'A Young Cavalryman's Crimea Campaign'

A few weeks ago I picked up this book from a boot sale.  It is a collection of letters written during the Crimea by Richard Temple Godman,  who at the time was a young officer in the 5th Dragoon Guards. 



(Richard Temple Godman is on the left - pretty lucky that he had his picture taken by the famous Roger Fenton!)

He took part in most of the major incidents of the war, from landing at Varna, to taking part in the 'charge of the Heavy Brigade' during the battle of Balaklava, and observing the siege and eventual storming of Sevastopol.

Having recently read Trevor Royle's 'Crimea', which is more of a top-down account of the war, I found it really interesting to read the same events written about from the perspective of a minor officer.  Godman is pretty scathing of the British army and its leadership throughout, having particular venom for Lord Raglan. Here is what he has to say about Lucan (the commander of the cavalry division):

'July 17th 1854

Lord Lucan inspected us the other day and taking the command of the regiment clubbed it completely; he is a regular muff...there seem to be a good many muffs among the chiefs'.

Godman also vividly describes the effects of cholera upon his company, which had a devastating impact upon his comrades before they came anywhere near a Russian. He is clear throughout of the lack of preperation given for the campaign:

'August 18th 1854 - Camp near Varna (Bulgaria)

My dear Father - We have had a dreadful time of it the last week or ten days, having suffered more severely than any regiment out here.......Fancy a sick man on the plains of Bulgaria as we were, with very little medicine and no comforts or, one may say necessaries, such as arrowroot for the sick.  One of the doctors told me that if they had had these things, some lives at least might have been saved...The only thing we had to give our convalescents was common sailors' biscuits; no wonder they could not get better'.

Here Godman talks of the complete lack of medical preperations for the casualties suffered after the Battle of the Alma:

'Camp - Balaklava, Sunday October 22nd 1854

I believe you think in England that every preperation has been taken to make the sick and wounded as comfortable as possible; such is not the case, indeed anything so disgraceful as the whole department it is impossible to imagine.  The other day I was told on good authority that 500 men went to Scutari (the British hospital in Turkey that Florence Nightingale was about to take over) after Alma,  sick and wounded in one ship, and attended by two surgeons, and five men,  one of whom died on the way, and the poor fellows had no one to assist them or look after them.  On their arrival no preperation for their reception had been made'.

Just in case you think Godman is some kind of reforming young Turk, he has interesting comments to make about the restorative power of flogging, and also interestingly comments on how he has heard of Florence Nightingale's regime at Scutari and that he personally is horrified at the idea of being treated by a woman, perhaps showing that the legend of the 'Lady of the lamp' was by no means universal amongst the soldiers.


I really enjoyed this book.  Highly recommended reading - and I will probably be plundering it for sources for you poor Year 12s of the future!