James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan

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A staff officer to Raglan, Colonel the Hon. Somerset John Gough Calthorpe, alleged in his book "Letters from a Staff Officer in the Crimea" that Cardigan had only survived because he had fled the scene before the charge made contact with the enemy. In his first edition, Calthorpe allowed that Cardigan’s horse may have bolted, [cite book
last = Calthorpe
first = Somerset John Gough
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Letters from Headquarters: Or, The Realities of the War in the Crimea, by an Officer on the Staff
publisher = John Murray
date = 1857
location = London
pages = p130
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = ] but later editions pointedly stated the earl was too fine a horseman for this to be a satisfactory explanation. After some preliminary legal skirmishing Cardigan sought an indictment for criminal libel in 1863, but his action failed, although the bench made plain that it was only his competence, and not his courage, that was in doubt. They found that he had led his men onto the enemy’s guns with “valour...conspicuously displayed” but thereafter he “...was absent when his presence was desirable” ["Lord Cardigan and the Light Brigade", "Manchester Guardian", 25 April 1863] [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Reg. v Calthorpe
work =The Justice of the Peace
publisher =Hansard
date =1863-09-12
url =http://www.crimeantexts.org.uk/sources/hansard/j630610a.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-04-26 ]

A cooler assessment is that Cardigan, having reached and overrun the enemy battery, had then turned about and galloped for his own lines, encountering as he did so the second and third waves of attacking cavalry who had yet to reach their objective. It was the evidence of officers and men from those regiments that had given rise to the allegation.

In the week following the battle of Balaclava the remnants of the Light Brigade were posted inland, to high ground overseeing the British lines surrounding Inkerman. Cardigan, who had spent most nights of the campaign aboard his luxury steam yacht "Dryad" in Balaclava harbour, found this move a great inconvenience and his leadership of the brigade suffered as a result. Astonishingly, he missed the Battle of Inkerman (4 November and 5 November 1854), casually asking journalist William Russell (who was returning from the conflict) “What are they doing, what was the firing for...?” as he rode up from the harbour at noon on the first day. The decisive stages of the battle were on the second day and again Cardigan was absent, although he managed to arrive at a more creditable 10.15 a.m. The part played by the brigade was not great and, to avoid embarrassing the earl, it was not mentioned in the official account of the battle forwarded to London.

Whatever Cardigan’s faults, he had always tried to ensure that the troops under his command were well equipped. However, as the Crimean winter fell over the Light Brigade’s exposed position, food, fodder, clothing and shelter were all in short supply. Beyond writing letters pointing out the deficiencies, Cardigan did nothing. Food and fodder were available at the coast, but he refused to release any men and horses to carry up stores, in case of a surprise attack by the enemy. Colonel Alexander Tulloch, who gave evidence to a board of enquiry into the failure, [Chelsea Board (1856). "Report of the Board of General Officers Appointed to Inquire into the Statements Contained in the Reports of Sir John McNeill and Colonel Tulloch" United Kingdom Parliament sessional paper 1856-21.] [ [http://www.crimeantexts.org.uk/sources/times/t570206a.html Colonel Tulloch’s Review Of The “Chelsea” Report] "The Times" 6 February 1857 (quoted in David Kelsey’s "Crimean Texts")] wrote privately after his evidence was excluded from the final report: “Because Lord Cardigan might have had some difficulty in carrying up all the barley to which his corps was entitled he [felt] therefore justified in bringing up none”. There was great hardship and many horses died.

On 5 December 1854, citing ill-health, Cardigan set off for England.

The Hero of Balaclava

Newspaper accounts of the gallant charge had been given wide circulation in England by the time Cardigan's ship berthed at the port of Folkstone on 13 January 1855 and the town offered him a rapturous welcome. In London he was mobbed by an enthusiastic crowd and on 16 January at Queen Victoria’s invitation he was received at Windsor to explain to her and Prince Albert the details of the battle. Victoria noted how “modestly” he presented his story, but this reticence was absent in his public appearances: on 5 February, he gave a highly exaggerated account of his participation in the charge at a banquet held in his honour at the Mansion House, London. On 8 February, at a speech in his home town of Northampton, he went even further, describing how he had shared the privations of his men by living the “whole time in a common tent” and how, after the charge, he had rallied his troops and pursued the fleeing enemy artillerymen as far as the Tchernaya river.

Cardigan was able to enjoy many months of adulation before doubts about his conduct emerged: He was made Inspector-General of Cavalry, the government recommended him for the Order of the Garter, although the Queen denied him this honour because of the previous unseemly incidents in his private life; he received instead a knighthood. Merchants, eager to profit from his fame, sold pictures depicting his role in the charge and written chronicles, based on his own accounts, were rushed into print. The “cardigan”, a knitted waistcoat supposedly as worn by the earl on campaign, became fashionable and many were sold.

Cardigan’s commanding officer, Lord Lucan, had been recalled in disgrace and arrived in England only two weeks after his subordinate but, as the officer who had “looked on” (a pun on his name much exploited by Cardigan) while the charge had taken place, little regard was given to his version of events. (Lucan had earned the unfortunate nickname of “Lord Look-on” while held in reserve during an action before the earlier Battle of Alma.) [cite journal|date=1855-02-08|title=Recall of the Earl of Lucan|journal=Freeman's Journal|publisher=John Gray|location=Dublin|accessdate=2008-08-04] In July 1855 "The Times" hinted that the public had been misled over “the real nature of [Cardigan’s] services in the East” but, in the absence of anything definitive, his popularity remained. However, officers who had taken command in the aftermath of the charge, the role that Cardigan was claiming for himself, had heard of his reception in England and were anxious to put the record straight. A writer, George Ryan, who had rushed out a hasty pamphlet praising Cardigan, retracted his words and was the first to report their reservations about the earl’s conduct on the day. [cite book
last = Ryan
first = George
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Was Lord Cardigan a hero at Balaklava?
publisher = James Field and Co
date = 1855
location = London
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = ] As the soldiers themselves began to return to England, the doubts hardened. It was not until the following year, however, with the official enquiries of Colonel Tulloch and the publication of Calthorpe’s "Letters" and other books, was there proof that Cardigan had not been telling the truth. With characteristic arrogance and self-delusion, however, he continued as if nothing was amiss and he remained in his cavalry post for the next eleven years.

After his retirement in 1866 he lived happily at Deene, passing his time with hunting and shooting, with the occasional foray to London to speak in the House of Lords and to press for further official recognition of his glorious military career. He died from injuries caused by a fall from his horse on 28 March 1868, possibly following a stroke.

Modern assessments

The historian Cecil Woodham-Smith’s "The Reason Why" (1953) did serious harm to the Earl’s posthumous reputation. "The Charge of the Light Brigade", a film released in 1968, was based on Woodham-Smith’s research. Another critical assessment of Cardigan and his career is "The Homicidal Earl", by Saul David, a military historian. Colonel Calthorpe’s "Letters from a Staff Officer in the Crimea" has a modern reprint as "Cadogan’s Crimea", ISBN 0689110227.

References