James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant General
James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB (16 October 1797 – 28 March 1868), was an officer in the British Army
who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War
. He led the Charge of the Light Brigade
at the Battle of Balaclava
.
Throughout his life in politics and his long military career he characterised the arrogant and extravagant aristocrat of the period. His progression through the Army was marked by many episodes of extraordinary incompetence, but this can be measured against his generosity to the men under his command and genuine bravery. As a member of the landed aristocracy he had actively and steadfastly opposed any political reform in Britain, but in the last year of his life he relented and came to acknowledge that such reform would bring benefit to all classes of society.
, manor house at Hambleden
, Buckinghamshire
. In February 1811 his father inherited the Cardigan earldom
, along with the immense estates and revenues that went with it, and the family seat
of Deene Park
, Northamptonshire. James accordingly became "Lord Brudenell", and took up residence in the most grand of households, at the age of fourteen.
He was educated at Harrow
where, notwithstanding the fears of his family that a childhood head injury caused by a dangerous fall from a horse had seriously damaged his intellect, he showed aptitude in Greek and Latin. He made good academic progress, but after he had settled a quarrel with another pupil by an organised fist-fight, his father removed him from the school. (Fist fights were tolerated at Harrow: it was the fact of Brudenell's receiving punishment for unauthorised absence while having a broken bone in his hand attended to by a London surgeon that had annoyed the earl.) He was subsequently educated at home. Here, as the only son among seven sisters, he developed into something of a spoilt child, accustomed to getting his own way. This is seen as a cause of his arrogance and stubbornness in later life.
Brudenell was a fine rider and, inspired by the decisive role of cavalry at the battle of Waterloo
, his wish was to purchase a commission
in a fashionable regiment
and serve as an army officer. His father, however, mindful of preserving the family pedigree
from risk of battle, would not allow this. Instead in 1816 he was sent up to Christ Church, Oxford
; as an aristocrat he was automatically granted admission without examination. He left after three years—aristocrats with no academic bent were released after only two—but notwithstanding his showing some aptitude, he did not take a degree.
(MP) for Marlborough
, a pocket borough "owned" by his cousin Charles, Earl of Ailesbury
. The intention was to give Brudenell a grounding in parliamentary affairs before, eventually, he would take his place in the House of Lords
.
Brudenell's first action on leaving Oxford was not to take his parliamentary seat but, as was traditional for wealthy young men of the time, to take the Grand Tour
. His itinerary, with Russia and Sweden included, was more extensive than the traditional destinations of France and Italy. The trip allowed Brudenell to enjoy the full pleasures of both cultural and social opportunities afforded by the countries he visited.
On his return Brudenell took his seat in the House of Commons, naturally on the ruling, Tory
side of the House. His contribution to government was minimal: he served with parliamentarians, such as Canning
, Peel
and Castlereagh, of great commitment and intellect and he could offer nothing to compete. On one issue, however, he made a stand. In 1829 his party introduced a bill
allowing limited Catholic emancipation
but his patron, cousin Charles, instructed him to oppose it. In three crucial votes Brudenell abstained, because of his admiration for Wellington
, the bill's sponsor, and in consequence he was thrown out of his seat. His return to parliament in 1830 cost him dearly. After his earlier disobedience he could not expect to be handed a pocket borough so, instead, he had to buy his own. He was elected member for Fowey
, Cornwall, at a cost of at least £5,000 (about £ in today's money). This sum, however, was not well spent: in 1832 the seat was one of those identified in the Reform Act
for correction of such malpractices and he was thrown out again. He fought the family's local constituency of Northamptonshire North
, newly created in the reforms, in 1832 but despite holding the advantage that many of the electors were dependent on family's patronage and goodwill, the campaign did not go smoothly. On 12 September in Wellingborough
he was beaten up and "considerabl[y]" injured while campaigning. As a precaution he distributed about £20,000 (equivalent to some £ today) among the electorate and the seat was won, albeit as "junior member" to his Whig rival. In 1837 he inherited the earldom
from his father.
After leaving his first wife, Elizabeth, he married for the second time, on 20 September 1858, to Adeline de Horsey
, achieving still greater notoriety as he had been conducting an affair with her as his wife was dying. This, however, was a happy union, notwithstanding the disparity in their ages and Cardigan's disappointment that there were, again, no children. Adeline, harshly excluded from fashionable society for the rest of her days, accustomed herself to life in the country, happily forsaking her previous interests of books, painting and music, while James spent large sums of money making their home together comfortable. Adeline even remained on good terms with James's principal mistress, Maria Marchioness of Ailesbury, and tolerated his other affairs.
against the reformist climate of the period, Brudenell committed himself to a career in the army
. At the age of 22 he formed his own troop
of horse, armed from official stocks, to guard against possible reformist demonstrations in Northamptonshire. On 6 May 1824, at the age of 27, he joined the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars
. Making extensive use of the purchase of commissions
system then in use he became a Lieutenant
in January 1825, a Captain in June 1826, a Major
in August 1830 and a Lieutenant-Colonel, albeit on half-pay
, only three months later, on 3 December 1830. He obtained command of the 15th The King's Hussars
—at a reported premium of £35,000—on 16 March 1832.
