LIEUTENANT-COLONEL CHAMPION, OF THE 95TH. No officer engaged in the operations in the Crimea has more entitled himself to honourable record than Lieutenant-Colonel John George Champion, of the 95th. His reputation, however, is based on more than military prowess. He was born at Edinburgh, on the 5th of May, 1815, and having chosen the army as a profession, he was at an early age sent to Sandhurst. This officer was descended from an ancient Scottish family, his father, Major John Cary Champion (deceased), of the 21st Royal Fusiliers, tracing his ancestry to a very old date, while his mother, a daughter of William Urquhart, Esq., of Cromarty and Craigston, county of Aberdeen, was of the best blood in Scotland. At Sandhurst, Lieutenant-Colonel Champion was most studious, and he reaped the full reward of his attention by passing unplucked through a severe examination. On the 2nd of August, 1831, he received his commission as Ensign in the 95th (Derbyshire) Infantry, and served with his regiment, up to the present war, on home stations, in the Mediterranean, Ceylon, and China, without once absenting himself from duty. He became lieutenant on the 8th of May, 1835, captain the 2nd of February, 1838, and senior major on the 11th of November, 1851. The name of Champion is gratefully remembered by botanists and zoologists; and those who devote themselves to such studies, may see his name attached to the contributions it had been his wont to make to Kew Gardens and the British Museum. When they behold the names Rhododendrom Championi,' "Rodolei Championi," and Eythus Championi,' let them bear in mind that he was not only an accomplished botanist and zoologist, but a soldier, whose dauntless bearing (before the common enemy of the more peaceful pursuits it had for a number of years been his delight to conserve) entitles him to additional reverence. His name is also well known to the learned and scientific bodies in his native Scotland. His deeds as a soldier against Russian battalions must enshrine him in their remembrance, and enhance the value of his gifts to their institutions. 66 66 When the army reached Eupatoria, the 95th were in good fighting trim. The regiment was attached to Evans's division, and was under the direct control of Pennefather, forming as it did the flower of his brigade. At the battle of the Alma, Lieut.-Colonel Champion distinguished himself; and the commander of the regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Webber Smith, having been wounded in the engagement, he succeeded him. For his gallantry in our first encounter with the enemy, he received the praise of Lord Raglan, and was specially commended by his lordship to the Minister of War. The command of the regiment now devolved upon him, and in all its privations and labours he took more than his full share. In the middle of the night he would carefully inspect the outposts entrusted to the 95th, and he frequently returned to his tent to be in time for relieving other soldiers in the trenches instead of taking rest. His health was however unimpaired, and he gladly submitted to the severe ordeal. In answer to suggestions for taking more care of himself, he would reply, "We shall have Sebastopol very soon, and then we can rest comfortably." He had the greatest fear of the enemy making a stealthy march upon the camp in overwhelming numbers during darkness, and hence his untiring industry with regard to the outposts in keeping of the 95th; a praiseworthy vigilance which, if more general on the part of others, might have saved us from sad consequences. In the battle fought by Sir De Lacy Evans on the 27th of October, 1854, Lieutenant-Colonel Champion, then Major commanding the 95th, behaved most gallantly. It was by his men and the 30th regiment that the Russians were made to pay dearly for their attack on that day. He led his 95th to the charge in a manner highly lauded by all who had witnessed his advance. The onset was murderous to the enemy-they were literally routed, and pursued to within cover of the town of Sebastopol. General Evans, on this affair, observes: They (the enemy) were then literally chased by the 30th and 95th regiments over the ridges and down towards the head of the bay." In a subsequent despatch this brave officer is flatteringly spoken of by his general. 66 He At the bloody battle of Inkermann, Lieutenant-Colonel Champion made the enemy feel the effects of British pluck, to their cost, if not quite to their tastes. The 41st regiment had been defending itself against thousands, and eyes were anxiously looking for support, when suddenly Champion rushed to the rescue, his gallant Derbyshires cheering as they came on at the " double-quick.' had then but a wing of his fine fellows for this point, the others being in deadly strife some distance off. It was a seasonable relief to the poor 41st, who had been for over an hour in momentary expectation of decimation. They rapidly repulsed the enemy, and gave them a parting volley that sent them broken and dismayed back on their supports. This done, an order came from