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Cornet (and Adjutant) John Chadwick of the 17th Lancers was wounded and taken prisoner at Balaklava on 25 October 1854 after his mare was killed under him. He wrote this letter to his brother, Captain James Chadwick of Gosport, from Karkoff (now Kharkiv, Ukraine), after the prisoners’ march north from Simferopol. It was widely reprinted in British newspapers in May 1855.
Source of this transcription: Wells Journal (Somerset), Saturday 12 May 1855, “Letter from an English Officer, now a Prisoner in Russia”. Scan: chadwick_j_17L_letter_from_russia_wells_5to12.jpg. The original manuscript letter has not been traced.
Spelling, punctuation and the paragraphing of the newspaper are kept. The ellipsis (“. . .”) is in the 1855 newspaper: something was left out before it was printed. Words in [square brackets] are editorial notes.
[Newspaper heading:] LETTER FROM AN ENGLISH OFFICER, NOW A PRISONER IN RUSSIA.
[Newspaper introduction:] The following letter has been received by Captain J. Chadwick, from his brother, Lieutenant Chadwick, of the 17th Lancers, who was made prisoner at the celebrated Light Cavalry charge at Balaklava, on the 17th of October last:— [sic: 25th of October]
“Karkoff, April 2, 1855.
“My dear James,—I have deferred from day to day, and from week to week, writing to you, in the hope of having some definite news to give you as to what is likely to be done with me and the other officers, prisoners. All we know, however, is that we are to be sent to Rioizan, about 100 versts from Moscow, where, I suppose, we shall remain until we are exchanged, which I sincerely hope will be this summer. We left Simferopol on the 20th January, and arrived here on the 15th of last month, so that you may imagine that we suffered some little inconvenience during that long march at such a time of the year. The distance was something over 700 versts (a verst is two-thirds of an English mile). We have a little more than that distance yet to traverse, but the Governor-General here has very kindly allowed us to remain a little to recruit ourselves, and until the weather gets a little better for travelling; besides which we have been given to understand that the present Emperor has given an order that we are to travel alone with post-horses, and not in the same manner as we came here—day by day, with English, French, and Turkish soldiers, prisoners, and Russian convicts on their way to Siberia.
“It would be quite useless for me to attempt to describe to you what we suffered on our journey here; I could not do it. Suffice it to tell you, that I was impious enough to wish often that I had met the same fate as my poor mare did at Balaklava. I am in company with Captain Frampton, 50th Regiment; Lieut. Duff, 23rd; Lieut. Clowes, 8th Hussars; and a Mr. Carrew, who was master of the Culloden transport, which was wrecked near Eupatoria on the 14th November. He, poor fellow, a few days before we reached here, became idiotic, and is now in hospital. He is nearly well now, but weak. Of twelve men of the 17th Lancers who were taken prisoners on the same day that I was, five only are living. Corporal Hall and private Jenner, at Simferopol, the former having had his leg taken off, the latter his arm; private Wightman, left sick at Alexandrioski on the way here; and private Marshall is here. Private M’Allister has gone on for his destination. The seven dead are privates Harrison, Ellis, Young, Kirk, Edge, Brown, and Sharp. The two latter started quite well from Simferopol, but died on the journey. I wish you would write to Taylor, the riding-master, at the depôt, in order that he may cause their friends to be written to. . . . I know nothing, of course, about the state of affairs with regiments at home, but hope you will give me in your next letter all the news you can, bearing in mind, of course, your letter will be read, and not reach me if it contains anything objectionable.
“With best love, &c., believe me, my dear James, ever your most affectionate brother,
“John Chadwick.”
Rioizan: Ryazan, about 120 miles south-east of Moscow. Alexandrioski: probably Aleksandrovsk (now Zaporizhzhia), on the road north from the Crimea. A verst is about 1.07 km.
The men named. Survivors: Corporal James Hall, Private Jenner, Private Wightman, Private Marshall, Private McAllister. Dead: Harrison, Ellis, Young, Kirk, Edge, Brown, Sharp(e). Officers: Lieutenant George Clowes, 8th Hussars; Captain Frampton, 50th Regiment; Lieutenant James Duff, 23rd (Royal Welch) Fusiliers.
Other printings: Daily News, 10 May 1855 (from the Manchester Examiner, sent in by the writer’s cousin William Bates junior of Old Trafford); Army and Navy Gazette (date not known); Anthony Dawson, Letters from the Light Brigade (2014), pp. 162–3.
Related: the Limerick Chronicle, 17 March 1855 (scan), reports a letter from Simferopol by the Italian volunteer Landriani, who charged with the Light Cavalry, thanking the three English officers who nursed him: “James Duff, 23d Fusiliers; George Clowes, 8th Hussars; and John Chadwick, 17th Lancers.”