Parliamentary business, in the form of the hotly contested Reform Bill
campaign, delayed his taking command until May. His youth and inexperience, compared with that of the battle-tested officers whom he led (some were veterans of the battle of Waterloo
) drew his naturally punctilious nature to manifest itself in petty-minded bullying: In 1833 he was publicly censured for "reprehensible...conduct" in a court martial held to determine charges he had laid against a subordinate. He was dismissed, by order of King William
, early in 1834. Brudenell, however, had influence at court and he asked his sister Harriet, married to Queen Adelaide
's chamberlain, Lord Howe
, to get the decision reversed. He pestered senior officers and politicians until in March 1836 he was allowed command of the 11th Light Dragoons (later restyled the 11th Hussars
), notwithstanding the view of his commander-in-chief, Lord Hill
, that he was "constitutionally unfit for command". After a leisurely passage with his wife, he joined his new command in India in October of the following year, just in time to enjoy some tiger-shooting before seeing the regiment off for Britain at the end of its long posting. He travelled separately in a hired vessel, disdaining to share the discomforts of the warship carrying his troops. Of the two years following his appointment, only four weeks were spent with his regiment.
In a genuine desire to lead a smart and efficient unit, Brudenell set about using his own fortune to improve his regiment's reputation and performance. In purchasing brilliant new uniforms for his men Brudenell also caused resentment among his professional officers; they had to match the men's attire with even more costly uniforms, and they had to buy their own. (It was in this role that he was portrayed in the historical fiction
novels Flashman
and Flashman at the Charge
by George MacDonald Fraser
.) He wished his officers to be as aristocratic, flamboyant and stylish as he was himself and as a consequence he had no time for those men—"Indian officers"—who had learnt their profession over many years of service with the 11th during its long posting to India. This attitude was particularly in evidence in the mess
: Brudenell had forbidden the serving of porter
, the beverage of choice among the professional officers, and when at a formal mess dinner a visitor had requested moselle
wine, which was served in a "black bottle" similar to that of porter, he decided that the "Indian" Captain John Reynolds, who had ordered it for the guest, was defying him. Reynolds was arrested and in due course received a strongly worded reprimand from Lord Hill
, who although privately believing that his misgivings about Brudenell had been well founded, felt that in the interests of good order and discipline a public demonstration of support was necessary. Reynolds's guardian sent the details of the case to all the London papers and for many months thereafter Brudenell, his regiment and the commander-in-chief were subject to ridicule, hissing and cat-calls of "black bottle" whenever they appeared in public. A more serious punishment was administered to Richard Reynolds, cousin to John Reynolds and another long-serving captain, who was court-martialled for sending Cardigan an "insubordinate" letter in response to being barred from his commanding officer's quarters. Hill drafted a strong memorandum urging Cardigan to employ "temper and discretion" in dealings with his officers, but Reynolds was cashiered.
Not all of the "Indian" officers of the 11th found themselves the object of Brudenell's disfavour: when in October 1840 Major Jenkins, a long-serving veteran, fell seriously ill Brudenell attended his bedside for two nights and, when he died, made a substantial payment to the family and secured a suitable position for his younger son. George Ryan, a writer highly critical of Brudenell, acknowledged his generosity towards his officers and men when in hardship and noted him to be a regular, anonymous subscriber to many civic charities.
Brudenell was prosecuted in 1841 for a duel
with one of his former officers, another long-serving professional. He was acquitted on the most slender of legal technicalities, notwithstanding his boast on arrest that "I have hit my man". The prosecution had demonstrated that Cardigan (using a duelling pistol
with concealed rifling
and a hair trigger, which was thought unsporting according to the usages of duelling) had fired upon Captain Harvey Tuckett. The indictment, however, was that the victim had been "Harvey Garnet Phipps Tuckett". The discrepancy in the name allowed the jury of his peers, 120 in number, unanimously to acquit him; as a nobleman
the law of the time allowed him to be tried for a capital crime before the House of Lords
sitting as a jury, with the Lord Chancellor
as judge. This added to his unpopularity, with The Times
alleging that there was deliberate, high level complicity to leave the loop-hole in the prosecution case and reporting the view that "in England there is one law for the rich and another for the poor" and The Examiner
describing the verdict as "a defeat of justice". Even his obituary described this evasion of justice as "an absurd technical deficiency".
on 25 October 1854 when, in command of the Light Cavalry Brigade at the battle of Balaclava
, he led the charge of the Light Brigade
, reaching the Russian guns before returning, personally unscathed, in a manoeuvre that cost the lives of about 107 out of the 674 men under his command who took part in the charge (although others may have died of wounds later on). The extent to which Lord Cardigan was to blame is unproven, since he attacked only after expressing his doubts and receiving a direct order in front of the troops from his immediate superior Lord Lucan, Commander of the Cavalry Division. The two men were barely on speaking terms as Lucan was married to one of Cardigan's sisters and, as Cardigan believed, did not treat her well. The order had been conveyed by Captain Louis Nolan
, who died in the charge, and both Lucan and Cardigan blamed him for passing on the order incorrectly. Cardigan's first action on his return from the charge was to report the undisciplined behaviour of Captain Nolan (whom he did not know to be dead) in riding ahead of him at the start of the attack.
A staff officer to army commander Lord 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, but later editions pointedly stated the earl was too fine a horseman for this to be a satisfactory explanation. The horse, "Ronald", a famous charger bred on Cardigan's Deene Park estate, survived the war and returned safely to England. 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 "his conduct as a General was open to criticism".
