One for Liverpool Annie (Continued in Part 2)

[liverpool annie]

LONDON, Jan. 2 - Another Balaklava hero is gone. His name was Job Allwood and he lived at Leamington. According to the current newspaper story, Mr. Allwood not only had the good fortune to escape unhurt in the Balaklava affair, but also to come off unscathed at Sebastopol, where he had two horses shot under him. Without casting any reflections upon the late Mr. Allwood, it certainly is in order to remark that his death is about the ten thousandth recorded of men who helped make up the "noble Six Hundred"

 10 Jan, 1904, The New York Times

Poor Job ! ... God love him .... he's right here !!

http://www.chargeofthelightbrigade.com/allmen/allmenA/allmenA_13LD/allwood_j_1534_13LD/allwood_j_1534_13LD.html

[uk2003]

I have had a request to lock down this posting as it is getting to big   

What do you lot think?

I say not a cat-in-hell's-chance  It is a fantastic read and big pats on the backs of the contributors 

[seamike]

There were 600 hundred of them. We recalled only one sixth of names.
Each time we recall their names, we prolong their post-mortem life. Can you hear the Bugle?

P.S. And we have not started the opposite, Russian side yet. 

Mike

[liverpool annie]

Oh Lordy .... if we have to start on the Russians - we'll have to find a good translator then !! ...

I don't think Babelfish could handle it !! 

We'll just keep on going till you give us a Part 2 page Ken !! I love looking for this stuff !! 

[forester]

And how many horses so far..............

[liverpool annie]

 

I thought YOU were counting Phil !!



Well I was going to add that .... we also have the Navy !! when I came across this story ... that made me more than a little breathless ! What a story this is ........

Edward St. John Daniel  ........ The First man to have his Victoria Cross Forfeited
 
Edward St John Daniel's story was a personal tragedy, of a young man whose naval career began with the brightest of hopes and highest courage and ended with dismissal with dishonour.
He first joined Peel on HMS Diamond when she was commissioned in 1853 and went with her to the Crimea and landed with Peel and the Naval Brigade.  He along with Evelyn Wood of HMS Queen became ADC's to Peel.  He was with Peel when he performed the three acts of gallantry that earned Peel his VC, including when Peel was wounded on the glacis of the Redan it was he who tied a tourniquet on his arm and brought him back whilst exposed to very heavy Russian fire.  For his gallantry on these occasions Daniel was awarded the VC in the first list of 24th February 1857.

Things went well, at first, he was formerly invested with his VC in September 1859 where he shook hands with the Queen who was "much impressed by him."  He was promoted to Lieutenant on 24th April 1860.  However drinking too freely was to blight Daniel's career.  Possibly Peel had been a father figure to him and Peel's death deprived him of the psychological support and encouragement he needed so desperately.

But the shadows were already closing around Daniel.  In May 1860 he was severely reprimanded for twice being absent without leave.  On 9th June when his ship was in the English Channel he failed to turn out for his middle watch, and was found in his cabin "in a state of torpor".  He was court-martialled, pleading guilty to the charge of drunkenness.  In extenuation he told the court of his experiences in the Crimean winter and the heat of India.  He produced testimonials from past Captains and showed the court his VC and other decorations.  The court were duly impressed and taking into account his gallantry in the face of the enemy, sentenced Daniel "only to dismissal from his ship" and to have his name placed at the bottom of the list of lieutenants.  As he had only been a lieutenant for nine months he only had a little way to fall.

But he was soon to fall much further, on 21st June 1861 he was placed under arrest for what his captain described as "taking indecent liberties with four of his subordinate officer's".  Going to his court-martial in Corfu at about 10pm on the 27th, the Master at Arms found that he was missing from the ship. So on the 28th, Daniel was formerly marked on the ship's papers as RUN.  Normally it would be at least two weeks before this would be done, so it was assumed he was not coming back.

By failing to surrender to his trial, Daniel had undoubtedly saved the Navy some embarrassment.  The trial of a VC hero of the Crimea, one of Captain Peel's young men on charges of indecent assault and desertion would have caused a major scandal.  On 4th September 1861, the Queen, who had awarded Daniel his cross and shaken his hand, issued a Royal Warrant that made Daniel the first man to have his name erased from the VC roll.

http://www.rogersstudy.co.uk/peel/esj_daniel.html

Now read the fascinating story below !
Edward St John DANIEL, VC

http://www.mdani.demon.co.uk/esjd/

Edward St John Daniel found his way to Melbourne where he enlisted for the Maori Wars and was with the NZ Police when he died of DTs- he was buried in Grave No. 851, Block 27, Hokitika Cemetery. News of his death was published in the Bristol Times and Mirror on 1st August 1868. No mention was made of the forfeiture of his VC nor of his exile in Australia and New Zealand.

In July 1971, concern was expressed over the overgrown state of Daniel's unmarked grave in Hokitika Municipal Cemetery. As a result, the Hokitika-Westland branch of the NZ Returned Services Association (equivalent to the British Legion) made representations to the local Borough Council. The grave lay in a remote part of the cemetery that was due to be bulldozed and closed off, being very close to an eroding cliff. A suggestion that the body be exhumed and reburied in another area was rejected in favour of a granite memorial plaque in the Returned Services portion of the cemetery. This plaque, which was eventually erected the following year, at a cost of 75 New Zealand dollars, reads simply:

In Memory Of
EDWARD ST JOHN DANIEL V.C.
OF BRISTOL, ENGLAND
DIED HOKITIKA 20th MAY 1868
AGED 31 YEARS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_St_John_Daniel

[liverpool annie]

Heres some interesting Irish statistics ..... but I'm not so sure about the Russian casualties ! 

There were in fact 673 men in the Light Brigade of whom 114, or nearly 20%, were Irish. During the charge 118 (including 21 Irish) were killed, 127 (including 16 Irish) were wounded and 45 (including 7 Irish) were taken prisoner by the Russians. Some 360 horses were also killed. Of the Light Brigade's five regiments, the Royal Irish Hussars had the most Irishmen -  after returning from the Crimea in 1856 they were based in Dundalk.

All four British leaders at Balaclava had Irish connections

Irish involvement in the Crimea was not, of course, confined to the Light Brigade's charge, which had no effect on the War. In his excellent work, Ireland and the Crimean War, the historian David Murphy reckons that of 111,000 men who fought in Britain's Crimean army, over 37,000, or one-third, were Irish, of whom some 7,000 were killed. About 4,000 more Irishmen served there in the British navy. The newly introduced Victoria Cross was awarded to 28 Irishmen in the Crimea, Sgt later General - Sir Luke O'Connor from Elphin, Co Roscommon, winning the first ever VC in 1857.

Over 100 Irishmen served as British army surgeons - and some 33 Irish Sisters of Mercy and Sisters of Charity went as nurses. Florence Nightingale visited the Mercy Sisters in Dublin in 1852, when she considered becoming a Catholic and joining their order. Eight Irish priests went as chaplains to the Crimea, where three of them died.

Irishmen also served in other armies in the Crimea, most of them with the French. The best known were General (later Marshal) MacMahon, who became President of France - Wexford-born General Sutton, Count of Clonard - and General O'Malley. Among those in the Turkish army were General Coleman, who left Ireland after the 1848 rising - Major John Bernard from Co Offaly - and Major Richard Guyon, a Clareman.

Nearly 650,000 men died in the War - 21,000 British and Irish, 95,000 French and 530,000 Russians, 76% from diseases. The bloodiest conflict between the Napoleonic and First World Wars - it was the first to see the use of trenches and breech-loading rifles.

http://www.catholicireland.net/pages/index.php?nd=57&art=639

[liverpool annie]

The same day ...........

Following success at Alma the British, French and Turkish forces proceeded to besiege Sebastopol. South of Sebastopol is the small port of Balaclava where the British established a supply base.
On 25 October four Russian columns attacked Balaclava in force. Three Russian battalions under General Gribbe seized the village of Kamara while a second column of five battalions under General Semiakin assaulted Canrobert's Hill. Kamara and Canrobert's Hill were defended by Turkish troops who although outnumbered, resisted stubbornly and with great gallantry until they lost a third of their men - they then retreated towards Balaclava's harbour.

The Balaclava plain was split from left to right by the Causeway Heights along which ran the Woronzov Road. Six redoubts were positioned on the Causeway Heights and were manned by Turkish troops. These troops, demoralised by the retreat from Kamara and Canrobert's Hill, fled when the Russians turned their artillery on the redoubts, the objectives of General Levontski's and Colonel Scuderi's columns. The 12-pounders in the redoubts were spiked by their British gunners before the Russians occupied four of the positions.

Only the British Cavalry Division and the 93rd Highlanders stood between the Russians and Balaclava. Following the Russian infantry was the main body of Russian cavalry which moved from the North Valley over the Causeway Heights into the South Valley towards the town of Balaclava. In direct line between the Russians and Balaclava, under the command of Sir Colin Campbell stood 700 troops including 550 Highlanders of the 93rd Regiment (Sutherland Highlanders).
Four Russian squadrons split from the main body of Russian cavalry and were seen to wheel towards Balaclava. Campbell ordered his men to line up on the crest of a hillock in what history knows as the "Thin Red Line". At 500 meters the Highlanders fired, a second volley was fired at 300 yards and a third at 150 meters. The Russian formation broke and wheeled back towards the Causeway.

Lord Lucan, the commander of the Cavalry Division sent the Heavy Brigade of 800 men under Brigadier General Scarlett to support Campbell. Scarlett was 55 years old and had seen no active service prior to Crimea. However, he did not discount the value of active service and had selected as aide-de-camp Captain Alexander Elliott who had seen active service in India with the 8th Bengal Calvary.

The main body of General Rykoff's Russian cavalry of about 3000 men in blue and silver uniforms came into view on the skyline as the Heavy Cavalry moved into position. Because of the nature of the terrain, Scarlett's Brigade was moving in two irregularly spaced columns. Scarlett was leading the two squadrons of Scots Greys and a squadron of Inniskilling Dragoons. To their right was another squadron of Inniskilling Dragoons and the 5th Dragoons. In reserve, in the rear were the 4th Dragoons.

The Russians had the advantage of both higher ground and superior numbers, but Lord Lucan ordered Scarlett to immediately attack. Before ordering the attack, Scaflett first aligned his squadrons. Instead of charging down and engulfing the Heavy Cavalry, the Russians halted and watched the British preparations. Having completed his unhurried preparations, Scarlett then gave the order to advance.

The Heavy Cavalry charged towards the Russians. Scarlett with Captain Elliott and two troopers was fifty metres in the lead of his column of 300 sabres. The Scots Greys and Inniskilling Dragoons smashed into the Russian ranks and cut and slashed their way through. The 5th Dragoons attacked the Russian centre and Lord Lucan ordered the 4th Dragoons, from reserve, to attack the Russian flank. As the flank attack came in, the Scots Greys and the Inniskillings emerged from the chaos and eight minutes after it all began the Russians reeled, broke up and turned to scatter in complete disorder.

The casualties on both sides were surprisingly light, the British suffering about 80, the Russians about 200. The congestion, blunt sabres and thick grey coats worn by the Russians contributed to a small toll but the moral effect was great. The Heavy Brigade had won a clean-cut and important victory. The triumph could have been greater if the Light Brigade had followed up the retreating Russians. However, Lord Cardigan, the commander of the Light Brigade, despite pleas from his subordinate, refused to move from where he had been ordered to remain. Instead of exploiting the Heavy Cavalry's success, Lord Cardigan allowed the opportunity to slip away. Later that day, Lord Cardigan refused to question an ambiguous order and the Light Brigade, made its famous but catastrophic and futile charge.

[liverpool annie]

6.

Слава ли их  померкнет?
 Вызов бросивших смерти!
Что был мир потрясён.
Той безумной атакой,
Дерзостью Лёгкой Бригады,
Доблестью  тех шести сот.

6.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.