Early in 1854 the regiment was ordered by the War Office to hold itself in readiness for service abroad and in consequence was formed into four service troops.
It had been intended for the regiment to march overland through France and embark at Marseilles, but this, for reasons now unknown, was cancelled. Only en-route for Canterbury and the coast was this order changed and the regiment went into billets near Portsmouth.
The transport vessels were "Harbinger", "Negotiator", "Calliope", "Cullodon",and the "Mary Anne".
Sailing from England between the 8th and the 12th of May 1854 a total of 20 officers, 292 other ranks, 298 horses and 11 women belonging to the regiment had embarked.
By the 2nd of June all the ships had arrived at Varna and the troops encamped about a mile inland.
Most of the ships had reported "incidents" of a varying nature.
In the "Mary Anne", the captain had suddenly altered course and the ship giving a lurch, the ballast had broken away from its moorings, rolled under the horses' legs and thrown them on their beam ends, whereupon all the women began to cry.
She later broke both her main and mizzen masts when entering the Dardenelles.
Pte Mitchell in his Reminiscences tells of his voyage in the "Cullodon". Referring to the filling of the water-barrels at Malta he said,
"All the horses had to be shifted in order to get at them, they being under the flooring where the horses stood ... About a yard thickness of ballast had to be moved before we could get at the bung-holes."
He also mentions the stores that were aboard:
"The beef had made several voyages to and from India and then returned to stores. Several barrels of peas even had the date "1818" plainly painted upon them. It was impossible even to boil them."
While at Devna two troops of the 13th, with other troops of the Brigade, and with Lord Cardigan in command, went out on a patrol with the idea of getting as close as possible to Silestria, which the Russians were besieging, and to find out if any of the Cossack troops had crossed the Danube. This was later to be dubbed the "Sore-backed Reconnaissance".
The siege had been ended three days before, it appearing that the patrol had been magnified into an advance by the Allies to the relief of the place. During this patrol the two troops underwent many experiences and privations and on their return, "they were in a poor condition indeed, both men and horses. They had started out on robust health, but returned mere shadows of their former selves."
On the 28th of August the entire Light Brigade was inspected by Lord Lucan and all the men unfit for active service were weeded out.
Sickness, too, had taken its toll. In one week five men of the 13th were dead from cholera.
On the 1st of September the regiment — with the exception of Captain Goad and 21 men, for whom there was no room — were embarked in the steam transport, "Jason".
Those left embarked the same day aboard the "Simla".
Three men were buried at sea from the "Jason" during the voyage to the Crimea, which lasted 7–14 September.
Accounts differ of the first engagement with the Russians, but skirmishing and some artillery action gave the regiment the doubtful distinction of having the first man in the British Army to be wounded in action.
Three other men are also recorded as having been wounded around this time.
At the battle of the Alma the task of the cavalry was to watch that of the Russians, the 13th being placed on the left flank of the Army.
Dismounted in a melon field, they came under cannon-fire.
It has never been explained why the enemy, so numerically superior, made no feint attack on this front.
Not until the whole Russian army was in retreat was the order given to advance.
Picking up stragglers may have been the purpose of this, but the main body showing a front until dark, the 13th remained on the hills, watching them.
After taking part in the capture of Balaclava town the cavalry went into bivouac until the 7th of October.
From then until the 24th, patrolling seems to have been the order of the day.
It was during this period that Sgt Alderson was taken prisoner at the Tchernya river.
The parade state of the 13th Light Dragoons on the morning of the 25th of October varies from different sources, numbers from 103 to 128 coming from regimental records.
Just who was actually in command has been disputed and no proof exists even of which officers were actually present.
Two squadrons (four troops) were engaged, the 13th being on the right of the front line (with the 17th Lancers). Lieutenant Percy Smith (acting Adjutant) stated that "when he formed up the remains of the regiment after the charge he could only get hold of 14 mounted men, "and one of those was on a Russian horse which he had caught after losing his own...Possibly a few more horses had got back before me and attached themselves to other regiments."
The total losses of the regiment were three officers, a Troop Sgt Major, and ten rank and file killed, thirty rank and file were wounded and twelve men, including two Troop Sgt Majors, taken prisoner.
Again, these figures are differently stated elsewhere.
During the charge the Victoria Cross was won by Sgt Joseph Malone, who assisted two N.C.O.s of the 17th Lancers in bringing off the battlefield Captain Webb of the 17th Lancers, who had been severely wounded.
At Inkerman the regiment, in common with other regiments of the Brigade, was under fire.
