch of Turkey, but I will endeavour now to do so. The country itself is certainly most beautiful, and abounds with the loveliest scenery you can imagine, and if cultivated by an industrious class of people would be one of the finest countries in the world: but the inhabitants are an idle, lazy race, and seem to have no thought of improvement or invention. They must be a thousand years behind the British in civilisation and art. Every article that you look at it so primitive that it reminds one very much of the accounts given of the Easterns [sic] in Scripture History. The roads here are very bad, and you may ride 20 miles without seeing a human being or habitation, and when you happen to meet either they are the picture of poverty and filth. When they kills a beast for their use, the offal is allowed to decompose in front of their cabins; but this is in the country parts, and in the towns and cities it is only a shade better. They always sit on the ground cross-legged, like so many tailors, and eat their food with their fingers; but they adhere strictly to religious duties, as they never sit down to a meal without offering up thanks to their Prophet, and the same when rising. We find them, too, very honest in the dealings with us. Great numbers of French troops preceded us on our march. The poor Turks are not very partial to them for their excesses, and they say they are ‘no bono;’ but the English, they say, are ‘bono.’ Bread and meat are very cheap, but the bread is very coarse and black. We can buy a very nice sheep here for 1s. 6d. Soap, candles, cheese, salt, and many other necessaries are very dear. Soap, 1s. per 1lb; cheese, 2s.; small candles, 3d. each; a bottle of porter, 2s.; and salt difficult to be had at all. The cholera has cut off a great many of our troops lately at Varna, chiefly the infantry, but we have not had one case in our regiment as yet. The doctors attribute the sickness to the men eating green fruit and drinking inferior wine, which is sold here at the rate of 6d. a quart. I wish very much to get a line from you, and a newspaper; the latter would be a great treat here, as we get more information from a peep into an English newspaper, as so to how the war is proceeding, than we could here for a month. I never got better health than I am enjoying at present; and you may tell O’B[censored] that my horse Paddy is as brisk as a bee, and was never in better condition. Write soon, and direct according to the printed instructions.

Letter from Troop Sergeant-Major Matthew Brown (number 517), Scots Greys, to the editor of the Nottinghamshire Guardian.⁴⁸

Malta.

August 4, 1854.

Dear Sir, -

From the extreme kindness shown to the Greys by the inhabitants of Nottingham, on leaving for the East, I have no doubt that they still feel a deep interest in our welfare. I have therefore presumed to send you, for the information of your readers, the following rough sketch of our voyage from Liverpool, should you deem it worthy a place in your valuable journal.

On the 24th July, at 7 a.m., we marched from Manchester amidst the cheers of the populace, and halted for the night at Prescot. We were next morning again on the road for Liverpool at 4 a.m., and arrived there about 6 a.m., where, notwithstanding the early hour, thousands followed us, some of them only half-clothed, to witness our embarkation at the Docks. By 10 a.m. were all on board, the horses in their stalls, and them as comfortably put up as circumstances would permit. The ship then slipped her moorings and steamed out to the middle of the river where we cast anchor. During the whole day steamers, crowded with dense masses of people, were continually putting off from the shore, and steaming around the Himalaya; bands playing lively and appropriate airs, and the people saluting us with cries of God speed the Greys, and loud and protracted cheers that could only be surpassed by the good people of Nottingham. Next morning, at 8a.m., we weighed anchor, and steamed down the Mersey, in gallant style, our band playing the Queen’s Anthem. The quays being lined with immense crowds of people, saluted us as we passed with deafening cheers, which were returned by our men in a manner that evidently showed that the pain of leaving home, friends, and all that were dear to us, was buried, for the time, beneath the heart-stirring feelings of enthusiasm which animated every one on board. On getting clear out to sea we doffed our soldiers’ clothing, and were quickly rigged out in duck trousers and smocks, which caused no small amount of merriment amongst us, as each man was inclined to laugh at his comrades grotesque and comical appearance: but we soon got reconciled to our garb, and we soon found the comfort of it, for on getting in to warmer latitudes our usually warm clothing would have been quite insufferable. We sighted Cape Finisterre on the 29th, at 4 a.m., and when day broke next morning we were steaming at full speed round Cape St. Vincent. At noon on the 30th we were abreast Gibraltar, close in shore; our band struck up Rule Britannia, and in an instant the gallant 92nd Highlanders – now stationed on the Rock – came rushing down to the batteries, and cheered us so lustily that we could almost fancy they were heard by the Moors on the opposite shore! On the same evening we passed close to the opposite shore. On the same evening we passed close to the mail steamer Tagus, steaming towards Gibraltar. Our band struck up Cheers, boys, cheer,⁴⁹ and the usual cheering was prolonged on both sides as long as we could hear each other. Nothing further happened to us worth committing to paper, excepting seeing Algiers in the distance on the 2nd inst., until we arrived at Malta to-day, after a passage of nine days from Liverpool. We expect to stay a day or two here to take in coal and water; but whether any of us can get ashore to see the town of Valetta or not I cannot say, as I merely penning this as we have cast anchor, to be ready for the mail. We will next proceed to Constantinople, where we will get orders where to land. So you will perceive that it is impossible for me to say in the mean time where our actual destination is, or when it may be likely be that we may have the satisfaction or measuring our swords with the Russians. But this I can say, that we are all very anxious to meet the enemy; and should our success in fighting be commensurate with our anxiety to meet the Russians, I have no doubt that we will add fresh leaves to the laurel of the Greys. I am very happy to say that we have arrived here without any casualty whatever. The horses are all well, and the men in excellent health and spirits. Our passage, so far, has been remarkably fine, the sea all the way being so smooth that it put one forcibly in mind of some beautiful lake that he has seen described in the pages of some fairy tale. The only thing we could complain of was the oppressive heat that commenced with us at Cape St. Vincent, and has been increasing every day since, until it has reach a point that is truly oppressive. Still our spirits are not out of tune, for in the cool of the evenings, at the request of our worthy Colonel, the men assemble aft on the quarter deck, where the band plays some lively airs, and the song, the tale, the joke, and laugh go round as merrily as if we were gathered round the board of some good old host on the shores of merry England; while others, who prefer dancing, assembly forward, and with a good flute player mounted on the capstan head, they dance Tulloch Gorum [sic, Tullochgorum] and the Flowers of Edinburgh to perfection.⁵⁰

