James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan KCB (born October 16, 1797 in London , † March 28, 1868 ibid) was a British general and led the famous attack of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War .
Life
James Thomas Brudenell was the son of Robert Brudenell , the sixth Earl of Cardigan and Penelope Brudenell, Countess of Cardigan. He attended Harrow School . In 1824 he entered the British military service as a cornet with the 8th Hussar Regiment . As officer patents in the British Army then sold were, he already obtained in 1825 the rank of lieutenant and in 1826 the one captain . He served with the 8th Hussars in Ireland. In 1830 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, in the absence of a corresponding position he was initially set at half pay . On March 16, 1832 Brudenell became the commander of the 15th Hussar Regiment. In February 1834 he was recalled from this command. On March 30, 1836, Brudenell was given command of the 11th Light Dragoons . The regiment was stationed in India until then. Brudenell made a number of changes, some eccentric, to increase the prestige of the regiment. He used part of his fortune to make the regiment appear particularly elegant. He was supported in this by Prince Albert, whose name the regiment bore after it had formed his escort on his arrival in Great Britain in 1839. The 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars were the only British unit to wear such crimson trousers.
From 1818 until his father's death in 1837 he was a member of the House of Commons for various constituencies. With the death of his father he inherited the title of Earl of Cardigan and the seat in the House of Lords . He was married twice but had no children. In 1841 he was charged with a duel with one of his former officers before the House of Lords. A peer had to be tried in the House of Lords. However, because of a formal error in the indictment, he was acquitted. The incident increased its unpopularity in public, in the press it was rated as class justice .
When the Crimean War broke out in June 1854, Brudenell was a major general in command of the light cavalry brigade in the division of his brother-in-law George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan . Their mutual disdain would later contribute to the Balaklava disaster . In June 1854 the allied troops landed near Varna . On June 25, the British Commander-in-Chief Lord Raglan ordered Brudenell to march inland to explore the Russian positions. On June 29, these troops reached Karasu to find that the Russians had begun their retreat behind the Danube, and later the Prut . Since a march into the interior of the Russian Empire did not seem promising, the Allies decided to attack the Russian fortress Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula .
On October 25, 1854 Brudenell led in the Battle of Balaklava as death ride or Charge of the Light Brigade (Charge of the Light Brigade) now famous attack against Russian troops . He rode with his brigade - through flanking artillery fire - into a gun battery and then encountered heavy Russian cavalry. Here he lost almost half of his team.
When Brudenell returned to the United Kingdom, he was received as a hero and appointed inspector general of the cavalry . His final years were embittered by a House of Lords trial investigating his role during the death ride.
reception
- He was played by Trevor Howard in the film The Light Brigade Assault .
- The English name of sweater cardigan comes from James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan.
- In the video game Assassin's Creed Syndicate he is one of the assassination targets.
- The attack by the light brigade was addressed by Lord Alfred Tennyson in his poem The Charge of the Light Brigade . Lord Tennyson's poem was the inspiration for the song The Trooper by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden .
literature
- Donald Thomas: Charge! Hurray! Hurray! A life of Cardigan of Balaclava. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1974, ISBN 0-7100-7914-1 (Also called: Cardigan. A life of Lord Cardigan of Balaclava. Cassell Military, London 2002, ISBN 0-304-35824-X ).
- John Sweetman: The Crimean War. Osprey, Oxford 2001, ISBN 1-84176-186-9 ( Osprey Essential Histories ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Donald Thomas: Cardigan , p. 9 ff.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Brudenell |
Earl of Cardigan 1837-1868 |
George Brudenell-Bruce |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Brudenell, James, 7th Earl of Cardigan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Brudenell, James Thomas, 7th Earl of Cardigan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British general in the Crimean War |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 16, 1797 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 28, 1868 |
| Place of death | London |