There is no doubt that Cardigan had reached and overrun the enemy battery: he was recognised beyond the guns by Prince Radziwill, an enemy officer with whom he was acquainted before the war. Considering his duty then done and disdaining, as he later explained, to "fight the enemy among private soldiers" Cardigan turned about and made his way steadily—he himself said that his return was at the walk to avoid any unseemly appearance of haste—for his own lines. Lucan recalled things differently, later giving evidence that Cardigan had been galloping back, only slowing to walk when he realised he was being watched. This hurried retreat was also noticed by officers and men of the second and third lines—men for whom as brigade commander he remained responsible—who were still advancing at the charge. Other officers too had noticed his absence and when Lord George Paget
of the 4th Hussars, one of the last to return after some intense, hand-to-hand fighting, encountered a "composed" Cardigan, he challenged him to account for himself. Unsatisfied with the response, Paget wrote an official complaint to the new Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Cambridge
. Cambridge forwarded the letter to Cardigan for comment and Cardigan's reply in turn complained that Paget had not in fact taken his regiments into the attack that day. Inconclusive claim and counter-claim followed, until Cardigan's attentions were diverted to the allegations made public when Calthorpe's book Letters went on sale.
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. 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, as his officers pleaded, in case of a surprise attack by the enemy and because "I had no orders to do so". Colonel Alexander Tulloch
, who gave evidence to a board of enquiry into the failure, noted that in fact Cardigan had more horses than he had needed: indeed more horses than men to ride them, and 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 [resolved himself] 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. In these circumstances the word of an officer regarding his fitness to serve would normally be accepted, but Raglan permitted his departure only after a medical board had confirmed his claimed disability.
'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
. As his biographer Saul David
points out, "a more misleading account of his own exploits could hardly have been given".
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 was instead invested as a knight in the Order of the Bath
. 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—largely brought about by the determination of the commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, to displace blame from himself— 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
.) 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. The 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. 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, was there proof that Cardigan had not been telling the truth. Nonetheless he continued, with characteristic arrogance and self-delusion, as if nothing was amiss and he remained in his cavalry post for the next five years.
Cardigan's overwhelming enthusiasm for the army remained and the meticulous standards of dress and parade that he had required of his earlier commands he now applied to the whole cavalry. He was made Colonel of the Regiment of the 5th Dragoon Guards
in 1859, but he derived more satisfaction when, after his formal retirement in 1860, and its accompanying promotion to Lieutenant-General, he became colonel of his favourite regiment, the 11th Hussars
, which he had first commanded in 1836. He remained in royal favour and early in 1861 he was selected to accompany Prince Bertie
, heir to the throne, to inspect Prussian cavalry manoeuvres. He was possibly an unwise choice as his arrogant behaviour towards his hosts, themselves no strangers to high self-esteem among military officers, resulted in numerous challenges to duel; he was quickly sent home. The queen, however, blocked his colonelcy of one of the Household regiments
because of his dalliance with Adeline while still married to Elizabeth. His last military function was a mounted review of the 11th Hussars before their embarkation for India in May 1866. He was joined by Colonel John Reynolds, who had been Cardigan's adversary in the "black bottle affair", but the men had at last settled their differences in the previous year.
every year, as Commodore of the Royal Southern Yacht Club
.
His parliamentary life continued, with the occasional foray to London to speak in the House of Lords
on military matters and to press for further official recognition of his glorious career. He surprised some commentators when, in 1867, he spoke in favour of the second Reform Bill
. In acknowledging his change of heart he said that the time for trying to stem the tide of reform, an endeavour in which he had long strived, had passed and given "good luck" the extension of the vote would "confer... a great benefit upon every class of the community". In 1868 he presented to the House a petition calling for additional recognition of the late General Henry Shrapnel
, inventor of the explosive artillery shell, in recognition of its effectiveness at Waterloo.
He died from injuries caused by a fall from his horse on 28 March 1868, possibly following a stroke.
'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. Terry Brighton
in Hell Riders: the Truth about the Charge of the Light Brigade (London: Penguin 2004) gives a critical account of Cardigan as Brigade Commander and finds him in no way to blame for the Charge.
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB (16 October 1797 – 28 March 1868), was an officer in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. He led the Charge of the Light Brigade
Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective...
at the Battle of Balaclava
Battle of Balaclava
The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Anglo-French-Turkish campaign to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea...
.
Throughout his life in politics and his long military career he characterised the arrogant and extravagant aristocrat of the period. His progression through the Army was marked by many episodes of extraordinary incompetence, but this can be measured against his generosity to the men under his command and genuine bravery. As a member of the landed aristocracy he had actively and steadfastly opposed any political reform in Britain, but in the last year of his life he relented and came to acknowledge that such reform would bring benefit to all classes of society.
Early life
James Brudenell was born in a modest, by the standards of the Brudenell familyEarl of Cardigan
Earl of Cardigan is a title in the Peerage of England, currently held by the Marquesses of Ailesbury, and used as a courtesy title by the heir apparent to that Marquessate, currently David Brudenell-Bruce, son of the 8th Marquess.-History of the title:...
, manor house at Hambleden
Hambleden
Hambleden is a small village and civil parish within Wycombe district in the south of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about four miles west of Marlow, and about three miles north east of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire....
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
. In February 1811 his father inherited the Cardigan earldom
Earl of Cardigan
Earl of Cardigan is a title in the Peerage of England, currently held by the Marquesses of Ailesbury, and used as a courtesy title by the heir apparent to that Marquessate, currently David Brudenell-Bruce, son of the 8th Marquess.-History of the title:...
