On the 9th of March 1854, the regiment received orders to prepare for foreign service. Two service Troops were formed, each of 125 men and horses, and these, with 25 dismounted men, embarked at Kingston, south of Dublin, during May 1854 in the Glendalough, Asia, War Cloud, Parameter, Tyrone and Penola.
The regiment was under the command of Major Douglas, and eighteen officers (including Staff) went with it to the Crimea.
Five officers and 72 men went to form a Depot at Newbridge, Ireland.
The embarkation was widely reported, often in detail.
London Daily News - Tuesday 23 May 1854
The following is a return of the embarkation of the 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars, at Kingstown, for the seat of war in Turkey:
Paramatta, No. 52, 661 tons; 3 [?] officers, Lieutenant J. Inglis, Cornet R. Palmer, Assistant-Surgeon A.M. Tippets, 7th Foot; 38 non-commissioned officers and privates; 37 horses - sailed 13th May.
Asia, No. 53, 721 tons: 4 officers, Captain E.A. Cook, Cornet G. P. Houghton, Paymaster J. Hely, Assistant-Surgeon W.R. Grylls, 19th Foot; 45 non-commissiened officers and privates; 46 horses - sailed 10th May.
Glendalough, No.55. 1,058 tons: 3 officers, Capt. E.Peel, Lieut. Saltmarshe, Assistant-Surgeon H.J. Wilkin; 49 non-commissioned officers and privates; 50 horses - sailed 9th May.
War Cloud, No. 56, 1,250 tons: 3 officers, Captain T.Y. Dallas, Lieutenant H.A. Trevelyan, Assistant-Surgeon W. Dumbreck, 1st Foot; 56 non-commissioned men and privates; 56 horses - sailed 12th May.
Tyrone, No. 67, 1,197 tons: 6 officers, Major John Douglas, Lieutenant C.R. Vansittart, Adjutant W. Ennis (Lieutenant), Surgeon J.B.St.C. Crosse, Veterinary Surgeon J.W. Gloag; 55 non-commissioned officers and privates; 52 horses - sailed 17th May.
Panola, No. 71, 965 tons: 4 officers, Captain W.G B. Cresswell, Lieutenant Hon. R.J. Annesley, Quarter-Master H. Kanutze [Kauntze], Staff Surgeon Reade; 52 non-commissioned officers and privates - sailed 20th May.
The depot of the 11th Hussars has arrived at Newbridge from Dublin. Captains W. Foster and J. Miller, and Cornets R. Dungate (R.M.), G. A. Maddock, W. D. Kelly (on leave and about to retire), and A.W. Gandell are the officers attached to the depot.
[Source: London Daily News, Tuesday 23 May 1854 (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/18540523/006/0006, accessed 12.7.2017).]
[PB: The Freeman's Journal, 9 May 1854, covered the first embarkation in some detail. Note e.g. the detailed description of the embarkation of the horses on slings, their stalls, the "four enclosed berths for the women who are to accompany the troup", and of the "desertion" - who was this "young man of some property" who needed to see his solicitor?]
The Freeman's Journal, BL_0000056_18540509_013_0004.pdf
[PB: I have not proofed this completely. Do not quote without checking against the original.]
EMBARKATION OF THE 11TH HUSSARS
Accustomed as the inhabitants of Dublin and 1I [?] have been of late to military displays, the embarkation of the cavalry regiment being a rarity was consequently productive of great interest, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, and the early hour at which it was announced the first troop of the 11th Hussars would embark, large numbers of persons assembled at Portobello Barrack, and at other points along the route to view their departure.
This regiment is known as Prince Albert's Own Regiment of Hussars, and for active service numbers 285 sabres. Their Colonel, Lieutenant-General Henry Wyndham, is an officer who has served throughout the entire of the Peninsular campaign, and was severely wounded at Waterloo. Their Lieutenant-Colonel is Brigadier the Earl of Cardigan, and they are at present under the command of Major Douglas.
The regiment returned from foreign service in the East Indies in June, 1838. During the greater portion of the period which has since elapsed they have been quartered in Ireland, where they have recruited to such an extent that a very numerous section of the men at present composing the regiment are Irish.
For a considerable time the regiment has been under orders for embarkation, but it was not till within the last ten days that the period of their departure was finally settled. Preparations then began in real earnest, and for three days back they have been ready to march at a moment's warning. Six vessels, the Glendalough, the Tyrone, the War Cloud, the Paramatta, the Asia, and the Panola, all of them first-rate sea going merchant ships, had been chartered for their conveyance, but only two of these, the Asia and the Glendalough, were completely victualled and ready for the reception of the troops.
Shortly before eight o'clock yesterday morning the first troop was drawn up in line on the parade ground in Portobello Barracks. The men seemed in the best health and spirits, and really presented a most imposing sight.
