Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 22075 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 25

The Crimea Medal awarded to Private W. Topham, 8th Hussars, who participated in the famous Charge of the Light Brigade on 25th October 1854

Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (W. Topham. 8th Hussars), officially impressed naming, about extremely fine and rare

William Topham (also noted erroneously on the Roll as 'Jopham'), served in the 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars as a private, with regimental number 820. Embarking for the Crimea on board the Hired Transport Medora on 27 April 1854, he is confirmed on the relevant Medal rolls with entitlement to all four clasps. Topham would therefore have charged on that momentous occasion which has lived on in public memory ever since.

On 25 October 1854, the Light Brigade (under command of the notorious martinet the Earl of Cardigan) was ordered to advance in an attempt to recapture a number of Allied artillery pieces being carried away by the opposing Russian forces. Due to ambiguous and vague instruction, Cardigan led his brigade down a valley covered by Russian artillery batteries...

The 8th Hussars, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Sherwell, were in the second line of the brigade, to the right of the 4th Light Dragoons and immediately behind the 17th Lancers and 13th Light Dragoons. The advance and charge itself was later remembered by an officer of the 8th, Lieutenant the Honourable S. Calthorpe:

"The pace of our Cavalry increased every moment, until they went thundering along the valley, making the ground tremble beneath them. On they went headlong to death, disregarding aught but the object of their attack. At length they arrived at the guns, their numbers sadly thinned, but the few that remained made fearful havoc amongst the enemy's artillery." (History, 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, refers).

Due to being in the second rank of the brigade, and therefore somewhat in support, they broke through the Russian guns at the end of the "Valley of Death" without suffering such significant casualties as the first line. Nevertheless, at this point they were confronted by a counter-attack by Russian cavalry and - vastly outnumbered - they then came under heavy fire from enemy infantry which caused heavy loss. Regrouping and reforming, and realising their precarious position, the 8th led the remainder of the brigade back to their starting point at the head of the valley.
Private Topham must have succumbed to illness not long after his brush with death, as he is noted as being invalided from Scutari to England on 15 December 1854 (Honour the Light Brigade, p.119, refers); however, it appears he never made it home as the 'Baptisms & Burials' records of the Malta Garrison note burial of one 'Pte. William Topham, 8th Hussars (Expeditionary Force)' exactly one month later, on 15 January 1855.

Sold with copied Medal Roll extracts and some research; additionally understood purchased at Glendinning's, 7 May 1946, for £3.10.

Subject to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers.

Sold for
£9,000