, along with the immense estates and revenues that went with it, and the family seat
Family seat
A seat or family seat is the principal residence of a family. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families took their dynasty name from their family seat , or named their family seat after their own dynasty...
of Deene Park
Deene Park
Deene Park, the seat of the Brudenell family since 1514, is a country manor located 5 miles north-east of Corby in the county of Northamptonshire, England. The manor of Deene belonged to Westminster Abbey; annual rent of £18 was paid until 1970...
, Northamptonshire. James accordingly became "Lord Brudenell", and took up residence in the most grand of households, at the age of fourteen.
He was educated at Harrow
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
where, notwithstanding the fears of his family that a childhood head injury caused by a dangerous fall from a horse had seriously damaged his intellect, he showed aptitude in Greek and Latin. He made good academic progress, but after he had settled a quarrel with another pupil by an organised fist-fight, his father removed him from the school. (Fist fights were tolerated at Harrow: it was the fact of Brudenell's receiving punishment for unauthorised absence while having a broken bone in his hand attended to by a London surgeon that had annoyed the earl.) He was subsequently educated at home. Here, as the only son among seven sisters, he developed into something of a spoilt child, accustomed to getting his own way. This is seen as a cause of his arrogance and stubbornness in later life.
Brudenell was a fine rider and, inspired by the decisive role of cavalry at the battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, his wish was to purchase a commission
Sale of commissions
The sale of commissions was a common practice in most European armies where wealthy and noble officers purchased their rank. Only the Imperial Russian Army and the Prussian Army never used such a system. While initially shunned in the French Revolutionary Army, it was eventually revived in the...
in a fashionable regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
and serve as an army officer. His father, however, mindful of preserving the family pedigree
Pedigree chart
A pedigree chart is a diagram that shows the occurrence and appearance or phenotypes of a particular gene or organism and its ancestors from one generation to the next, most commonly humans, show dogs, and race horses....
from risk of battle, would not allow this. Instead in 1816 he was sent up to Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
; as an aristocrat he was automatically granted admission without examination. He left after three years—aristocrats with no academic bent were released after only two—but notwithstanding his showing some aptitude, he did not take a degree.
Parliament
In February 1818, during his last term at Oxford, and again following his father's wishes, he became Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Marlborough
Marlborough (UK Parliament constituency)
Marlborough was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1868, and then one member from 1868 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.e-1295-1640:-1640-1868:...
, a pocket borough "owned" by his cousin Charles, Earl of Ailesbury
Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury
Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury, KT , styled The Honourable Charles Brudenell-Bruce from birth until 1776, Lord Bruce from 1776 to 1814 and The Earl of Ailesbury from 1814 to 1821, was a British peer and politician.-Background:Brudenell-Bruce was the third son of Thomas...
. The intention was to give Brudenell a grounding in parliamentary affairs before, eventually, he would take his place in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
Brudenell's first action on leaving Oxford was not to take his parliamentary seat but, as was traditional for wealthy young men of the time, to take the Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
. His itinerary, with Russia and Sweden included, was more extensive than the traditional destinations of France and Italy. The trip allowed Brudenell to enjoy the full pleasures of both cultural and social opportunities afforded by the countries he visited.
On his return Brudenell took his seat in the House of Commons, naturally on the ruling, Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
side of the House. His contribution to government was minimal: he served with parliamentarians, such as Canning
George Canning
George Canning PC, FRS was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister.-Early life: 1770–1793:...
, Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
and Castlereagh, of great commitment and intellect and he could offer nothing to compete. On one issue, however, he made a stand. In 1829 his party introduced a bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
allowing limited Catholic emancipation
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...
but his patron, cousin Charles, instructed him to oppose it. In three crucial votes Brudenell abstained, because of his admiration for Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
, the bill's sponsor, and in consequence he was thrown out of his seat. His return to parliament in 1830 cost him dearly. After his earlier disobedience he could not expect to be handed a pocket borough so, instead, he had to buy his own. He was elected member for Fowey
Fowey (UK Parliament constituency)
Fowey was a rotten borough in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the English and later British Parliament from 1571 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...
, Cornwall, at a cost of at least £5,000 (about £ in today's money). This sum, however, was not well spent: in 1832 the seat was one of those identified in the Reform Act
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales...
for correction of such malpractices and he was thrown out again. He fought the family's local constituency of Northamptonshire North
North Northamptonshire (UK Parliament constituency)
North Northamptonshire was a county constituency in Northamptonshire, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Boundaries :...
, newly created in the reforms, in 1832 but despite holding the advantage that many of the electors were dependent on family's patronage and goodwill, the campaign did not go smoothly. On 12 September in Wellingborough
Wellingborough
Wellingborough is a market town and borough in Northamptonshire, England, situated some from the county town of Northampton. The town is situated on the north side of the River Nene, most of the older town is sited on the flanks of the hills above the river's current flood plain...
he was beaten up and "considerabl[y]" injured while campaigning. As a precaution he distributed about £20,000 (equivalent to some £ today) among the electorate and the seat was won, albeit as "junior member" to his Whig rival. In 1837 he inherited the earldom
Earl of Cardigan
Earl of Cardigan is a title in the Peerage of England, currently held by the Marquesses of Ailesbury, and used as a courtesy title by the heir apparent to that Marquessate, currently David Brudenell-Bruce, son of the 8th Marquess.-History of the title:...
from his father.
