THE EARL OF LUCAN, COMMANDER OF THE CAVALRY IN THE CRIMEA CORNET HUGH MONTGOMERY, OF THE 13TH LIGHT DRAGOONS CAPTAIN CARTWRIGHT, OF THE RIFLE BRIGADE CAPTAIN BLAND, OF THE 57TH FOOT LIEUTENANT-COLONEL COWELL, OF THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS LIEUTENANT-COLONEL CHAMPION, OF THE 95TH 97 CAVALRY AT BALAKLAVA GENERAL THE HONOURABLE SIR GEORGE CATHCART, K.C.B. VISCOUNT CHEWTON, OF THE SCOTS FUSILIER GUARDS CAPTAIN BUTLER, THE HERO OF SILISTRIA GENERAL STRANGWAYS, OF THE ROYAL ARTILLERY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS LIEUTENANT-GENERAL THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, OUR HEROES OF THE CRIMEA. FIELD MARSHAL LORD RAGLAN, G.C.B., P.C. LORD RAGLAN, better known up to a very recent period as Lord Fitzroy Somerset, is the eighth son of the fifth Duke of Beaufort, whose death ensued in the year 1803, while the subject of this sketch was a mere boy. His lordship was born in the year 1788, and having been educated for the military service, at the age of sixteen he was gazetted a Cornet in the 4th (Queen's Own Light) Dragoons, on the 9th of June, 1804. He obtained his Lieutenancy on the 30th of May, 1805; was made Captain on the 5th of May, 1808, and attached to the garrison battalion. With this corps he saw no service, having been appointed to a Captaincy in the 43rd Infantry on the 18th of August, 1808; Brevet-Major 9th of June, 1811; Brevet Lieut.Colonel 27th of April, 1812; Captain and Lieut.-Colonel of the 1st Foot Guards 25th of July, 1814, and Colonel on the 28th of August, 1815; Major-General 27th of May, 1825. He further received, on the 19th of November, 1830, the Colonelcy of the 53rd (the Shropshire) Foot; and on the 28th of June, 1838, was made Lieutenant-General, and received the rank of Local General on the 21st of February, 1854, just fifty years after entering the army. After his appointment to the 43rd Foot, the Duke of Wellington was preparing to depart for Denmark, and selecting as one of his staff Lord Fitzroy Somerset, his lordship was precluded from joining that regiment. In 1807 he accompanied Wellington in the Danish expedition, and took part in the attack upon the enemy at Riöge, where, after a brave resistance, the Danes were defeated, and driven to seek shelter within the defences of Copenhagen. Though on the staff, Lord Fitzroy Somerset encountered as military secretary and aide-de-camp to his general, all the perils incident to this action, having been the bearer of instructions to the heads of divisions during the heat of the struggle. At the siege of Copenhagen he acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his chief. When the city was in flames the order was given to storm, whereupon his lordship earnestly solicited to be allowed to join the Forlorn Hope. The request was not complied with, and happily the hazardous undertaking was spared our troops, within a few minutes of their being about to attempt the breaches, by the capitulation of the enemy. The Danish fleet falling into our hands B closed the expedition, and our army returned home, where they were hailed as victors. In the despatches the services of his lordship were borne testimony to by that “Iron Duke," who had no words to spare for awarding praise where commendation was unearned. Young as he was, his lordship had given so many proofs of vigour of mind, and aptitude for high service, as to lead to his being fully appreciated by a commander who read character at a glance. On Wellington departing for the Peninsula, he was accompanied by his lordship in the capacity of military private secretary and aide-de-camp. In this post his lordship continued throughout the eventful career of his great master while measuring swords with the brilliant generals of the French empire. No other soldier had so glorious an opportunity of learning the art of war, as had Lord Fitzroy Somerset; the confidant of Wellington in the closet, the partaker in the deliberations of every council in the war and the writer of all important orders upon the carrying out of which the destinies of Europe hinged, he must have been an apt pupil to have been retained in so high a school even to its very breaking up. Lord Raglan has been termed a mere penman in the Peninsula, but those who say so, forget that he distinguished himself in many a fiercely-contested field. In the engagements at Fuentes d'Onor on the 3rd and 5th of May, in the year 1811, he not only bore orders of the most vital importance to the lieutenants of his chief, but fought most gallantly. True, he was not active in all the smaller affairs, for he had to attend those brain-racking councils, where immense plans were agreed upon, and where his responsibilities were great; but in the herculean encounters, where laurels were to be reaped only through direful carnage, his lordship was in the van among other choice spirits. In the battle of Busaco he was wounded, but kept the field. At Badajoz he was in the storming. On the night of the 6th of April, 1812, that bloody attack included Lord Fitzroy Somerset, and as the besiegers fell in piles before the walls, he still survived to lead with others through the fiery breach those gallant soldiers who, once within the citadel, secured the victory. It was to him that the Governor of Badajoz surrendered. In the following July the two armies menaced each other near Salamanca, and on the 22nd of that month, Marmont, making sure, as he thought, of outflanking our left, directed Thomière to lead by a circuitous route his division, for the purpose of dealing us the meditated blow. Some two hours had expired in the essay of this movement, before it had become known to Wellington, who, on perceiving the weakened position of the enemy, seized the advantage, and gave orders for falling upon the French Marshal, while Pakenham at the same time rapidly following Thomière, and attacking him in the rear, a complete rout of the French army ensued. In this action his lordship distinguished himself more actively than by merely playing the part of an aide-de-camp: he was in the thick of the fight, and received from his illustrious chief a rebuke for over-temerity. His value in |