The Collection of Medals formed by the late John Darwent

Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (J. D. Robinson, 13th Lt. Dragoons), officially impressed naming, last clasp unofficially riveted, contact marks and edge bruising, otherwise about very fine £3000-3500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late John Darwent.

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Ex Broadley Collection, Sotheby’s 8 July 1982.

John Daniel Robinson was born in Doncaster and enlisted at York in July 1851, aged 18 years. Present at Alma, he was advanced to Corporal on the eve of the charge of the Light Brigade in October 1854. He was afterwards present at Inkermann and in the operations before Sebastopol, but was reduced to Private by Court-Martial in January 1855. In a letter dated 2 November 1854, and sent home to a friend in Doncaster, Robinson claimed to have ridden in the charge and to have rescued Lord Cardigan. An excerpt was published in The Dispatch of 7 January 1855:

‘I did not ride many yards further before I saw our commander, Lord Cardigan, very nearly thrust off his horse and if it had not been for me the old boy’s life would not have been worth a row of pins. I saved him, for I directly saw a Russian had marked him for he drew his lance and made at his Lordship, but I was too expert for the rascal. I parried, whilst the man struck, and then he bolted as if Old Nick were after him ...’

The origins of The Dispatch remain uncertain, although presumably it was a local newspaper from the Doncaster area; notes kept by Light Brigade authority E. J. Boys state the feature ‘appeared in a news-item entitled “100 Years Ago” and was reprinted in the centenary year of Balaklava.’

Robinson, who purchased his discharge at Cahir, Ireland in June 1860, attended the First Balaklava Banquet in 1875, but did not become a member of the Balaklava Commemoration Society.