Having been inspected by Major-General Cochrane and Major Douglas, they rode out of the barracks preceded by the bands of the Royal Artillery, the, 3d Dragoon Guards, and the 16th Lancers, which, played many spirit-stirring and martial airs during the march from the barracks to Blackrock, where, having given a parting cheer, they left the troop and returned home in consequence of the severity of the weather.
On arriving at Kingstown the men dismounted alongside the landing stage where the Glendalough was lying ready to receive them, and in a few minutes the business of embarkation commenced. Having unsaddled the horses, the accoutrements were packed up, lowered to their appointed place in the vessel and stowed away. After this the novel, and to many, extraordinary sight of the embarkation of the horses commenced. This was viewed with the greatest interest by a crowd of military and other gentlemen, aid a large number of ladies.
A horse box was provided for the purpose of lowering the animals to the stalle fitted up for them in the hold, but in many cases, the difficulty attending the attempt to induce the horses to enter them rendered it necessary to have recourse to the ordinary slings. Each of these slings consists of a piece of canvas about one yard in width and two in length, with staves at each end, and loops attached, which when the sling is placed under the horse's belly meet over his back, and are there secured by a rope passed through them. A rope is also passed round the animal's head, and is held by a man who guides him from injury during the operation of lowering.
Having been drawn to a certain height the tackle is lowered and the horse guided into the hold, whereas soon as he touches the firm deck he gives a few plunges as if in astonishment at his safety after his aerial flight. He is then taken away to his appointed stall. Most of the animals were very restive under the operation.
The Glendalough, transport, No.56, in which the troop embarked, is a sailing vessel from Liverpool, of 1058 tone burthen, Captain Howsan, master. She has been fitted up in a superior styie for the accommodation of the troop. The chief cabin is appropriated to the officers in command - namely, Captain Edmund Peel, Lieutenant A.W. Saltmarshe, and Comet Vansittart. Assistant Surgeon Wilkins also proceeds with this division.
On ths second deck ten tables are fitted, five on each side, for tbe exclusive accommodation of the soldiers. Beneath this deck is the hold in which the horses have been placed. This is separated longitudinally into three compartments, those on each side being appropriated to the horses which stand side by side, their heads towards the centre, enclosed by barriers padded to prevent them being bruised. To preserve them also from the danger to which they would be liable were they to lie down, a sling is prepared for every horse, which being fastened to a beam above, affords him support. The third and centre division is for the men to feed and otherwise attend on the animals. The base of this floor is formed of casks; the horses stand on a dunnage laid fiat, whilst in the centre there is a quantity of shingling and iron ballast.
The vessel is amply supplied with pressed hay, and every other; description of provender requisite for the well being of both men and horses. An hospital is fitted up on the larboard side of the second deck; in the corresponding position on the starboard side there are four enclosed berths for the women who are to accompany the troop. For the greater protection of the vessel there are on board four six-pounder guns, in the management of which the crew have been instructed.
The number of horses embarked was 50, 48 troop and seven officers' horses. The operation of lowering commenced at half-past eleven o'clock, and continued for several hours, each horse taking on an average ten minutes to stow safely away. The Glendalough will be towed out of the harbour this morning. Captain Cooke's troop will embark this morning, about ten o clock. The remaining portions of the regiment will follow as soon as the transports are ready to receive them.
ELEVENTH HUSSARS - ALLEGED DESERTION FROM QUARTERS
Between the hours of one and two o clock yesterday a crowd of people were gathered in Dame-street, at the corner, of Parliament-street, having been attracted by the scene of a violent scuffle between a couple of constables of police and a man dressed in the uniform of a private in the Eleventh Hussars, then under orders for immediate embarkation for service in the east. The soldier resisted the police with great violence. He struck out at the constables right and left, and after a severe struggle, during which the hussar cap and uniform, became sadly bemired, the constables succeeded in conveying the prisoner to the Head Police-office.It appeared that a sergeant of the Eleventh Hussars had called at the office of the G police division and had given information of the absence of the prisoner and of another private of the same corps from quarters, at a time when their presence was required on parade, previous to the regiment proceeding to embark at Kingstown. The prisoner was discovered by the police in Dominick-street, and after some trouble conveyed to the Head Office.
The prisoner, who, it appears, is a young man of some property, and who bad ?? himself in order to make some, arrangements with a solicitor, was conveyed under escort to barracks. The other man of the same regiment, who had been reported as also absent from quarters, was subsequently apprehended and conveyed to barracks by the police constables.
[Source: The Freeman's Journal, 9 May 1854, BL_0000056_18540509_013_0004.pdf (accessed 15.7.2017).]
[PB: Loy-Smith refers.]
