middle of the entire Russian position. Because Raglan’s
order was in writing, Lucan had to order Lord Cardigan
to take his 600 troops “into the Valley of Death.” The
charge of the Light Brigade, immortalized by Tennyson,
was a disaster—albeit a heroic one. Returning to head-
quarters, Lucan was castigated by Raglan.
Lucan’s actions at Balaclava, having led to so many
killed in action, were questioned in Great Britain, al-
though William Howard Russell, a correspondent of
The Times (London) who spent months covering the
Crimean War, wrote:
Lord Lucan with reluctance gave the order to
Lord Cardigan to advance upon the guns, con-
ceiving that his orders compelled him to do so.
The noble Earl, though he did not shrink, also
saw the fearful odds against him. Don Quixote in
his tilt against the windmill was not near so rash
and reckless as the gallant fellows who prepared
without a thought to rush on almost certain
death.... At ten past eleven our Light Cavalry
Brigade rushed to the front... The whole bri-
gade scarcely made one effective regiment, ac-
cording to the numbers of continental armies;
and yet it was more than we could spare. As they
passed towards the front, the Russians opened on
them from the guns in the redoubts on the right,
with volleys of musketry and rifles...Angered at this apparent censure, Lucan demanded
that Raglan be recalled and asked that he (Lucan) be
court-martialed so that he could clear his name. He was
recalled but not allowed the military court. However,
on 19 March 1855, he was invited to speak before the
House of Lords, where he spoke at length about his role
at Balaclava:
Your Lordships are so well acquainted with the
details of this charge, and so fully appreciate the
extraordinary valour and gallantry displayed by
the light cavalry on that occasion, and also the
steadiness and bravery of the heavy brigade, more
particularly the Scots Grey and Royals, and two
regiments most exposed, that I would only add,
that the brilliancy of the charge and the gallantry
displayed by the whole of the cavalry, were neversurpassed at any former period. Your Lordships
should be told that the infantry, which I was in-
formed was coming to support me, was composed
of two divisions, the 1st commanded by His Royal
Highness the Duke of Cambridge, and the 4th by
an officer whose death the army and the country
so much deplore, both my seniors, and therefore
both my commanding officers. In the evening of
the action, I saw Lord Raglan; his first remark to
me was, “You have lost the light brigade.” I at
once denied that I had lost the light brigade, as I
had only carried out the orders conveyed to me,
written and verbal, by Captain Nolan. He then
said that I was a lieutenant general, and should,
therefore, have exercised my discretion, and not
approving of the charge, should not have made it.
He subsequently said that I had not moved suffi-
ciently in advance in the previous movement; but
he never attempted to show then, or has he ever
allowed me to suppose since, until the present
time, that he ever intended that No. 4 order was
at all to be connected with the preceding order.Lucan’s defense of himself led to all sorts of ques-
tions as to his actions. Nevertheless, he received the Le-
gion of Honour and was given a knighthood (KCB) in
July 1855. Although promoted to the rank of field mar-
shal in 1887, he never saw battlefield action again. He
died at his home in London on 10 November 1888 and
was laid to rest in Laleham, Middlesex.References: Marnham, Patrick, Trail of Havoc: In the
Steps of Lord Lucan (London: Penguin, 1988); Woodham
Smith, Cecil Blanche, The Reason Why (London: Consta-
ble, 1953); Paget, George, Lord Paget, The Light Cavalry
Brigade in the Crimea: Extracts from the Letters and Jour-
nal of General Lord George Paget (London: John Murray,
1881); “The Battle of Balaclava and the Charge of the
Light Brigade,” 25 October 1854 in Eyewitness to His-
tory, edited by John Carey (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1987), 333–344; Lucan George Charles
Bingham, earl of, Speech of Major Gen. the Earl of Lucan,
delivered in the House of Lords on Monday, March 19, 1855,
on his Recall from his Command in the Crimea (London:
T. & W. Boone, 1855); Russell, Howard, “Parliamentary
Intelligence,” The Times (London), 7 March 1855, 6.lucAn, geoRge chARleS binghAm, thiRD eARl oF 0