1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century

1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century is in 19th Century Events.

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, 1851 Appointment of Garter Knights

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, 1852 General Election

In 1852 Robert Windsor-Clive (age 27) was elected MP Ludlow.

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, Crimean War

Battle of Alma

On 20 Sep 1854 Captain William Monck (age 31) was killed at the Battle of Alma.

On 20 Sep 1854 Charles Pierrepont Darcy Lane-Fox (age 24) was wounded, Poulett George Henry Somerset (age 32) fought.

Major-General John Douglas (age 37) commanded the 79th Regiment of Foot.

William Frederick Waldegrave (age 38) died from wounds received.

Henry Hugh Manvers Percy (age 37) was shot through the arm.

General George Augustus Frederick Paget (age 36), Godfrey Morgan 1st Viscount Tredegar (age 23) and Hedworth Joliffe 2nd Baron Hylton (age 25) fought.

Arthur Williams-Wynn (age 35), Captain of the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, was killed.

Battle of Balaclava

On 25 Oct 1854 Poulett George Henry Somerset (age 32) and William Archer Amherst 3rd Earl Amherst (age 18) fought.

Major-General John Douglas (age 37) commanded the 79th Regiment of Foot.

General George Augustus Frederick Paget (age 36) and Henry Hugh Manvers Percy (age 37) fought.

Charge of the Light Brigade

Adeline Horsey Recollections. Among those who came to our house at 8 Upper Grosvenor Street, the Earl of Cardigan (age 50) was my father's (age 58) particular friend, and in consequence we saw a great deal of him. Lord Cardigan (age 50) has sometimes been described as a favourite of fortune, for he possessed great wealth, great personal attractions, and he was much liked by the late Queen Victoria (age 28) and Prince Albert (age 28). Commanding the 11th Hussars, he was the first person to welcome the Prince (age 28) at Dover, Kent [Map] when he arrived to marry the Queen (age 28), and his regiment was afterwards known as Prince Albert's own Hussars.

His Lordship (age 50) was a typical soldier, and after the Crimean War there was perhaps no more popular hero in all England. So much has been written about him that it is unnecessary for me to retell matters that are well known. I have often been asked whether he confided to me anything particular about the Charge of the Light Brigade, but the truth is that he never seemed to attach any importance to the part he played. Such matters are the property of the historian, and as his widow I am naturally his greatest admirer.

On 25 Oct 1854 James Brudenell 7th Earl Cardigan (age 57) led the Charge of the Light Brigade.

On 25 Oct 1854 George Charles Bingham 3rd Earl Lucan (age 54) led at Balaclava during the Charge of the Light Brigade.

On 25 Oct 1854 Hedworth Joliffe 2nd Baron Hylton (age 25) took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Godfrey Morgan 1st Viscount Tredegar (age 23) was in command of a section of the Light Brigade. His horse "Sir Briggs" survived, died aged twenty-eight and was buried in the Cedar Garden at Tredegar House, Monmouthshire where there is a monument to him.

Thomas Hutton took part. He was shot through the right thigh during the advance, and on returning from the guns he was again severely wounded through the left thigh.

George Orby Wombwell 4th Baronet (age 21) took part and survived. His horse was killed under him and he was shortly after pulled off and taken prisoner, his sword and pistols being taken from him by some Russian Lancers. He managed to escape, catch another loose horse and ride back to the British lines, pursued by Russians.

Fiennes Wykeham-Martin Cornwallis (age 22) took part.

1905. John Charlton (age 56). The Charge of the Light Brigade, the Battle of Balaclava, 15th October 1854, with Godfrey Charles Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar (age 73), Astride His Horse, "Sir Briggs".

Adeline Horsey Recollections. I believe my husband replaced a great deal of the original furniture at Deene [Map] with more modern examples, but many valuable old pieces still remain. The pictures are very beautiful, including a priceless Vandyke representing Queen Henrietta Maria, in the happy days of her early married life, as a regal, gracious figure arrayed in shimmering satin. There is a lovely portrait of Louise de Keroualle and her son, the Duke of Richmond, who married a Brudenell, and there are many examples of Lely, Sir Joshua Reynolds and other eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artists. One painting by Sant represents the Prince Consort and the Royal children listening to the account of the Charge of the Light Brigade by Lord Cardigan, and there are also some interesting pictures of hunting-field incidents, depicting Cardigan and his friends on their favourite mounts.

Adeline Horsey Recollections. The White Hall is full of Balaclava relics, including my husband's uniforms, and the head of "Ronald", the horse he rode when he led the Charge of the Light Brigade. I gave one of "Ronald's" hoofs, mounted as an inkstand, to the King, who expressed a great wish to have it as a souvenir. The illuminated addresses received by Lord Cardigan are in the Great Hall, and some of them are really works of art.

Adeline Horsey Recollections. After my husband's death I decided to have the parish church of St. Peter [Map] restored, and an altar tomb erected to his memory. The church adjoins the park, and was originally a quaint Early English structure of which little now remains.

