A research note by Philip Boys and Roy Mills
The Balaklava clasp is evidence that a man was present at the battle of 25 October 1854. It is not evidence that he rode in the Charge of the Light Brigade, and its absence does not by itself prove that he did not.
This page sets out what the clasp was, who received it, and why some Chargers' medals lack it. It ends with a test case: John Breese (Breeze), No. 1102, 11th Hussars, whose Crimea Medal carries Alma, Inkermann and Sebastopol but not Balaklava, although he was named on the 1877 list of Balaklava survivors.
A companion page, Who charged? Towards an improved roll of the Light Brigade, describes how a man is confirmed as a Charger and the method the editors are using for a new, graded list.
Points still to be checked against the primary sources are marked like this: [To check].
The Balaklava clasp was an afterthought, added about two months after the medal itself. Entitlement depended on the lists each regiment sent in.
| Clasp | Authorised | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Medal and clasps for Alma and Inkermann | 15 December 1854 | Instituted with the medal |
| Balaklava | 23 February 1855 (General Order, Horse Guards) | For "those who were engaged in the Action at Balaklava" |
| Sebastopol | 13 October 1855 | For service before Sebastopol. Anyone with Balaklava or Inkermann also received it |
| Azoff | 2 May 1856 | Mainly naval |
Dates from Joslin, Litherland & Simpkin, British Battles and Medals (1988), p. 128, as given in Wikipedia: Crimea Medal. The Azoff date is from the London Gazette, 2 May 1856, p. 1629. [To check: the Balaklava date against the Gazette itself]
How the Balaklava clasp came about. On 23 January 1855 the Duke of Richmond asked in the House of Lords why Balaklava had no clasp. He named the 93rd Highlanders and the Heavy and Light cavalry. The Duke of Newcastle replied that the Queen had directed a Balaklava clasp. He added that any doubt should be "resolved in favour of men who have so greatly distinguished themselves" (Hansard, Lords, 23 January 1855).
How entitlement was decided. The General Order said the clasp was for those "engaged in the Action at Balaklava". It asked Lord Raglan to send lists of the men entitled, so that the clasp could be added to their medals (London Gazette, issue 21699, p. 1577). Entitlement therefore rested on regimental returns, compiled in the Crimea in spring 1855. By then many of the men named were dead, in hospital at Scutari, or already home.
Presentation and later claims. The Queen presented the first medals on Horse Guards Parade on 18 May 1855. Most men received theirs later, in the Crimea or through their depots. Clasps could be claimed later still. John Proctor (1467, 11th Hussars) had his Balaklava clasp granted on his commanding officer's certificate dated 24 August 1857 (Proctor page).
Next of kin. Medals were also issued to the next of kin of men who died (London Gazette, 23 January 1855, p. 251). [To check: how the clasps of the dead were recorded on the rolls]
The clasp was for the battle, not for the Charge. Most of the men who wear it never rode down the North Valley.
| Who | Part in the battle | Clasp? |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy Brigade (4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, 1st, 2nd and 6th Dragoons) | Brigadier-General Scarlett's charge against the main Russian cavalry body | Yes |
| Light Brigade men who charged | The Charge | Yes, if on their regiment's list |
| Light Brigade men present but not in the Charge | Orderlies, escorts, men left in reserve or posted elsewhere on the field | Yes, if listed as engaged [To check: by regiment] |
| 93rd Highlanders, with convalescents from other regiments in their line | The "thin red line" | Yes |
| Royal Artillery: I and C Troops RHA, W Battery RA [To check: units] | Engaged from the plain and the heights | Yes [To check] |
| Royal Marines and seamen on the heights above Balaklava | Manning the defences of the port | [To check: on the rolls] |
| Infantry of the 1st and 4th Divisions | Marched down to the plain, but largely not engaged | Generally no [To check] |
Two consequences follow for the list of Chargers:
— A Balaklava clasp shows presence, not the Charge. A Light Brigade man with the clasp may have been with the regiment's baggage, on orderly duty, or held back. Each man needs other evidence that he rode.
— The figure of about 1,000 Light Brigade men at Balaklava needs care. It probably means the five regiments' effective strength in the Crimea, including men sick or detached. The number present in the field that morning was smaller. [To check: the source of "1,000"]
Every man who charged was entitled to the clasp. Whether he got it depended on the lists, the paperwork that followed him, and what later happened to the medal.