Marriages
Early in the 1820s Brudenell met Mrs. Elizabeth Tollemache Johnstone (8 December 1797 — 15 July 1858). Her husband, Lt.-Col. Christian Johnstone, had been a friend of Brudenell's since childhood but, according to the account of Johnstone's mother, the wooing of his friend's new wife started soon after the wedding. Johnstone started divorce proceedings in June 1824 and the suit was finalised early in 1826. Johnstone, who had received damages of £1,000 from Brudenell, was apparently happy to be rid of her, calling her "the most damned bad-tempered and extravagant bitch in the kingdom". She and Brudenell married on 19 June 1826. It was not a happy marriage; by 1837 they had separated, and they had no children.After leaving his first wife, Elizabeth, he married for the second time, on 20 September 1858, to Adeline de Horsey
Adeline, Countess of Cardigan and Lancastre
Adeline Louisa Maria, Countess of Cardigan and Lancastre was the second wife of English peer James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan and later the wife of the Portuguese nobleman Don António Manuel de Saldanha e Lancastre, Conde de Lancastre...
, achieving still greater notoriety as he had been conducting an affair with her as his wife was dying. This, however, was a happy union, notwithstanding the disparity in their ages and Cardigan's disappointment that there were, again, no children. Adeline, harshly excluded from fashionable society for the rest of her days, accustomed herself to life in the country, happily forsaking her previous interests of books, painting and music, while James spent large sums of money making their home together comfortable. Adeline even remained on good terms with James's principal mistress, Maria Marchioness of Ailesbury, and tolerated his other affairs.
Military
Beyond all other interests, which included politics and the preservation of the ancient privileges of the aristocracyAristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
against the reformist climate of the period, Brudenell committed himself to a career in the army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. At the age of 22 he formed his own troop
Troop
A troop is a military unit, originally a small force of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron and headed by the troop leader. In many armies a troop is the equivalent unit to the infantry section or platoon...
of horse, armed from official stocks, to guard against possible reformist demonstrations in Northamptonshire. On 6 May 1824, at the age of 27, he joined the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars
8th King's Royal Irish Hussars
The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1693. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars in 1958....
. Making extensive use of the purchase of commissions
Sale of commissions
The sale of commissions was a common practice in most European armies where wealthy and noble officers purchased their rank. Only the Imperial Russian Army and the Prussian Army never used such a system. While initially shunned in the French Revolutionary Army, it was eventually revived in the...
system then in use he became a Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in January 1825, a Captain in June 1826, a Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
in August 1830 and a Lieutenant-Colonel, albeit on half-pay
Half-pay
In the British Army and Royal Navy of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, half-pay referred to the pay or allowance an officer received when in retirement or not in actual service....
, only three months later, on 3 December 1830. He obtained command of the 15th The King's Hussars
15th The King's Hussars
The 15th The King's Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. First raised in 1759, it saw service over two centuries, before being amalgamated into the 15th/19th Hussars in 1922.-Formation:...
—at a reported premium of £35,000—on 16 March 1832.
Parliamentary business, in the form of the hotly contested Reform Bill
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales...
campaign, delayed his taking command until May. His youth and inexperience, compared with that of the battle-tested officers whom he led (some were veterans of the battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
) drew his naturally punctilious nature to manifest itself in petty-minded bullying: In 1833 he was publicly censured for "reprehensible...conduct" in a court martial held to determine charges he had laid against a subordinate. He was dismissed, by order of King William
William IV of the United Kingdom
William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...
, early in 1834. Brudenell, however, had influence at court and he asked his sister Harriet, married to Queen Adelaide
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom. Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, is named after her.-Early life:Adelaide was born on 13 August 1792 at Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany...
's chamberlain, Lord Howe
Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe
Richard William Penn Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe, GCH, PC was a British peer and courtier.Curzon was the third son of Hon...
, to get the decision reversed. He pestered senior officers and politicians until in March 1836 he was allowed command of the 11th Light Dragoons (later restyled the 11th Hussars
11th Hussars
The 11th Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army.-History:The regiment was founded in 1715 as Colonel Philip Honeywood's Regiment of Dragoons and was known by the name of its Colonel until 1751 when it became the 11th Regiment of Dragoons...
), notwithstanding the view of his commander-in-chief, Lord Hill
Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill
General Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill of Almaraz GCB, GCH served in the Napoleonic Wars as a trusted brigade, division and corps commander under the command of the Duke of Wellington. He became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in 1829.-Early career:Educated at a school in Chester, Hill was...
, that he was "constitutionally unfit for command". After a leisurely passage with his wife, he joined his new command in India in October of the following year, just in time to enjoy some tiger-shooting before seeing the regiment off for Britain at the end of its long posting. He travelled separately in a hired vessel, disdaining to share the discomforts of the warship carrying his troops. Of the two years following his appointment, only four weeks were spent with his regiment.