The following officers and non-commissioned officers embarked for active service in 1854:
Lieutenant-Colonel the Earl of Cardigan, commanding 11th PAO Hussars
Major Douglas
'C' Troop
Captain Peel
Lieutenant Inglis
Cornet Annersley (died on board ship 28th September 1854) [sic? Lieut. Robert Annesley]
Troop Sergeant-major Silver
'D' Troop
Captain Dallas
Lieutenant Trevelyan
Cornet Vansittart
Troop Sergeant-major Parker (died in Bulgaria 23rd August 1854)
'E' Troop
Captain Cresswell (died at the Bulganak 19th September 1854)
Lieutenant Saltmarsh (died in Bulgaria 3rd September 1854)
Cornet Roger Palmer
Troop Sergeant-major Pettit (died at the Tchernaya 25th September 1854)
'F' Troop
Captain Cook
Lieutenant Dunn
Cornet Houghton (mortally wounded at Balaclava, died 22nd November 1854)
Troop Sergeant-major Loy Smith
Pay Master Healey
Assistant Surgeon Wilkin
Adjutant Ennis
Veterinary Surgeon Gloag
Quartermaster Kounts [PB: Henry Kauntze, 11H?]
Regimental Sergeant-major Bull
Surgeon St Croix Cross
[Add full ref: Loy-Smith, Part IV., pp.122-23]
[NB: Loy Smith writes about the embarkation. Also, with some feeling, his modified designs for lifting horses into and out of ships more safely (pp.78, 90). He also provides in unusual detail an account of the voyage out of the Asia. Check pp.77ff. I have transcribed this section as "LOY SMITH 77-123PART IV pp.77-123.doc" and added to the database.]
[?? Put all of Loy Smith online, in a number of pages, and make links from this page?]
The voyage out must have taken some considerable time as a letter from Captain Cresswell (one of the first to die from cholera) speaks of "a month's trip in the 'Penola' and only being off Oporto." It would seem to have taken some six weeks to reach Malta.
[PB: Cardigan, the commanding officer, made his way separately. Add info]
Disembarking at Varna towards the end of June, the regiment proceeded to Devna, where the Light Cavalry Brigade was concentrated.
In a later letter (never sent, as Major Cresswell's widow brought it back with her) he speaks of the great amount of sickness at Yeni Bazaar and that "our regiment keeps very healthy, we have only twenty sick."
By the 7th of September the Allied Fleet had left Varna and at 8.30 a.m. on the 16th of September the landing in the Crimea had begun.
On the 18th of September a troop of the 11th Hussars was sent on a short march into the country for a reconnaissance prior to the main march being made.
On reaching the valley of the Bulganak on the afternoon of the 19th September, Cardigan sent forward the 11th and the 13th Hussars to ascertain the strength of the enemy in that direction.
Going forward, they were fired on by a large force of some two thousand Russian cavalry supported by six thousand infantry and some artillery.
In bringing up other troops Lord Raglan now had the task of retiring without it provoking an action and the probable loss of his valuable cavalry troops.
This was carried out at a walk, two squadrons facing and always showing a front to the enemy.
The enemy guns firing over the heads of the cavalry at the British horse artillery caused Pte William Pennington to remark later:
"I recall how some of us more nervous fellows were bowing our heads over our horses' manes" and how angry and indignant was the tone of Major Peel's remonstrance, "What the hell are you bobbing your heads at."
It was at the Bulganak that Captain Cresswell died of cholera, having been taken ill whilst on piquet on the night of the 18th of September and was buried in the regiment's bivouac area before the action described took place.
On the 22nd of September, one officer, a Troop Sgt Major, two corporals and three privates were taken ill with cholera and all were dead by the 28th.
From then until the 15th of October the regiment was attached to the 3rd Division under Sir Richard England and later under Sir Lacey Evans and engaged on out-post and foraging duties.
The 15th of October saw them back with the Cavalry Brigade, now lately strengthened by the arrival of the Heavy Brigade from Varna, and were occupied on out-post duties and furnishing letter-parties to Divisional Headquarters.
Of their part in the Charge, many personal reminiscences were recorded by men of the 11th Hussars, one of the most interesting being that of Sgt Major George Loy Smith, which in its manuscript form is now in the Officer's Mess of the Royal Hussars.
One officer, two Sergeants, one Corporal, and twenty-two men were killed.
Four Sergeants, two Corporals, and twenty-one men were wounded and one Corporal and seven men were taken prisoner, the Russians being unable to capture any prisoners who had not been wounded or his horse shot.
The Victoria Cross was won by Lieutenant Dunn (the only one awarded to an officer in the Brigade) for saving the life of Sgt Bentley and going to the assistance of other men.
[PB: Lieutenant Dunn's actions were later depicted on a number of cigarette cards. For example... Player's series ?, published 1914?. (Other Crimea Light Brigade images are of Berryman and Farrell, and ??. For an earlier representation of Dunn saving Bentley, see the article "VC hero cards are a collector's dream", Scunthorpe Telegraph, 6 September 2012:http://chargeofthelightbrigade.com/allmen/allmenD/allmenD_11H/dunn_a_11H/dunn_a_11H_vc_cigcard.html (accessed 17.1.2014).