1. Left off the regimental list. The lists were compiled months after the battle, from muster rolls and memory. A man away at Scutari, in hospital or on detachment when the list was drawn up could be missed.
2. The rolls themselves are inconsistent. Samuel Parkes VC (4th Light Dragoons), a confirmed Charger taken prisoner on 25 October, has his Balaklava entitlement recorded on the roll. Yet he is missing from the Sebastopol list, which should have followed automatically (Wikipedia: Samuel Parkes, citing the Crimean Medal Roll). Omissions cut both ways.
3. Invalided or discharged early. A man sent home before the clasp lists were finished had to claim it through his depot or commanding officer. Proctor's 1857 certificate shows this could be done, and also that it was not automatic.
4. Killed or died of wounds. Medals went to next of kin. [To check: the rolls for how Balaklava clasps were recorded for the dead, and look for surviving medals to men killed in the Charge]
5. Forfeiture. Men convicted of serious offences or deserters could forfeit their medals entirely. That removes the medal, not just the clasp.
6. Later alterations. Clasps were lost, removed, replaced or added by owners and dealers. A medal on the market today may lack a clasp the man was given, or carry one he was not. Only the roll settles entitlement.
So a missing Balaklava clasp is a reason to look at the roll and the man's record. It does not by itself mean he did not charge.
The reverse test is stronger. If the roll positively omits a man from the Balaklava list while including him for Alma and Inkermann, that suggests he was not counted as present on 25 October. It still needs a reason, such as sickness or detached duty.
John Breese’s own page gives his full service record and later life.
On present evidence Breese probably did not ride in the Charge. Every claim that he did is late and second-hand, while the official and near-contemporary evidence points the other way. On the grading scheme set out on the companion page he is graded D, "doubtful", until the 11th Hussars' Balaklava roll and muster rolls have been checked.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 10 May 1854 | Promoted Sergeant | Service record (Breese page) |
| 25 October 1854 | Battle of Balaklava. No contemporary record places him in the Charge | — |
| 5 November 1854 | Right arm taken off by a round shot at Inkerman | Loy Smith, A Victorian R.S.M. (1987); discharge medical certificate |
| 9 November 1854 | Sent to Scutari, where Loy Smith visited him on 22 November | Discharge papers; Loy Smith |
| 10 January 1855 | Recommended for the DCM, with a £10 gratuity (circumstances unknown) | Breese page; Noonans, 8 May 2019, Lot 809 |
| 23 February 1855 | Balaklava clasp authorised; regiments asked for lists | London Gazette |
| 1 March 1855 | Invalided home in the Neptune | Discharge papers |
| 3 March 1855 | Brompton Barracks, Chatham: tells the Queen he lost his arm "at Balaklava" | Colonial Times (Hobart), 14 February 1856, and other papers |
| 30 April 1855 | Discharged at Newbridge, with a pension of 2s a day. The medical board records the arm lost at Inkerman | Discharge papers |
| 18 May 1855 | Crimea Medal presented by the Queen on Horse Guards Parade | Illustrated London News, 26 May 1855 |
| 25 October 1875 | Attends the first Balaklava banquet. Portrait in the ILN, 30 October 1875 | ILN; Noonans |
| 1877 | Named on the Balaclava Commemoration Society list | Breese page |
| 1879 | Omitted from the revised list | Breese page |
| 11 October 1889 | Dies at Battersea. Obituaries and gravestone call him one of the Six Hundred | South London Press, Evening News and Post, Modern Society, 1889 |
His medal. The medal carries Alma, Inkermann and Sebastopol, with contemporary engraved naming. It has no Balaklava clasp (Noonans, Lot 809). Sebastopol was authorised only in October 1855, and was automatic for anyone with Inkermann. So the medal was certainly handled after the Balaklava clasp existed, and the Balaklava clasp was not added then.
1. He charged, but was left off the list because he was in hospital or at home when it was compiled. This is possible, but he would have known he was entitled. He was a Yeoman of the Guard, in the Queen's eye, and moving among Balaklava veterans. Others claimed missing clasps on a commanding officer's certificate, as Proctor did in 1857. There is no sign that Breese ever did.
2. He was present at Balaklava but not in the Charge, for example on orderly or vedette duty, with the baggage, or sick in camp. In that case the clasp could still have been due, so its absence is unexplained.
3. He was not engaged at Balaklava at all, for example sick or on detached duty. That would fit both the missing clasp and his removal from the 1879 list.
