3-021-568 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Earl of Cardigan, K.C.B., 1868. Engraving from a photograph by Messrs. Ernest Edwards. 'The death of Lord Cardigan, at the age of seventy, was announced in our last [issue]...His military services, especially in leading the famous light cavalry charge at Balaklava, have induced us to give an Engraving of his portrait. Indeed, few persons of rank who were not much engaged in Parliamentary business and political controversy have attracted to themselves, in one way or another, a larger share of public notice. His better qualities, and particularly that of daring personal courage, will certainly be remembered, and will, it is to be hoped, never go out of fashion in the British Army'. The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. The charge was the result of a misunderstood order from the commander in chief, Lord Raglan. War correspondent William Howard Russell witnessed the battle and declared, "Our Light Brigade was annihilated by their own rashness, and by the brutality of a ferocious enemy." From "Illustrated London News", 1868.