In a genuine desire to lead a smart and efficient unit, Brudenell set about using his own fortune to improve his regiment's reputation and performance. In purchasing brilliant new uniforms for his men Brudenell also caused resentment among his professional officers; they had to match the men's attire with even more costly uniforms, and they had to buy their own. (It was in this role that he was portrayed in the historical fiction
Historical fiction
Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...
novels Flashman
Flashman (novel)
Flashman is a 1969 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the first of the Flashman novels.-Plot introduction:Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's Schooldays...
and Flashman at the Charge
Flashman at the Charge
Flashman at the Charge is a 1973 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the fourth of the Flashman novels. Playboy magazine serialized Flashman at the Charge in 1973 in their April, May and June issues...
by George MacDonald Fraser
George MacDonald Fraser
George MacDonald Fraser, OBE was an English-born author of Scottish descent, who wrote both historical novels and non-fiction books, as well as several screenplays.-Early life and military career:...
.) He wished his officers to be as aristocratic, flamboyant and stylish as he was himself and as a consequence he had no time for those men—"Indian officers"—who had learnt their profession over many years of service with the 11th during its long posting to India. This attitude was particularly in evidence in the mess
Mess
A mess is the place where military personnel socialise, eat, and live. In some societies this military usage has extended to other disciplined services eateries such as civilian fire fighting and police forces. The root of mess is the Old French mes, "portion of food" A mess (also called a...
: Brudenell had forbidden the serving of porter
Porter (beer)
Porter is a dark-coloured style of beer. The history and development of stout and porter are intertwined. The name was first used in the 18th century from its popularity with the street and river porters of London. It is generally brewed with dark malts...
, the beverage of choice among the professional officers, and when at a formal mess dinner a visitor had requested moselle
Moselle River
The Moselle is a river flowing through France, Luxembourg, and Germany. It is a left tributary of the Rhine, joining the Rhine at Koblenz. A small part of Belgium is also drained by the Mosel through the Our....
wine, which was served in a "black bottle" similar to that of porter, he decided that the "Indian" Captain John Reynolds, who had ordered it for the guest, was defying him. Reynolds was arrested and in due course received a strongly worded reprimand from Lord Hill
Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill
General Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill of Almaraz GCB, GCH served in the Napoleonic Wars as a trusted brigade, division and corps commander under the command of the Duke of Wellington. He became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in 1829.-Early career:Educated at a school in Chester, Hill was...
, who although privately believing that his misgivings about Brudenell had been well founded, felt that in the interests of good order and discipline a public demonstration of support was necessary. Reynolds's guardian sent the details of the case to all the London papers and for many months thereafter Brudenell, his regiment and the commander-in-chief were subject to ridicule, hissing and cat-calls of "black bottle" whenever they appeared in public. A more serious punishment was administered to Richard Reynolds, cousin to John Reynolds and another long-serving captain, who was court-martialled for sending Cardigan an "insubordinate" letter in response to being barred from his commanding officer's quarters. Hill drafted a strong memorandum urging Cardigan to employ "temper and discretion" in dealings with his officers, but Reynolds was cashiered.
Not all of the "Indian" officers of the 11th found themselves the object of Brudenell's disfavour: when in October 1840 Major Jenkins, a long-serving veteran, fell seriously ill Brudenell attended his bedside for two nights and, when he died, made a substantial payment to the family and secured a suitable position for his younger son. George Ryan, a writer highly critical of Brudenell, acknowledged his generosity towards his officers and men when in hardship and noted him to be a regular, anonymous subscriber to many civic charities.
Brudenell was prosecuted in 1841 for a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
with one of his former officers, another long-serving professional. He was acquitted on the most slender of legal technicalities, notwithstanding his boast on arrest that "I have hit my man". The prosecution had demonstrated that Cardigan (using a duelling pistol
Duelling pistol
A duelling pistol is a pistol used in a classical duel. As a general rule, they are single-shot flintlock or percussion black powder pistols which fire a lead musket ball...
with concealed rifling
Rifling
Rifling is the process of making helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis...
and a hair trigger, which was thought unsporting according to the usages of duelling) had fired upon Captain Harvey Tuckett. The indictment, however, was that the victim had been "Harvey Garnet Phipps Tuckett". The discrepancy in the name allowed the jury of his peers, 120 in number, unanimously to acquit him; as a nobleman
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
the law of the time allowed him to be tried for a capital crime before the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
sitting as a jury, with the Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
as judge. This added to his unpopularity, with The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
alleging that there was deliberate, high level complicity to leave the loop-hole in the prosecution case and reporting the view that "in England there is one law for the rich and another for the poor" and The Examiner
Examiner
The Examiner was a weekly paper founded by Leigh and John Hunt in 1808. For the first fifty years it was a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles, but from 1865 it repeatedly changed hands and political allegiance, resulting in a rapid decline in readership and loss of...
describing the verdict as "a defeat of justice". Even his obituary described this evasion of justice as "an absurd technical deficiency".
Crimean war
His most notorious exploit took place during the Crimean WarCrimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
on 25 October 1854 when, in command of the Light Cavalry Brigade at the battle of Balaclava
Battle of Balaclava
The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Anglo-French-Turkish campaign to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea...
, he led the charge of the Light Brigade
Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective...
, reaching the Russian guns before returning, personally unscathed, in a manoeuvre that cost the lives of about 107 out of the 674 men under his command who took part in the charge (although others may have died of wounds later on). The extent to which Lord Cardigan was to blame is unproven, since he attacked only after expressing his doubts and receiving a direct order in front of the troops from his immediate superior Lord Lucan, Commander of the Cavalry Division. The two men were barely on speaking terms as Lucan was married to one of Cardigan's sisters and, as Cardigan believed, did not treat her well. The order had been conveyed by Captain Louis Nolan
Louis Edward Nolan
Louis Edward Nolan , was a British Army officer of the Victorian era, an authority on cavalry tactics best known for his controversial role in launching the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava...
