Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

an original Crimea War letter from Lieutenant Clement Heneage, 8th Hussars, who survived the Charge of Light Brigade and went on to win the V.C. in the Indian Mutiny, ink, eight sides on two folded sheets of blue paper, dated ‘Aug. 17th’, at Balaklava, with related envelope addressed to his father, ‘G. H. Walker Heneage, Esqre., M.P., Compton Basset, Calne, Wiltshire’, and additional ink inscription, ‘England via Marseilles’ and ‘Received August 29th’, two British Army Post Office official green coloured stamps to reverse for August 1855.

The letter describes the battle of Tchernaya, from which the following extracts have been taken:

‘I am happy to say a victory has been achieved over the Rooshians yesterday, which will teach them, for the second time, how useless it is to attack our positions with their immense columns - the attack has now been expected for nearly 3 weeks, as we really have some spies now who give us good information, so everybody was out at 3 yesterday morning ... The fight began about half an hour before sunrise, & was signalled from the Sardinians near Tchorqoun by a couple of rockets ... the Russians came on in tremendous force & crossed the river in two places, by pontoons, & also made a furious attack on the old bridge, which however was strongly fortified - however they got easily over by the pontoons, as the French let them come on close up to them, in fact they waited too long, for the Russians succeeded in driving them back nearly to their camp. But they soon rallied &, with the Sardines, drove them over & into the river, in which they took several hundred prisoners ... but the triumph was when our 18 & 32 pounder battery came up - the Russians were electrified - they had never seen such a battery as that, though they had often seen & felt our science. Smash went the big shot & shell into their columns - down went their horses - & one shot knocked two of their horse artillery guns to shivers - they very soon began limbering up, & as usual beat a quick retreat into the hills & valleys ... & a great licking our Allies gave the Rooshians - they were quite a different set of men to what we saw last year at the Alma & other battles - the fellows I saw yesterday were the most miserable crew of vagabonds I ever saw - their faces all withered & pinched up, as if they were going through a process of starvation - their clothing filthy & all in rags & tatters - & all sober, a thing unknown in Russian warfare, so I suppose the supply of saki as well as of other provisions, is run out ... ’

in good overall condition £200-250

Clement Walker Heneage was born at Compton Basset, Wiltshire, in March 1831, the son of George Walker Heneage, the M.P. for Devizes.

Appointed a Cornet in the 8th Hussars in August 1851, he was advanced to Lieutenant in September 1854, and rode in the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava, in addition to being present at Alma, Inkermann and the operations before Sebastopol (Medal & 4 clasps; Turkish Medal).

Having then returned to England, the 8th Hussars were embarked for India in October 1857, and it was June of the following year that Heneage, now a Captain, won the V.C. for his part in an action at Gwalior, three other members of the regiment sharing the same distinction on the same occasion:

‘Selected for the Victoria Cross by their companions. In the gallant charge made by a squadron of the regiment at Gwalior on 17 June 1858, when, supported by a division of the Bombay Horse Artillery, and H.M’s 95th Regiment, they routed the enemy, who were advancing against Brigadier Smith’s position, charged through the rebel camp into two batteries, capturing and bringing into their camp two of the enemy’s guns, under a heavy and converging fire from the fort of the town’ (London Gazette 26 January 1859, refers).

Also given the Brevet of Major, and awarded the Indian Mutiny Medal with ‘Central India’ clasp, Heneage attained the substantive rank of Major in November 1860, and retired in 1868. A High Sheriff for Wiltshire, he died at Compton House, Compton Basset, in December 1901.