PRINCE EDWARD SAXE-WEIMAR, KP, GCB, GCH, GCVO, PC, in the CRIMEAN WAR Summary Prince Edward Joined the Army Aged 17 and On
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PRINCE EDWARD SAXE-WEIMAR, KP, GCB, GCH, GCVO, PC, IN THE CRIMEAN WAR Summary Prince Edward joined the Army aged 17 and on the eve of the Crimean War was a 30-year- old Company Commander with 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards. He had never been in action. Throughout the campaign, he was in the thick of the front line fighting, even at Inkerman where he modestly claimed that ‘I was not in the thick of it’. Outgunned and outnumbered by the Russians for most of the time, ravaged by sickness and hampered by an outmoded command and administration still stuck in a Napoleonic Wars mindset, the British Army nevertheless distinguished itself in its resilience, determination and toughness in bloody hand to hand fighting. A courageous and dedicated officer, Prince Edward was much loved by his men and fellow officers1. Despite being a cousin of the Queen, he shared the same dangers and discomforts as the rest of his Regiment and his decision to remain on in the Crimea as an A.D.C. to Lord Raglan demonstrated his commitment to soldiering alongside his Battalion. Chronology and outline description of events 1841 1 June: Prince Edward received a commission in the Grenadier Guards. See Record of Service attached. 1850 21 November: Adjutant2 3rd Battalion. 1854 22 February: Prince Edward accompanied the 3rd Battalion of The Grenadier Guards with the Army of the East to the Crimea. The battalion arrived at Scutari on 28 April. See photograph attached. 9 July: He received a brevet majority3. His regimental rank was Captain. ALMA 1 There are two light hearted entries about Prince Edward in Higginson's "Seventy-one Years of a Guardsman's Life" as follows: Page 92-Aboard SS Ripon 27th Feb 1854 "I am on the back of Prince Edward and gained a signal victory over Balgonie mounted on Colonel Cox." Page 130-Camp Aladyn 13th Jul 1854 "Prince Edward has been with me and he has lost 30lb. since he left England, 10lb. since he has been here. We little men, you see, have the pull. 2 The Adjutant was/is the Commanding Officer’s personal staff officer. The position is only offered to young officers of outstanding ability. 3 The brevet conferred rank in the British Army, but importantly, not in the regiment. Advancement in the regiment could take place generally only by purchase or by seniority, and when there was a suitable vacancy (caused by the death, retirement or promotion of a more senior officer). When on duty with his regiment, only regimental rank counted. 20 September: The Battalion advanced to the Alma River. Prince Edward’s Company, No 2, was standing on the main road leading to the bridge at Bourliouk and as a battery of the First Division was in front of it and especially attracting the fire of the enemy’s guns, his company was for some time exposed to the same direct fire. Hamilton writes; “Nothing could have surpassed the steadiness and coolness of the Grenadier Guards under fire on this occasion…they had the advantage of being thoroughly well officered.” BALACLAVA 26 September: Together with No 1 company [Col Lindsay], Prince Edward and No 2 Company are sent into Balaclava to protect the town. 27 September: Prince Edward took over No 1 Company. SEVASTOPOL 19 October: During the siege of Sevastopol, Prince Edward and Lt Davies4 were struck by the splinters of a shell that exploded close to them. The Prince was struck in the leg but the force of the blow was diminished by a thick wrapper and handkerchief, which were both cut through and through and although severely confused at the time, as not being able to move for some days, the Prince refused to leave the trenches until his company was officially relieved5. He was mentioned in despatches6. INKERMAN 5 November: Between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. on a dull, wet, foggy morning, Prince Edward’s No I Company relieved Col Reeve’s 4 Company at the isolated advanced post at Quarter-guard Point to the West of the British line. The post commanded one of the southernmost fingers of Careenage Ravine, known as the Wellway. The night had been wet and the weapons of the old picquets were soaked and largely ineffective. During the relief, shots were heard on Shell Hill, where the picquets engaged a mass of grey-coated Russian infantry looming out of the mist By 6 a.m. it was clear that about 20,000 Russians were advancing up the Wellway7. Using the mist to his advantage, Prince Edward ordered his company - happily with dry weapons - forward in skirmishing line and then adopt the prone position to engage the Russians with rifle fire, keeping a whole battalion at bay. He maintained this exposed position for the remainder of the day, attracting considerable artillery fire.8 Higginson is fulsome in his assessment9: "I lay some stress on this, because, although the loss in Prince Edward's company was slight in comparison to the rest of the battalion, I am convinced that the almost unassailable post that he occupied, and the cool precision with which his men delivered their 4 Davies died on the way home to England see Algernon Percy A Bearskin’s Crimea pp 37 5 Hamilton Vol 3 6 London Gazette 7 Nov. 1854 [attached] 7 Algernon Percy A Bearskin’s Crimea pp 55 8 Kinglake's Invasion of the Crimea, vi. 107; Letters of Queen Victoria, 1837-1861, iii. 69 [Benson, John Murray]: Prince Edward's Report of his experiences to the Queen). 