Cardigan: The Hero of Balaclava (1987) By Donald Thomas
 
 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.
 
For James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, leading the Light Brigade at Balaclava, was but one incident in a life of sensation and notoriety, Dismissed from the army for 'revolting' conduct, cardigan bought the command of the 11th Hussars(the Cherry Bums) for £40,000. Regimental rivalries led to a duel in which he shot a brother officer. Charged with attempted murder, Cardigan was the only Victorian peer to be tried by the House of Lords, whilst his seductions of other men's wives rivalled his regimental misdemeanours in press reports. It took the glory and the folly of Balaclava to turn this 'plague spot of the British army' into the most popular soldier in England.
 
Soft Cover 
369 Pages
In Good Condition