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Auction: 19003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 161

A 'probable' Heavy Brigade Charger's pair awarded to Private J. Buckley, 5th Dragoon Guards

Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (Jas. Buckley 5th D…), regimentally engraved naming, naming obscured through wear, suspension re-affixed; Turkish Crimea, British die (No 637. Pt. Jas. Buckley. 5th Dragoon Gds..), depot impressed naming, fitted with replacement split-loop and split-ring suspension, the first with heavy contact marks and edge bruising, fair, the second very fine (2)

Provenance:
DNW, 2004.

James Buckley was born at Kinderton, near Chester in 1815. He enlisted into the 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales') Dragoon Guards at Warrington in April 1839, aged 24. The regiment embarked for the Crimea at Ballincollig, Ireland on 27 May 1854, aboard the steamer Himalaya. Commanded by Major Adolphus Burton, C.B., the regiment performed a vital service at the Battle of Balaklava on 25 October 1854.

A dense body of 3,000 Russian horsemen under General Ryzhov, comprising Hussars and Cossacks, advanced westwards down South Valley towards Scarlett's Heavy Brigade, which it outnumbered 6 to 1. Ryzhov held the high ground, and he caught the Heavy Brigade strung out on the march. Seeing that the Scots Greys were about to be encircled, Burton directed the 5th Dragoon Guards against Ryzhov's encroaching right flank. The charge was unexpected and perfectly timed, many of the Russians having their backs to Burton's men. The Russians were so closely packed that many were unable to lift their sword arms; they broke shortly after Burton's charge, having suffered some 270 casualties. The 5th Dragoon Guards had one officer and two men killed, three officers and eight men wounded during the engagement. The Heavy Brigade actually sustained more casualties later in the day, when deployed to cover the Light Brigade's retreat from North Valley, than during the Charge of the Heavy Brigade.

Buckley was discharged in January 1864 after nearly 25 years' service. During his military career he was court-martialled on six occasions and imprisoned repeatedly; his name was entered no less than 48 times in the Regimental Defaulters Book. Amazingly, his discharge papers describe his conduct as 'Good'. The 1881 census shows him as unmarried, residing as a 'Government pensioner' at the London Road Workhouse, Leftwich, Chester. He died in April 1882.


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Sold for
£380

Starting price
£300