, who died in the charge, and both Lucan and Cardigan blamed him for passing on the order incorrectly. Cardigan's first action on his return from the charge was to report the undisciplined behaviour of Captain Nolan (whom he did not know to be dead) in riding ahead of him at the start of the attack.
A staff officer to army commander Lord Raglan
FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan
Field Marshal FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, GCB, PC , known before 1852 as Lord FitzRoy Somerset, was a British soldier.-Early life:...
, Colonel the Hon.
The Honourable
The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable is a style used before the names of certain classes of persons. It is considered an honorific styling.-International diplomacy:...
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, but later editions pointedly stated the earl was too fine a horseman for this to be a satisfactory explanation. The horse, "Ronald", a famous charger bred on Cardigan's Deene Park estate, survived the war and returned safely to England. After some preliminary legal skirmishing, Cardigan sought an indictment for criminal libel
Criminal libel
Criminal libel is a legal term, of English origin, which may be used with one of two distinct meanings, in those common law jurisdictions where it is still used....
in 1863, but his action failed, although the bench
King's Bench
The Queen's Bench is the superior court in a number of jurisdictions within some of the Commonwealth realms...
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 "his conduct as a General was open to criticism".
There is no doubt that Cardigan had reached and overrun the enemy battery: he was recognised beyond the guns by Prince Radziwill, an enemy officer with whom he was acquainted before the war. Considering his duty then done and disdaining, as he later explained, to "fight the enemy among private soldiers" Cardigan turned about and made his way steadily—he himself said that his return was at the walk to avoid any unseemly appearance of haste—for his own lines. Lucan recalled things differently, later giving evidence that Cardigan had been galloping back, only slowing to walk when he realised he was being watched. This hurried retreat was also noticed by officers and men of the second and third lines—men for whom as brigade commander he remained responsible—who were still advancing at the charge. Other officers too had noticed his absence and when Lord George Paget
Lord George Paget
General Lord George Augustus Frederick Paget KCB , was a British soldier during the Crimean War.-Background:Paget was the youngest son of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey by his second wife Lady Charlotte, daughter of Charles Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan.-Military career:Paget served in the...
of the 4th Hussars, one of the last to return after some intense, hand-to-hand fighting, encountered a "composed" Cardigan, he challenged him to account for himself. Unsatisfied with the response, Paget wrote an official complaint to the new Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Cambridge
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
The Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge , was the tenth child and seventh son of George III and Queen Charlotte. He held the title of Duke of Cambridge from 1801 until his death. He also served as Viceroy of Hanover on behalf of his brothers George IV and William IV...
. Cambridge forwarded the letter to Cardigan for comment and Cardigan's reply in turn complained that Paget had not in fact taken his regiments into the attack that day. Inconclusive claim and counter-claim followed, until Cardigan's attentions were diverted to the allegations made public when Calthorpe's book Letters went on sale.
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
Inkerman
Inkerman is a town in Crimea, Ukraine. It is situated 5 kilometres east of Sevastopol, at the mouth of the Chernaya River that flows into Sevastopol Inlet . Administratively, Inkerman is subordinate to the municipality of Sevastopol which does not constitute part of the Autonomous Republic of...
. 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. He missed the Battle of Inkerman
Battle of Inkerman
The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on November 5, 1854 between the allied armies of Britain and France against the Imperial Russian Army. The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field, and was followed by the Siege of Sevastopol...
(4 November and 5 November 1854), casually asking journalist William Russell
William Howard Russell
William Howard Russell was an Irish reporter with The Times, and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents, after he spent 22 months covering the Crimean War including the Charge of the Light Brigade.-Career:As a young reporter, Russell reported on a brief military...
(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, as his officers pleaded, in case of a surprise attack by the enemy and because "I had no orders to do so". Colonel Alexander Tulloch
Alexander Tulloch
Major-General Sir Alexander Tulloch K.C.B. was a British soldier and a statistician. He was a Fellow of the Statistical Society and worked with Surgeon-General Henry Marshall and Sir Graham Balfour on army statistics. In the 1850s he went with Sir John McNeill to the Crimea, and worked with...
, who gave evidence to a board of enquiry into the failure, noted that in fact Cardigan had more horses than he had needed: indeed more horses than men to ride them, and 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 [resolved himself] 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. In these circumstances the word of an officer regarding his fitness to serve would normally be accepted, but Raglan permitted his departure only after a medical board had confirmed his claimed disability.
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 Folkestone 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 VictoriaVictoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
's invitation he was received at Windsor
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
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
Mansion House, London
Mansion House is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London in London, England. It is used for some of the City of London's official functions, including an annual dinner, hosted by the Lord Mayor, at which the Chancellor of the Exchequer customarily gives a speech – his...
, 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
Chernaya River (Ukraine)
The Chorna, Chornaya or Chorhun River , which translates from the Ukrainian and Russian as "Black River", is a small river in Crimea, Ukraine. Its length is 34,5 km....
. As his biographer Saul David
Saul David
Julian Saul David, known popularly as Saul David, was born in 1966 in Monmouth, Wales and is an academic military historian and broadcaster. He is best known for his work on the Indian Mutiny and the Anglo-Zulu War, as well as for presenting and appearing in documentaries on British television...
points out, "a more misleading account of his own exploits could hardly have been given".