Pennefather to Champion, to speed on to the assistance of our brave Grenadiers. He obeyed with alacrity. He found our bearskins withstanding an immense mass of Russian columns, but our devoted fellows dropping at every discharge. The 41st had also arrived, and the reinforcement led to a scene of hand-to-hand fighting, in which officers and men dealt blows at will, regardless of generalship, where nothing but indomitable courage and stout arms could serve. After a struggle which expended the ammunition of our soldiers, they, with the bayonet and butt-ends of their muskets, succeeded in driving before them the disordered enemy. There was a battery, however, a hundred yards off, and some of the Guards were seeking in vain to get it out of the possession of a Russian phalanx, upon whom all their ammunition had been expended without materially diminishing the number of the enemy. Lieutenant-Colonel Champion dashed at the head of his gallant 95th to the assistance of the Guards. He at once proposed to charge into the battery. To give way by retreat, no man could for a mo.. LIEUTENANT-COLONEL CHAMPION, OF THE 95TH. No officer engaged in the operations in the Crimea has more entitled himself to honourable record than Lieutenant-Colonel John George Champion, of the 95th. His reputation, however, is based on more than military prowess. He was born at Edinburgh, on the 5th of May, 1815, and having chosen the army as a profession, he was at an early age sent to Sandhurst. This officer was descended from an ancient Scottish family, his father, Major John Cary Champion (deceased), of the 21st Royal Fusiliers, tracing his ancestry to a very old date, while his mother, a daughter of William Urquhart, Esq., of Cromarty and Craigston, county of Aberdeen, was of the best blood in Scotland. At Sandhurst, Lieutenant-Colonel Champion was most studious, and he reaped the full reward of his attention by passing unplucked through a severe examination. On the 2nd of August, 1831, he received his commission as Ensign in the 95th (Derbyshire) Infantry, and served with his regiment, up to the present war, on home stations, in the Mediterranean, Ceylon, and China, without once absenting himself from duty. He became lieutenant on the 8th of May, 1835, captain the 2nd of February, 1838, and senior major on the 11th of November, 1851. The name of Champion is gratefully remembered by botanists and zoologists; and those who devote themselves to such studies, may see his name attached to the contributions it had been his wont to make to Kew Gardens and the British Museum. When they behold the names Rhododendrom Championi," Rodolei Championi," and "Eythus Championi,' let them bear in mind that he was not only an accomplished botanist and zoologist, but a soldier, whose dauntless bearing (before the common enemy of the more peaceful pursuits it had for a number of years been his delight to conserve) entitles him to additional reverence. His name is also well known to the learned and scientific bodies in his native Scotland. His deeds as a șoldier against Russian battalions must enshrine him in their remembrance, and enhance the value of his gifts to their institutions. 66 66 When the army reached Eupatoria, the 95th were in good fighting trim. The regiment was attached to Evans's division, and was under the direct control of Pennefather, forming as it did the flower of his brigade. At the battle of the Alma, Lieut.-Colonel Champion distinguished himself; and the commander of the regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Webber Smith, having been wounded in the engagement, he succeeded him. For his gallantry in our first encounter with the enemy, he received the praise of Lord Raglan, and was specially commended by his lordship to the Minister of War. The command of the regiment now devolved upon him, and in all its privations and labours he took more than his full share. In the middle of the night he would carefully inspect the outposts entrusted to the 95th, and he frequently returned to his tent to be in time for relieving other soldiers in the trenches instead of taking In 1854, upon the appointment of Sir De Lacy Evans to a division of the army of the East, he appointed Captain Allix as his senior aide-de-camp. He accompanied his general to Scutari, and thence to Varna. When the expedition to the Crimea was resolved upon, Captain Allix was found by his chief to be up to the mark in every respect. In getting the division ready for embarkation, the generals of brigade had every assistance from the intelligence of the young aide-de-camp, a matter of no small moment to those officers who at times are greatly embarrassed by the ignorance or stupidity of hereditary soldiers, whose commanding abilities are equal to delaying a march, or ensuring, by a blunder, the certainty of the loss of a battle-nothing in that line coming amiss to such embryo generals. Well indeed might Sir De Lacy Evans value his first aide-de-camp. There was a trying period at Varna, and his division was kept from the lethargy that so generally engendered prostration