THE FIVE REGIMENTS OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
Introduction [EJB]
It was not my original intention to research other than the 11th Hussars and the 17th Lancers. But because of a misprint in an appeal made to a national newspaper [PB: 1970s?] my request for information about these two regiments alone was omitted and readers responded with information about all five regiments. Indeed, the resulting response was so great that it was felt that such a waste of freely given information on the other three regiments in the Light Brigade just could not be.
In compiling this record of the Officers, N.C.O.s and Men of these regiments, every available avenue of research has been explored, including regimental histories, newspaper reports of the period and since, memoirs written by participants, auction catalogues, printed works by other authors, church parish records, graveyards and cemeteries, and of course the Public Record Office itself. Here have been found numerous "Soldier's Papers", medal rolls, muster rolls, casualty returns and description and pension books. To list all of these would be almost as formidable a task as this record itself has been - the number of books and documents researched (and transcribed) there alone must run into many thousands.
Mention must be made, too, of the many people who have so kindly given information on the medals in their own collections and of the descendant families who have added details of the men themselves. Of course, many and varied are the "stories" which exist about individuals and events. Not all will be true, but even "false" memories, accounts and beliefs can be historically significant. I have tried to let them speak for themselves.
To say that exploring these records has been all-consuming would be no exaggeration, but it has been rewarding in the fact that at least a little more has been placed on record concerning these men and their place in history.
The following links briefly outline the context and experiences of each of the five regiments in the Light Brigade in the Crimea: