Hi to all on PF ,
We all have seen the pre Euro downpour of new releases from Stormtroopers , Stuart Hale the guy who is behind it seems to have hit the nail right on the head with the V12 range of busts , amongst the first to be released was a sculpt by Maurice Corry depicting a Grenadier Guards Officer 1854.
Before we look at the piece lets have a bit of background on the Regiment in the period depicted :
During the Crimean War, the 3rd Battalion formed part of Lord Raglan's Army, which stormed the heights above the River Alma and besieged the Russian fortress of Sebastopol. During the early part of that grim siege was fought, in November 1854, the battle of Inkerman. The defence of the Sandbag Battery in the fog against overwhelming odds is one of the epics of British military history. On that day the Brigade of Guards, of which the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards formed part, lost half its officers and men, but not a single prisoner or an inch of ground.
In the Crimea the Regiment won a total of 4 VC's these being awarded to :
Colonel The Hon HHM Percy (Inkerman)
Brevet Major Sir Charles Russell Bt (Inkerman)
Sergeant A. Ablett (Sevastopol)
Private A Palmer (Inkerman)
Lets have a look in details at the first Capt and Lt Col Percy :
The Grenadier Guards landed at Kalamita Bay in the Crimea in September 1854, as part of the Guards Brigade, 1st Division, English Army of the East. These were Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s elite personal guards. In the Crimea, the Guards Brigade consisted of the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards and Scots Fusilier Guards. The Guards’ battle honours include Alma, Inkerman, and the Siege of Sevastopol.
Henry Percy was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards at age nineteen. After almost twenty years of service, he embarked for the Crimea at age thirty-seven, as a Captain and Lieutenant Colonel (The dual rank system exclusive to Her Majesty’s Guards regiments).
At Alma he was wounded in the arm, but continued to lead his men in battle. At Inkerman he led a charge into the Sandbag Battery, then held it against repeated Russian assaults by superior numbers. Having run out of ammunition, he ordered his men to throw stones at the attacking enemy. The Russians began doing the same, knocking Percy off the parapet once. Upon his climbing back up, he was knocked senseless with another even larger stone. He awoke bleeding badly and half blinded, but was able to join his men in a charge driving the enemy down the hill below the battery. Out of ammunition and cut off, the wounded Percy led his men through dense brush to safety. He received the Victoria Cross from Queen Victoria, personally, in Hyde Park on 26 June 1857.
This photograph
shows his coatee, sash, and epaulettes under an officer’s greatcoat draped over the coatee in the manner commonly worn by officers in the Crimea. Note that Percy had cut the standing collar from his coatee, no doubt to make it less restrictive on campaign. The right sleeve of the coatee (not visible under the greatcoat) shows signs of rough field repair and dried blood. The epaulettes show the grenade of the Grenadier Guards, and the braiding and crown of a Captain and Lieutenant Colonel
We also have a picture of the bearskin worn by the 2nd VC winner Major Russell:
The 1846 Uniform Regulations describe the cap in the photograph as a “bear-skin, twelve inches deep, fastened under the chin by a plain gilt taper chain.” Just prior to embarking for the Crimea, the Guards modified their bearskin caps by cutting them down a few inches. Perhaps in keeping with this modification, the actual measurement for the cap in this photograph was ten inches deep. It is also interesting that this bearskin is a soft leather collapsible cap, rather than the stiff Guards caps routinely seen, which have a bamboo-like cage beneath the skin itself. The white goat’s hair plume on the left side indicates the bearskin is Grenadier Guards, who were on the right flank of the Guards Brigade.
Here is the action depicted that he won the VC in
and his Medals from the Crimean conflict
We also have a picture of an original sword belt plate as shown in the sculpt:
As always there is an abundance of interesting books relating to the Regiment and the Crimea in particular , all I hasten to add are in my library and all are full of facts and information
Continued in next post:
Nap
We all have seen the pre Euro downpour of new releases from Stormtroopers , Stuart Hale the guy who is behind it seems to have hit the nail right on the head with the V12 range of busts , amongst the first to be released was a sculpt by Maurice Corry depicting a Grenadier Guards Officer 1854.
During the Crimean War, the 3rd Battalion formed part of Lord Raglan's Army, which stormed the heights above the River Alma and besieged the Russian fortress of Sebastopol. During the early part of that grim siege was fought, in November 1854, the battle of Inkerman. The defence of the Sandbag Battery in the fog against overwhelming odds is one of the epics of British military history. On that day the Brigade of Guards, of which the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards formed part, lost half its officers and men, but not a single prisoner or an inch of ground.
In the Crimea the Regiment won a total of 4 VC's these being awarded to :
Colonel The Hon HHM Percy (Inkerman)
Brevet Major Sir Charles Russell Bt (Inkerman)
Sergeant A. Ablett (Sevastopol)
Private A Palmer (Inkerman)
Lets have a look in details at the first Capt and Lt Col Percy :
Henry Percy was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards at age nineteen. After almost twenty years of service, he embarked for the Crimea at age thirty-seven, as a Captain and Lieutenant Colonel (The dual rank system exclusive to Her Majesty’s Guards regiments).
At Alma he was wounded in the arm, but continued to lead his men in battle. At Inkerman he led a charge into the Sandbag Battery, then held it against repeated Russian assaults by superior numbers. Having run out of ammunition, he ordered his men to throw stones at the attacking enemy. The Russians began doing the same, knocking Percy off the parapet once. Upon his climbing back up, he was knocked senseless with another even larger stone. He awoke bleeding badly and half blinded, but was able to join his men in a charge driving the enemy down the hill below the battery. Out of ammunition and cut off, the wounded Percy led his men through dense brush to safety. He received the Victoria Cross from Queen Victoria, personally, in Hyde Park on 26 June 1857.
This photograph
We also have a picture of the bearskin worn by the 2nd VC winner Major Russell:
Here is the action depicted that he won the VC in
and his Medals from the Crimean conflict
We also have a picture of an original sword belt plate as shown in the sculpt:
As always there is an abundance of interesting books relating to the Regiment and the Crimea in particular , all I hasten to add are in my library and all are full of facts and information
Continued in next post:
Nap