of body and mind. In Allix he found an able assistant in carrying out the measures that saved his corps from the wholesale sickness then threatening destruction to an unlaureled army. And Allix was proud in serving under his veteran chief, whose excellence in many a letter to this country he enlarged upon, with the enthusiasm of one who understood the qualifications for command, and who had found them in the hero of some fifty battles. In the battle of the Alma, Captain Allix behaved just as his general would wish to be served. In crossing the stream to get up the heights to the enemy's position, the gallant officer displayed intrepidity of the highest order. Always by the side of Evans, in readiness to convey orders to the generals of brigade, he never flinched from the showers of lead and shell in front, in quest of shelter under the pretence of hurrying up the rear-a shrinking indeed unknown to the veriest milksop our staff service has ever been graced with. Still such opportunities of shelter present themselves, and it is creditable in a high degree to one who under a fire of the most deadly character penetrates it undismayed. It is well known that Evans's division crossed at a most difficult point of the river Alma, and that indeed many of his men had to swim for it, while the bank up which they had to scramble was ploughed by shot and shell in such profusion as might appal any but the most heroic in approaching. Allix went through this murderous ordeal to the entire satisfaction of his general, whose commands coolly given were as coolly conveyed by him to the leaders of brigade. In all the glory acquired on the Alma, Captain Allix was entitled to a full share; and in Lord Raglan's recommendation of meritorious officers to the Minister of War, he was handsomely spoken of. At the battle on the 26th of October, Allix rendered great services, not only in discharging his duties as first aide-de-camp to General Evans, but by partaking in the combat during the fierce affair of the enemy on our outposts, and which gallant and protracted defence gave time for Sir De Lacy Evans to bring up his supports. For his conduct in this affair he received the thanks ment think of, and to charge home to close quarters was the only hope for victory. All the senior officers had been disabled, and the brave Scotsman stood next in order. With a loud and thrilling cheer, the last ever to be given by many of those warriors, he headed the deadly spring upon the battery, and had succeeded in mounting it, when a ball through the breast and lungs felled him. He held on to that parapet with a devotedness rewarded by witnessing the complete success of the charge, and the disaster of the enemy, who dropped in hundreds under the sturdy blows of the soldiers he had so valorously led to conquer. This brave fellow was at the close of the battle borne from the field, and attended to. He had but little hope of surviving, but was fully resigned to his fate, and cheered himself to the last moment of his life by allusions to the scenes he had participated in on that day. He died on the 30th of November, at the hospital in Scutari, deeply regretted by all his comrades, officers and men, in the 39th year of his age, and, like many others, just as his qualifications for command had found scope for development. CAPTAIN WILLIAM KENT ALLIX, OF THE 1ST FOOT. THIS meritorious young officer, who was the third son of Charles Allix, Esq., of Willoughby, near Grantham, was born in the year 1823. His choice of a profession was the army, and after a course of study at Harrow, he was placed at the Military College, Sandhurst. He devoted himself to the theory of the noble science of war, in a manner that so attracted the notice of his instructors as to lead them to prophesy a brilliant career for their pupil. He passed so excellent an examination in 1840 as to cause him to be specially mentioned for the solidity of his acquirements; and as a reward of real merit, he was gazetted without purchase, in that year, on the 28th of July, to an ensigncy, in the 1st (Royal Regiment). He joined the depôt of his regiment at Buttevant (Ireland) a few weeks after his appointment, and early in the spring of 1841 he accompanied a detachment of his corps to its head-quarters at Gibraltar, and became lieutenant on the 23rd of June, 1843. After a short time he was made adjutant of his battalion, an appointment which he held until September, 1852, and which he resigned on being promoted to a captaincy. served twice in Canada, and was with his regiment in the West Indies. When the experiment of a camp at Chobham was decided on, Captain Allix was selected by Sir De Lacy Evans as his brigadier-major; and he also had the honour of serving another general of brigade (Sir Richard England) in the same capacity By both generals his talents were appreciated. During the many field days in Surrey, he never committed a blunder, notwithstanding that the occasion was the greatest concentration of troops in England since the last war, and that the duties were accordingly most onerous. He |