I hope your goodness will forgive me for intruding thus far on your space; but I cannot close without conveying to the inhabitants of Nottingham, through the medium of your columns, the lively sense of gratitude that is entertained by every man in the Greys for then, for their extreme kindness and generous bearing towards us on leaving them, and our humble hope is that in the struggle before us we may prove ourselves not unworthy of the respect of such a kind and generous people. We should be very happy if you would be kind enough to send us a paper occasionally – it would be a great luxury to us.

Letter from an anonymous officer of the Scots Greys.⁵¹

Constantinople,

Aug. 12th, 1854.

Her Majesty’s recently purchased Steamship Himalaya arrived at Scutari, after a rapid passage from Liverpool of 10 days and 22 hours, on the evening of the 7th instant, and having received orders from Admiral Boxer, proceeded the following morning to Koulalie, a cavalry barrack about three miles up the Bosphorus [sic], on the Asiatic side. A stage having been constructed by Captain Kellock, similar to the one used at Liverpool, on the following day, viz., the 9th, the whole of the Scots Greys and remounts, numbering 370 horses, were disembarked in nine hours without accident, and the horses in as good condition as they were when embarked at Liverpool. The loss on the voyage amount to one, a horse of some 18 years of age, whose lungs could not stand the change of climate or excessive heat which was experienced during the passage out.

On the evening of the 11th the Colonel had a parade in Full Dress, and so gay and lively were the horses, that if one of the officers, Captain Toosey,⁵² had not been [a] pretty good ‘cross country’ man, he must have been kicked out of his saddle, for his mare sent her hind legs up for about 10 minutes, as though she meant to send her rider up to Beicos. It was really a very fine sight to see a whole regiment, and such a regiment! after a journey or voyage of 3,100 miles, just as fit to go into action and gallop over a squadron of Cossacks as they would have been the day after leaving Nottingham.

Colonel Griffith⁵³ and the officers were so gratified at the result of the voyage, and so pleased with the attention that had been paid to and care which had been taken of them, their horses and men, that they presented to Captain Kellock, and Mr. Lane, the Purser, a handsome piece of Plate, with a letter of thanks, and a suitable inscription, expressive of their feelings at the termination of the voyage.

Life in Turkey

Lieutenant-Colonel Hodge’s forebodings about the resources available in Turkey to supply the cavalry appear to have been true. Lawrence Godkin, the ‘special correspondent’ of the Daily News, reported that:

Oats are not to be had. Here and there a bad quality, little better than chaff, is to be met with, but contains no nutrient whatever. All horses here are fed on barley . . . about ten pounds per day. Hay is rarely to be had . . . Barley . . . very scarce.⁵⁴

An anonymous cavalry officer writing home painted a similar picture:

The French are lost in admiration at the beauty, the symmetry, and the activity of the English cavalry horses . . . There is, however, a drawback to them; it is thought by the Frenchmen, as well as some persons in the English army, they are perhaps too well bred. How are they to be fed? Will these pampered creatures stand rough work of a campaign on short and sometimes bad rations – moreover, as a change of diet, for oats and hay are not to be had?⁵⁵