9 Higginson's "Seventy-one Years of a Guardsman's Life" pp 205 fire, contributed largely to lead General Soimonoff into committing the fatal mistake for which he has been so justly blamed." Inkerman was a ferocious engagement. At Alma, the 3rd Battalion with a strength of 700, fired some 9,000 rounds: at Inkerman, only 400 strong and later reduced to 200, it fired 19,000 rounds. Sir John Fortescue, the great historian of the British Army, wrote of Inkerman: ‘The moral ascendancy of the British was astonishing. They met every attack virtually with a counter-offensive, and hesitated not to encounter any numbers whether with bullet, bayonet or butt. There never was a fight in which small parties of scores, tens, or even individuals, showed greater audacity or achieved more surprising results. They never lost heart nor, by all accounts, cheerfulness. The enemy might be in front, flanks or rear, or all three points together: it mattered not. They flew at them quite undismayed and bored their way out . Never have the fighting qualities of the British been seen to greater advantage than at Inkerman.’ 25 December: The Prince featured in William Simpson’s famous painting ‘Christmas on the Heights before Sevastopol’. See attached. He is 8th from Left. 1855 11 April: He received a brevet Lieutenant -Colonelcy "for distinguished Service in the Field". 18 May: Prince Edward received his promotion to be captain of a company which meant returning to England to join a home battalion. Instead, he gladly accepted the appointment of ADC to Lord Raglan which enabled him to stay on in the Crimea. 18 June: Prince Edward was engaged in the desperate but unsuccessful attack on the Malakoff and the Redan. 5 October: He was appointed A.D.C. to Queen Victoria and retained the position till 22 February 1869, when he was promoted major-general. 1856 27 April: The Brigade of Guards return to England. For his services in the Crimea, he received the Crimean medal with four clasps and the Turkish 3rd Class of the Order of Medjidie. The French Emperor awarded him Knight 5th Class of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour10. 1867 He maintained his involvement with his soldiers and in particular with the care of the Regiment's casualties and sick. In 1867, he became Chairman of the Trustees of the Grenadier Guards Hospital in Rochester Row. Selected Bibliography 10 London Gazette 4 August 1856 [attached] Tony Heathcote: The British Field Marshals Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement – Edward of Saxe-Weimar Alexander Kinglake: Invasion of the Crimea A.C. Benson: Letters of Queen Victoria, 1837-1861, Volume 2 [ letters to Queen Victoria] Michael Springman: The Guards Brigade in the Crimea Algernon Percy: A Bearskin’s Crimea Hamilton: History of the Grenadier Guards Volume 3 A Stranger in the Hague: the letters of Queen Sophie of the Netherlands to Lady Malet 1842-77 Further Sources The Royal Archives at Windsor – correspondence with Queen Victoria Possibly The Goodwood Archives Uumb. 21619. 3353 The London Gazette EXTRAORDINARY. 3ut|jorftg. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1854. Portman- Square, Midnight, This facility of repairing and re-arming the November 6, 1854. defences naturally renders the progress of the IS Grace the Duke of Newcastle has this assailants slower than could be wished ; and I H evening received a Despatch, of which the have it not in my power to inform your Grace, following is a copy, addressed to his Grace by with anything like certainty, when it may be General Lord Raglan, G.C.B. expected that ulterior measures may be under- taken. Before Selastopol, October 23, 1854, I have the honour to transmit to your Grace MY LORD DUKE, the Return of killed and wounded between the THE operations of the siege have been carried 18th and 20th instant inclusive. on unremittingly since I addressed your Grace In my last I announced to your Grace the on the 18th instant.* death which had just been reported to me of that On that afternoon, the French batteries not deeply lamented officer the Honourable Colonel having been able to re-open, the enemy directed Hood of the Grenadier Guards.