"Cigarette Card - The Charge of the Light Brigade | Wills's "Scissors" Cigarettes, "Heroic Deeds" (issued in India in 1913) #2 Lieutenant A.R.Dunn, 11th Hussars, winning the Victoria Cross during the Charge of the Light Brigade."
[Source: https://in.pinterest.com/pin/490610953138592082/ (accessed 3.4.2017).]
On the 11th of November the regiment moved from Balaclava to the plateau, encamping by the windmill at Inkerman.
The conditions of the winter of 1854-55 led to the Cavalry Division being dissolved.
This had numbered 2000 men when the campaign started, but by now (December) reduced to 200 available men and these and the few horses remaining were used to carry biscuit up to the front.
Casualties during 1854 were high.
Lost by death from sickness, four officers, thirty-two other ranks and seventy-nine horses.
Killed in action were twenty-six men and thirty-nine horses.
In an expedition to Kertch in March of 1855 some of the regiment were attached to other units, and following the arrival of drafts from England in May, July and September, were part of the Expeditionary Force to Eupatoria in October.
Although the work was of a trying nature, no serious fighting was done.
The 11th Hussars did not leave for Scutari with the remainder of the Cavalry Division in November, but remained at Kadekoi, now well provided for.
Their main duty was in the furnishing of letter-parties and orderlies.
One duty performed was the finding of an escort to General Sir William Codrington, consisting of an officer and thirty-six men.
Casualties during 1855 had been one officer, fifty men and 55 horses dead, and fifty-four men were invalided home.
The 11th "kept the ground" at the Reviews held in March, April and May of 1856 for the inspection of the whole of the British Army by General Luders.
They also formed a guard of honour for the presentation, on the 6th of June, of the Order of the Bath to officers of the Allied Armies.
In June the first detachment of the regiment sailed for England, and on the 4th of July the Headquarters and the remainder (under Lieutenant Colonel Peel) left the Crimea, arriving in England on the 28th of July and reaching Aldershot on the 30th.
[PB: Tony Margrave, as above.]
According to Medical History [PB: What is this?], the headquarters sailed from Balaklava on July 4, 1856. The regiment landed at Portsmouth on July 28th and marched to Aldershot where it was mustered on July 31, 1856. Apart from that the only other information traced on the repatriation of the regiment is this, taken from The Times:
The Argo, sailed from Balaklava, on May 24, 1856 and arrived Spithead Aug 4, 1856, carrying Lt G A Maddock, 11th Hussars (The Times, Aug 6, 1856, page 7, column B)
The Orinocco arrived Spithead, July 4, 1856 from the east with Maj Cooke, Lt Annesley, & Vet Surgn Bailie, 90 men & 44 horses (The Times, Sat July 5, 1856, page 5, column C).
The Calcutta sailed from Balaklava, on July 4th 1855, with 32 officers, and 237 NCOs & men of the 11th Hussars & arrived at Spithead, July 27, 1856 with (inter alia) Capt Dallas Yorke, Lts Cockburn & Yates, Cornet Wilkin, Asst Surgn Miller, Vet Surgeons Anthony & Gloag, & WM Kontze [PB: Kauntze].
The same day they were reviewed with that part of the Crimean Army not previously inspected by her Majesty.
The following day they were again inspected by the Queen who, in passing along the lines, asked Colonel Peel to point out those officers and men who had particularly distinguished themselves.
In common with the other regiments of the Brigade, a reduction in numbers was made, the establishment being fixed at six troops of 28 officers (including Staff), 443 other ranks and 300 horses.
The following February saw a further reduction of 58 men and 29 horses, but in July the whole of the cavalry was augmented to eight troops –a total of 627 men and 428 horses in each of the regiments.
On the 9th of October 1857 the regiment received orders to hold itself in readiness to embark for the East.
They did not go, however, and so only provided volunteers for those regiments which did.
From then until 1866 the regiment moved from place to place in England and Ireland, at times assisting the civil power.
On the 8th of May 1866 Lord Cardigan inspected his old regiment for the last time.
In his farewell speech he said:
"Eleventh Hussars, I assumed the command of you many years ago in Cawnpore.
You are returning to that distant land and you are sure, if the occasion arises, to distinguish yourselves in the field under your gallant Lieutenant-Colonel [Colonel Frazer, already decorated with the Victoria Cross].
You have my hearty good wishes.
I bid you farewell, and assure you that I am proud to be your Colonel."
Finally, on the 25th and 28th of July, seven Troops embarked on the "Agamemnon" and the "Renown".
After a good voyage out, during which no casualties occurred, they reached India by the 25th of October 1866, where they were to remain for the next ten years.