Captain Jenyn's wrote:
"They put us under a very heavy fire at Inkerman, but luckily for us — and no thanks to any General — we had a slight rise on our flank, which ricocheted the balls just over our heads.
Some ship's shells bowled over a few men and horses though.
It was useless, as we could not act."
The winter of 1854-55 was a terrible time for the regiment.
Horses died of sheer starvation; they would not only gnaw the manes and tails of living animals, but devour the hair and skin of those that died in the lines. Saddlery, blankets, ropes and picket-pegs were attacked and it was not safe for a man to approach a horse carelessly. Sickness was rife amongst the men and by December the regiment could only muster seventy men and twenty-eight horses.
On the 19th of February 1855 the regiment, when ordered to turn out as strong a force as possible to go out on a reconnaissance, could only muster five mounted men, one Sergeant, one trumpeter and three privates.
Up to the 9th of September 1855 (the final date to be covered by the Sebastopol clasp award) their numbers had been increased by a total of 194 men and 97 horses.
On the 16th of August 1855 the 13th had turned out with a total strength of some 200 of all ranks, and drawn up where they had lost their comrades on the 25th of October 1854 they watched the Russians in full retreat being pursued by the French and Sardinians after a battle lasting many hours.
Colonel Tremayne wrote of this: "Hardly a shot came at us, but had we been sent forward against a Russian battery still in action this would have been over two bridges, one over a canal and the other over the river Tchernya.
Neither the river or the canal could have been forded and a horse shot on either side would have caused havoc.
Small wonder Marshal Pellisier, the Commander-in-Chief, sent an A.D.C. to stop them, saying in effect, 'Why should they go to useless slaughter on the same ground again?'"
A further draft of fifty rank and file, without horses, arrived on the 27th of September 1855 under Lieut Robert McNeill.
(A point of interest here is that of these men only some are named as accompanying the regiment to Eupatoria, although only two as such have yet been fully recorded to date, seemingly came under the same ruling as the draft of the men of the 4th Light Dragoons, who although they too arrived in the Crimea after the qualifying date of September the 9th, 1855, were nevertheless awarded the Crimean medal only for this service.
A separate medal roll exists for this latter regiment, but nothing has been found, if one ever existed, for the 13th Light Dragoons.)
On the 9th of October the regiment embarked on the steam transport "Medway", under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Doherty, with a total strength of 8 officers, 5 Staff, 270 rank and file and 220 horses.
The intention was for the regiment, along with other regiments in the Brigade, and accompanied by some British Horse Artillery, to go to Eupatoria as an Expeditionary Force, under Lord George Paget.
However hard the French General D'Allonville tried to bring the Russians into action, little was done. As Colonel Tremayne wrote, "They tried to draw us into an entrenched position, but never waited for us..."
One highlight was for the Light Brigade men under Colonel Tottenham to cut off a convoy of supplies destined for the enemy.
This success brought the capture of some thousands of sheep and a number of bullocks, giving the prospect of a welcome supply of fresh meat for some time to come.
Leaving Eupatoria on the 29th of November the regiment embarked for Scutari, where it was proposed to winter.
Here they received a final draft of two officers, a sergeant and twenty men, plus a small number of men from Balaclava who had been left there on going to Eupatoria) and the rejoining of nine ex-prisoners of war.
The total strength of the regiment was now 398 men and 294 horses and Colonel Tremayne wrote of the drafts:
"Most were young men and had been imperfectly drilled, and it was hard work to bring them up to our standards.
It required a lot of tact too, for the old soldiers who had been through the campaign knew their drill and there were one or two young subalterns just freshly out from England and who had never seen a shot fired in anger, who spoke to these old soldiers as if they had just joined...
Many of these young men went into hospital, and died there.
We later on had some men from a Militia regiment [the Warwicks], who were older, and although not the beau ideal of a Light Dragoon were good and serviceable men."
At Scutari the men were quartered in an old wooden-built Turkish palace, the Haidar Pasha.
At 2 a.m. on the morning of the 2nd of February 1856 the 'Fire' alarm was given, and in a short time the building was gutted. Nearly the whole of the men's necessaries, clothing, arms and appointments, were destroyed.
Sgt Mitchell stated that "the fire was caused by a man and his wife going to bed drunk, had a quarrel and knocked over the stove which was in the centre of the room."
When, on the 25th of April 1856, the whole of the Cavalry Division was reviewed by the Sultan of Turkey, the 13th were not able to participate fully.
They were, however, allowed to form the Guard of Honour with the proviso that a certain number were able to appear in review order.
By great perseverance and strenuous exertions the required strength was obtained and they duly furnished the Guard.