The restoration cost me £7000, and I built the Brudenell Chapel, which contains my husband's beautiful tomb by Boehm. His recumbent figure is full of dignity and I had my own marble effigy placed by his side. At each end of the tomb are bas-reliefs representing the Charge and the address to the troops, and at the sides are many armorial bearings. The late Mr. G. Bodley, R.A., was responsible for the restoration and redecoration of the church, which was finished in 1869. On the occasion of the inauguration of the church, the Bishop of Peterborough preached, and I afterwards entertained 300 people at a banquet in the ball-room. During the afternoon "Ronald" (who lived for some years after) was led about the grounds, and many of those who saw him sighed as they thought of his gallant master, now sleeping "far from the stress of war's alarms".

Adeline Horsey Recollections. One fine March morning he told me that he was going to ride and see a gamekeeper who had accidentally shot himself.

He asked me and Sir Henry Edwards (age 55) to accompany him, but when we reached the keeper's cottage he told us to return to Deene [Map], saying that as he intended to sit an hour with the man he would come on later. We declared our willingness to wait, but Cardigan would not hear of it, and so we somewhat reluctantly rode home without him.

The luncheon hour arrived, but Lord Cardigan did not come; the afternoon dragged on, and still there were no signs of him. I had a horrible presentment that something must have happened, and at once ordered some of the servants to go in search of his Lordship.

My fears were only too well grounded; my husband was found lying insensible on the roadside, nearly lifeless. A roadmender told us afterwards that Lord Cardigan had passed him and spoken a few words and seemed apparently quite well; the horse he was riding shied at a heap of stones and commenced to rear and plunge rather wildly, but my husband kept the animal well under control, for the roadmender saw him ride quietly away. The effort must, however, have afterwards brought on a seizure, for Cardigan fell from his horse, and lay helpless until he was found and brought back to Deene [Map].

For three dreadful days and nights he lay quite unconscious, gasping for breath, and the knowledge that he could not speak to me and did not recognise me intensified my grief a thousandfold. But mercifully his suffering was not prolonged, and on March 28, 1868, my beloved husband passed away.

There are some griefs that are too deep to speak of, even after Time's soothing touch has taken away the first deadly pain of a great sorrow. When I look back and remember the kindness and love which my husband lavished on me, I feel proud to think he often said that the happiest period of his life was after he married me, and that his great possessions and military fame were as nothing compared to the wife he adored.

Lord Cardigan's body lay in state in the ballroom at Deene [Map] for twelve days, during which time six thousand people came to look their last at the remains of the leader of the Charge of the Light Brigade. On April 9 he was buried in Deene Church [Map]; the whole regiment of the 11th Hussars attended the funeral, and he was carried to his last resting-place by eight of his old officers.

When the will was read, it was found that he had left everything to me.

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Battle of Inkerman

On 05 Nov 1854 Robert Lydston Newman 2nd Baronet (age 32) was killed in action at the Battle of Inkerman. His brother Lydston Newman 3rd Baronet (age 30) succeeded 3rd Baronet Newman of Stokeley and Mamhead in Devon.

On 05 Nov 1854 Captain William Kent Allix (age 31) was killed in action at the Battle of Inkerman whilst serving with the 1st Royal Regiment.

On 05 Nov 1854 at the Battle of Inkerman ...

Granville Charles Cornwallis Eliot (age 26) and Cavendish Hubert Greville (age 19) were killed.

The London Gazette 21997. War-Office, May 5, 1857.

The Queen (age 37) has been graciously pleased to signify Her intention to confer the Decoration of the Victoria Cross on the undermentioned Officers of Her Majesty's Army, who have been recommended to Her Majesty for that Decoration,—in accordance with the rules laid down in Her Majesty's Warrant of the 29th of January, 1856,—on account of acts of bravery performed by them before the Enemy during the late War, as recorded against their several names; viz.

Grenadier Guards. Colonel Hon. Henry Hugh Manvers Percy (age 39). Date of Act of Bravery, 5th November, 1854 [ at the Battle of Inkerman]

At a moment when the Guards were at some distance from the Sand Bag Battery, at the Battle of Inkerman, Colonel Percy charged singly into the battery, followed immediately by the Guards; the embrasures of the battery, as also the parapet, were held by the Russians, who kept up a most severe fire of musketry.

At the Battle of Inkerman Colonel Percy, found himself with many men of various regiments, who had charged too far, nearly surrounded by the Russians, and without ammunition. Colonel Percy, by his knowledge of ground, though wounded, extricated these men, and, passing under a heavy fire from the Russians then in the Sand Bag Battery, brought them safe to where ammunition was to be obtained, thereby saving some fifty men, and enabling them to renew the combat. He received the approval of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, for this action, on the spot.—Colonel Percy was engaged with, and put hors de combat, a Russian soldier.