Weighing the evidence. The claims that he charged all come late (1875 onwards) and from the man himself, his family or obituary writers. The obituaries even disagree on whether he was wounded in the Charge. His own early statement to the Queen confused Balaklava with Inkerman. Against that, the 1879 revisers removed him, apparently knowingly. The medal roll appears not to credit him with Balaklava. The Noonans cataloguer also records that he is not known to have charged.
What would settle it [To check: all]:
— The 11th Hussars' Crimea medal roll (National Archives, WO 100), and in particular the Balaklava list: is he absent, struck through, or annotated?
— The 11th Hussars' muster and pay lists for October–December 1854 (WO 12), and any sick or duty states for 25 October.
— Loy Smith's manuscript: does he place Breeze anywhere on 25 October?
— The Lummis file on Breese (National Army Museum), and whatever reason the 1879 revisers recorded for dropping him.
— Hansard, House of Lords, 23 January 1855: announcement of the Crimea Medal and its clasps.
— London Gazette, issue 21699, p. 1577: the General Order for the Balaklava clasp, asking Lord Raglan for lists of the men entitled. The Sebastopol clasp followed in October 1855.
— The National Archives, WO 100: campaign medal and clasp rolls, Crimea, including the cavalry regiments (Balaklava roll). [To check: piece numbers for 4th LD, 8th H, 11th H, 13th LD, 17th L]
— The National Archives, WO 12: regimental muster books and pay lists, October–December 1854. [To check: pieces for the five regiments]
— Casualty returns for 25 October 1854, printed in the London Gazette (November 1854) and in Lord Raglan's despatches.
— The 1877 and 1879 lists of survivors compiled for the Balaklava commemorations, and the Light Brigade Relief Fund records (1890s).
— George Loy Smith, A Victorian R.S.M.: From India to the Crimea, ed. Michael Hargreave Mawson (Tunbridge Wells, 1987). Contemporary diary-based memoir by the R.S.M. of the 11th Hussars; names Breese at Inkerman and Scutari.
— Proctor's 1857 certificate (see the Proctor entry on chargeofthelightbrigade.com).
— A.W. Kinglake, The Invasion of the Crimea, vol. IV (Edinburgh and London, 1868 and later editions).
— George Paget, The Light Cavalry Brigade in the Crimea (London, 1881).
— William Lummis and Kenneth Wynn, Honour the Light Brigade (London: J.B. Hayward, 1973). The standard roll; records about 2,000 claimants and the evidence for many.
— E.C. Joslin, A.R. Litherland and B.T. Simpkin, British Battles and Medals (London: Spink, 1988), for the Crimea Medal and clasps.
— E.J. Boys Archive, chargeofthelightbrigade.com (ed. Philip Boys and Roy Mills): entries for John Breese, Proctor, Mullins and Vahey.
— Noonans (formerly Dix Noonan Webb), Lot 809, 8 May 2019, Breese's group of four (DCM; Crimea with Alma, Inkermann, Sebastopol; Jubilee 1887; Turkish Crimea), with catalogue note. Earlier sales: Glendining's, June 1929 (Needes Collection), and DNW, December 2002.
— Other Noonans and DNW lots cited for medals of Chargers without the Balaklava clasp (e.g. Parkes). [To check: lot references]
— Wikipedia, "Crimea Medal" and "Charge of the Light Brigade", used only as a first pointer and checked against the sources above.
1. WO 100, Balaklava roll, 11th Hussars: is Breese listed for the clasp, and is there a note against his name? This is the single most useful check for his case.
2. WO 12, 11th Hussars, October 1854 muster: was Breese effective, sick, or on detached duty on 25 October?
3. Loy Smith's original manuscript: does it say anything of Breese on 25 October, as against Inkerman?
4. Lummis papers (National Army Museum): Lummis's working file on Breese, and the reasons he was dropped from the 1879 list.
5. Who compiled the 1877 and 1879 lists, and on what evidence; why some men were removed between the two.
6. The Illustrated London News, 30 October 1875: the exact wording used of Breese with his portrait.
7. Battersea Cemetery register and gravestone (buried 13 October 1889): who chose the wording "one of the Balaklava Six Hundred".
8. Enlistment: 14th Light Dragoons, 30 March 1841, transferred to the 11th Hussars 1 May 1841 (our record), against Noonans' "11th Hussars at Hounslow". Check WO 97 or the description book.
9. The Proctor certificate of 1857: its full text and who signed it.