During the Eastern campaign 11 N.C.O.s and men were killed in action and 30 were wounded.
Of the drafts 29 had died of disease and 22 were invalided to England over a period of ten months.
The men taken prisoner of war had lost three of their number by death, three men were guilty of desertion (and these were men who came out on drafts) and not the original men who had sailed with the regiment.
273 non-commissioned officers and men had sailed from England in 1854 and in the drafts up to August of 1855, 245 non-commissioned officers and men had joined, making a total of 538 other ranks who had seen service in the Crimea.
One Victoria Cross, one Legion of Honour, one Sardinian Medal, one Order of the Medjidie, two French Medailles Militaires and five D.C.M.'s were awarded to these men.
See images and keys at Roger Fenton: 13th Light Dragoons.
[There are at least two photographs of the 13th. The National Army Museum has a partly-annotated version of one photograph here [Image numbers: 127799 and 1004876]. This version seems not to be in the Library of Congress collection. CHECK. Naming varies. I have annotated one of these photographs.]
"Not shown" means there is no outline of the man in the key. "Not named" means there is an outline but no number or name. "Unknown" is as in the original key.
[PB: Add notes on this second image, including an attempt at identifying men. NB Decide which is the first image and which the second, and re-number accordngly. Use the same names and URLs for Fenton, Chamberlayne, Jenyns, Hunt and other men. Simplify and standardise.]
The 1st of May brought the order to embark for England and four days later the steamship "Assistance"sailed from the harbour at Constantinople and arrived at Portsmouth on the 27th of the same month after a voyage of 23 days.
Dis-embarking at Gosport, a review by Queen Victoria took place in the Royal Clarence Dockyard, the regiment re-embarking on the same day for Ireland, arriving at Queenstown on the 30th of May.
After being joined by the two Depot Troops from Ireland, the 13th, in company with other cavalry units, had to reduce and by the 1st of March 1856 this had brought their numbers down to 446 of all ranks.
Most of the reduction was brought about by time-expired men, those who were unfit for further service and transfers to other units, mostly to the newly-formed Military Train and the 8th Hussars.
During the General Election held in Ireland in that year the regiment was employed in the aid of the civil power.
This was to be the pattern of their life until the move to Scotland in late 1859, and later to England in 1861.
From then on until August 1866 when the regiment was ordered to embark for Canada there was little to chronicle except the movement of troops from place to place.
The reason for the move was the apprehension of the Government of serious trouble in Canada following the abortive attempts of the Fenians to invade Canada from America during May and June 1866.
On the 11th of September the regiment entrained for Liverpool and embarked the same night aboard the "Tarifa"" and the "Europa", the latter being a paddle-steamer and the former a screw.
The passage across was a very bad one, the vessels meeting with heavy gales during the whole of the voyage.
18 horses were lost on the "Tarifa", but only two on the "Europa".
The unmounted men, to a total of 152, left on the 12th of September aboard the "Damascus".
The wives and children, who followed, did not reach Canada until the end of October.
Little of note happened during the stay in Canada, apart from inspections by various visiting generals, where the regiment was roughly equally based between Toronto and Montreal.
The troop-horses of the regiment were sold before leaving, all 290 of them, realising a total of £7, 787/1/2d.
An advance party left on the mail-steamer "Germany "on the 1st of July 1868 with 30 officers' horses, followed by the now re-united squadrons to a total of 19 officers and 403 N.C.O.s and men.
They were accompanied on the same ship, the H.M.S."Simoan" of the Royal Navy, by the 4th Brigade Royal Artillery, the regiment being attached to the 13th when in Canada.
[PB: See also my blog from June 2015, "A new wife for 1199 Sergeant Major John Allen, 13th Light Dragoons, and the birth of Canada", here.]
A point of interest arises here, for on the 23rd of April 1871 a letter was sent to the War Office pointing out that because of an order received in August of 1870 to recruit without reference to the establishment it was found that the numbers allocated to recruits had reached the numbers of men still serving.
A reply dated the 10th of May gave authority that,
"The letters O.S.should be placed against the old Regimental series of numbers of those men still serving which are identified with the New Series numbers born by men recently enlisted."
From this it would appear that men awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct Medal around this time would have had the letters O.S. placed in front to their regimental numbers, although at the time of writing none have been seen to bear this out.
From this date few of the men of the Crimean era remained, many having been left in England as Depot troops, others had died or been discharged in Canada and by the time the regiment sailed from Portsmouth on the 8th of January 1875 aboard the India-bound troopship "Serapia", only the odd one or two were left.