Living conditions for officers and men were little better; Lieutenant-Colonel Hodge thought he would never ‘get accustomed to the bad living’ with only ‘bacon and eggs, nothing else, and very little of that; no bread. The water at the camp at Devna is, I heard, good, but it is two miles off . . .’.⁵⁶ In an attempt to prevent having their ‘knowledge boxes . . . boiled’ the Heavy Brigade were issued with white calico helmet covers, but General Sir George Brown took a personal dislike to them, thinking them ‘unsoldierlike [sic]’. He refused to let the men under his command (the Light Division) wear their shako covers.⁵⁷ The situation took a serious turn for the worse when cholera broke out in the Allied camp on 22 July 1854. Cholera is an infection in the small intestine caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholera. Its main symptoms – which can start very suddenly – are watery diarrhoea and vomiting. It is caught from drinking dirty water that contains faecal matter, but the bacterium that causes cholera can live in any environment. The severity of the diarrhoea and vomiting can lead to rapid dehydration and death.⁵⁸

Hodge notes that the first victim in the 4th Dragoon Guards was ‘Lupton of ‘F’ [Troop]’ on 24 July. The cavalry was to change camp the following day, finally moving two days later. By 30 July the Inniskillings had forty-six men sick in hospital and the 4th Dragoon Guards had twelve: by 19 August Hodge had buried twenty-three men from his regiment.⁵⁹ W.H. Russell of The Times estimated that the Guards had lost 100 men to the disease and had ‘around 600 sick;’ the Light Division 112 and the Cavalry a similar number.⁶⁰ Of the cavalry regiments, the 5th Dragoon Guards had the highest number of casualties from cholera: three officers and forty other ranks. To make matters worse, the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 5th – Scarlett – was absent in command of the Heavy Cavalry Brigade so command devolved onto the Major who was absent sick. The senior Captain, Duckworth, assumed command but he died from cholera on 24 August, so ‘a young officer’, Captain Adolphus Burton, then took the reins.⁶¹ Thus having no effective command, ‘what remained of the officers and men were incorporated into the 4th Dragoon Guards’ leaving only two effective Heavy Cavalry regiments – the Scots Greys and the 4th Dragoon Guards (the 1st Royals and Inniskillings having lost half their horses).⁶² Sergeant-Major Henry Franks suggests that Scarlett ‘took up his quarters with the 5th Dragoon Guards’, and wanted the regiment placed under the supervision of Lieutenant-Colonel Hodge (4th Dragoon Guards) but Hodge ‘could not be in two places at the same time’ leaving Burton in command.⁶³ Worst affected by far was the French army, which lost 4,500 out of a total force of 13,000.⁶⁴

Lucan and Cardigan

The petty bickering between the Earls of Cardigan and Lucan appears to have intensified under the strain of active service. The Times believed the ‘private relations between the two men, they become responsible for disaster’.⁶⁵ In May Cardigan left for Varna to command the leading elements of the Light Brigade, without receiving permission from his superior, Lucan, to do so. Lord Raglan, the Commander-in-Chief, compounded this error, by not consulting Lucan. This led to Cardigan believing he had an independent command and that he was responsible to the Commander-in-Chief alone. Lucan only got to hear of Cardigan’s departure via a staff officer who wanted to know what instructions he was to give the latter!⁶⁶ Lucan wrote several indignant letters to Lord Raglan and to General James Estcourt (Adjutant General), none of which appear to have brought his insubordinate brother-in-law in check.

Cardigan and Lucan both succeeded in ‘annoying everyone’: ‘he [Cardigan] does all he can to knock up both horses and men before the work beings in earnest.’ Captain Shakespeare RHA thought Cardigan ‘the most impractical and most inefficient cavalry officer in the service . . . We are all greatly disgusted with him . . . We wish we were with Scarlett and his Heavy Cavalry.’⁶⁷ Fanny Duberly, wife of the paymaster of the 8th Hussars, was of a similar opinion, relating in a letter how ‘Poor Col. Shewell who has been weeping nearly ever day over the way Cardigan overworks his men is now nearly frantic.’⁶⁸ Meanwhile, Lucan was making an embarrassment of himself because, according to Major Forrest of the 4th Dragoon Guards

. . . he has been so long on the shelf that he has no idea of moving cavalry, does not even know the words of command and is very self-willed about it . . . If he is shewn by the drill book he is wrong, he says ‘Oh, I should like to know who wrote that book, some farrier I suppose.’⁶⁹

Many officers expressed a lack of confidence in both Lucan and Cardigan: Major Forrest felt that a ‘row with Cardigan was imminent’,⁷⁰ whilst Captain Robert Portal (4th Light Dragoons) thought that Cardigan was ‘one of the greatest old women in the army’ and

He has as much brains as my boot. He is only equalled in want of intellect by his relation the Earl of Lucan. Without mincing matters two such fools could not be picked out of the British Army to take command.’⁷¹

Lord Paget suggests that Lucan insisted on using the old drill which he remembered: ‘Instead of bending to the new order of things, he sought to unteach his troops the drill which they had been taught . . .’⁷² Lucan held a meeting