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
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
, although the Queen denied him this honour because of the previous unseemly incidents in his private life; he was instead invested as a knight in the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
. 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
Cardigan (sweater)
A cardigan is a type of machine- or hand-knitted sweater that ties, buttons or zips down the front; by contrast, a pullover does not open in front but must be "pulled over" the head to be worn. The cardigan was named after James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, a British military commander,...
", 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—largely brought about by the determination of the commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, to displace blame from himself— 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
Battle of Alma
The Battle of the Alma , which is usually considered the first battle of the Crimean War , took place just south of the River Alma in the Crimea. An Anglo-French force under General St...
.) 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. The 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. 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, was there proof that Cardigan had not been telling the truth. Nonetheless he continued, with characteristic arrogance and self-delusion, as if nothing was amiss and he remained in his cavalry post for the next five years.
Cardigan's overwhelming enthusiasm for the army remained and the meticulous standards of dress and parade that he had required of his earlier commands he now applied to the whole cavalry. He was made Colonel of the Regiment of the 5th Dragoon Guards
5th Dragoon Guards
The 5th Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in 1922....
in 1859, but he derived more satisfaction when, after his formal retirement in 1860, and its accompanying promotion to Lieutenant-General, he became colonel of his favourite regiment, the 11th Hussars
11th Hussars
The 11th Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army.-History:The regiment was founded in 1715 as Colonel Philip Honeywood's Regiment of Dragoons and was known by the name of its Colonel until 1751 when it became the 11th Regiment of Dragoons...
, which he had first commanded in 1836. He remained in royal favour and early in 1861 he was selected to accompany Prince Bertie
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, heir to the throne, to inspect Prussian cavalry manoeuvres. He was possibly an unwise choice as his arrogant behaviour towards his hosts, themselves no strangers to high self-esteem among military officers, resulted in numerous challenges to duel; he was quickly sent home. The queen, however, blocked his colonelcy of one of the Household regiments
Household Cavalry
The term Household Cavalry is used across the Commonwealth to describe the cavalry of the Household Divisions, a country’s most elite or historically senior military groupings or those military groupings that provide functions associated directly with the Head of state.Canada's Governor General's...
because of his dalliance with Adeline while still married to Elizabeth. His last military function was a mounted review of the 11th Hussars before their embarkation for India in May 1866. He was joined by Colonel John Reynolds, who had been Cardigan's adversary in the "black bottle affair", but the men had at last settled their differences in the previous year.
Retirement
After his retirement in 1866 he lived happily at Deene, passing his time with horse-racing, hunting and shooting. His passion for expensive steam yachts was undiminished and, in one of the few social gatherings where he and Adeline found some acceptance, he attended Cowes WeekCowes Week
Cowes Week is one of the longest-running regular regattas in the world. With 40 daily races, up to 1,000 boats, and 8,500 competitors ranging from Olympic and world class professionals to weekend sailors, it is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world...
every year, as Commodore of the Royal Southern Yacht Club
Royal Southern Yacht Club
The Royal Southern Yacht Club is a yacht club in Hamble, Hampshire, United Kingdom. It was established in 1837 in Southampton as the Royal Southampton Yacht Club and was given Royal patronage by HRH Queen Victoria....
.
His parliamentary life continued, with the occasional foray to London to speak in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
on military matters and to press for further official recognition of his glorious career. He surprised some commentators when, in 1867, he spoke in favour of the second Reform Bill
Reform Act 1867
The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised the urban male working class in England and Wales....
. In acknowledging his change of heart he said that the time for trying to stem the tide of reform, an endeavour in which he had long strived, had passed and given "good luck" the extension of the vote would "confer... a great benefit upon every class of the community". In 1868 he presented to the House a petition calling for additional recognition of the late General Henry Shrapnel
Henry Shrapnel
Henry Shrapnel was a British Army officer and inventor, most famously, of the "shrapnel shell".Henry Shrapnel was born in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, England....
, inventor of the explosive artillery shell, in recognition of its effectiveness at Waterloo.
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-SmithCecil Woodham-Smith
Cecil Blanche Woodham-Smith was a British historian and biographer. She wrote four popular history books, each dealing with a different aspect of the Victorian era.-Early life:...
's The Reason Why (1953) did serious harm to the Earl's posthumous reputation. The Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 film)
The Charge of the Light Brigade is a 1968 British war film made by Woodfall Film Productions and distributed by United Artists . It was directed by Tony Richardson and produced by Neil Hartley....
, 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
Saul David
Julian Saul David, known popularly as Saul David, was born in 1966 in Monmouth, Wales and is an academic military historian and broadcaster. He is best known for his work on the Indian Mutiny and the Anglo-Zulu War, as well as for presenting and appearing in documentaries on British television...
, a military historian. Colonel Calthorpe's Letters from a Staff Officer in the Crimea has a modern reprint as Cadogan's Crimea, ISBN 0689110227. Terry Brighton
Terry Brighton
Terry Brighton is a British military historian and author.- Biography :Terry Brighton studied philosophy at Lancaster University and theology at Birmingham University before being ordained an Anglican priest...
in Hell Riders: the Truth about the Charge of the Light Brigade (London: Penguin 2004) gives a critical account of Cardigan as Brigade Commander and finds him in no way to blame for the Charge.