7th Regiment. Lieutenant William Hope. Date of Act of Bravery, 18th June, 1855.

After the troops had retreated on the morning of the 18th June, 1855, Lieutenant W. Hope being informed by the late Serjeant-Major William Bacon, who was himself wounded, that Lieutenant and Adjutant Hobson was lying outside the trenches badly wounded, went out to look for him, and found him lying in the old agricultural ditch running towards the left flank of the Redan. He then returned, and got four men to bring him in. Finding, however, that Lieutenant Hobson could not be removed without a stretcher, he then ran back across the open to Egerton's Pit, where he procured one, and carried it to where Lieutenant Hobson was lying.

All this was done under a very heavy fire from the Russian batteries.

7th Regiment. Assistant-Surgeon Thomas Egerton Hale, M.D. Date of Act of Bravery, 8th September, 1855

First. For remaining with an officer who was dangerously wounded, (Captain H. M. Jones, 7th Regiment), in the fifth parallel, on 8th September, 1855, when all the men in the immediate neighbourhood retreated, excepting Lieutenant W. Hope and Dr. Hale; and for endeavouring to rally the men, in conjunction with Lieutenant W. Hope, 7th Royal Fusiliers.

Secondly. For having, on 8th September, 1855, after the regiments had retired into the trenches, cleared the most advanced sap of the wounded, and carried, into the sap, under a heavy fire, several wounded men from the open ground, being assisted by Serjeant Charles Fisher, 7th Royal Fusiliers

Coldstream Guards (late of the 49th Regiment). Brevet-Major John Augustus Conolly Date of Act of Bravery, 26th October, 1854.

In the attack by the Russians against the position held by the Second Division, 26th October, 1854, Major Conolly, then a Lieutenant in the 49th Regiment, while in command of a company of that regiment, on outlying picket, made himself most conspicuous by the gallantry of his behaviour. He came particularly under the observation of the late Field-Marshal Lord Raglan, while in personal encounter with several Russians, in defence of his post. He ultimately fell, dangerously wounded. Lieutenant Conolly was highly praised in General Orders, and promoted into the Coldstream Guards, as a reward for his exemplary behaviour on this occasion.

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2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, 1855 Appointment of Garter Knights

In 1855 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (age 35) appointed five Knights of the Garter:

709th George Howard 7th Earl Carlisle (age 52).

711th Francis Leveson Gower aka Egerton 1st Earl Ellesmere (age 54).

712th George Hamilton-Gordon 4th Earl Aberdeen (age 70).

713th Emperor Napoléon III (age 46).

714th King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia (age 34).

Siege of Sevastopol

After 1855. St Asaph Cathedral [Map]. Memorial to John and James Blewer killed at the Siege of Sevastopol.

On 23 Jul 1855 Edward Fitzclarence (age 18) was killed at the Siege of Sevastopol.

Edwyn Sherard Burnaby (age 25) and Henry Hugh Manvers Percy (age 37) fought.

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, 1856 Appointment of Garter Knights

In 1856 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (age 36) appointed three Knights of the Garter:

715th Hugh Fortescue 2nd Earl Fortescue (age 72).

716th Henry John Temple 3rd Viscount Palmerston (age 71).

717th Sultan Abdulmejid I (age 32).

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, 1857 Appointment of Garter Knights

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, First Award of Victoria Crosses

On 26 Jun 1857 the first sixty-two recipients of the Victoria Cross had the decoration pinned to their breasts by Queen Victoria (age 38) in Hyde Park [Map]. Henry Hugh Manvers Percy (age 39), who was the most senior office present to receive the Victoria Cross, commanded on the day.

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, Relief of Lucknow

In Sep 1857 Edward Adolphus Ferdinand Seymour (age 22) was present at Lucknow during the Relief of Lucknow.

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, 1858 Appointment of Garter Knights

In 1858 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (age 38) appointed five Knights of the Garter:

720th Frederick III King Prussia (age 26).

721st Arthur Wellesley 2nd Duke Wellington (age 50).

722nd William Cavendish 7th Duke Devonshire (age 49).

723rd King Pedro V of Portugal (age 20).

724th The Prince of Wales (age 16).

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, Marriage of the future King Frederick III King Prussia and Victoria Saxe Coburg Gotha

On 25 Jan 1858 Frederick III King Prussia (age 26) and Victoria Empress Germany Queen Consort Prussia (age 17) were married in the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. She the daughter of Prince Albert Saxe Coburg Gotha (age 38) and Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (age 38). He the son of William I King Prussia (age 60). He a great x 4 grandson of King George I of Great Britain and Ireland.

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, 1859 Appointment of Garter Knights

2nd Millennium, 19th Century Events, 1850-1900 Second Half of the 19th Century, Frederick William IV King Prussia Dies William I King Prussia Succeeds

On 02 Jan 1861 Frederick William IV King Prussia (age 65) died. His brother William I King Prussia (age 63) succeeded I King Prussia.