General Sir James Yorke Scarlett was a British Army officer and hero of the Crimean War who led the Charge of the Heavy Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854.
Memorial to Scarlett in the Royal Garrison Church at Aldershot
The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55), an Allied attempt to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea. The engagement followed the earlier Allied victory in September at the Battle of the Alma, where the Russian General Menshikov had positioned his army in an attempt to stop the Allies progressing south towards their strategic goal. Alma was the first major encounter fought in the Crimean Peninsula since the Allied landings at Kalamita Bay on 14 September, and was a clear battlefield success; but a tardy pursuit by the Allies failed to gain a decisive victory, allowing the Russians to regroup, recover and prepare their defence.
Charge of the Light Brigade by Richard Caton Woodville Jr.
Cossack Bay, Balaclava. Photo: Roger Fenton c. 1855.
1st Baron Raglan, British commander-in-chief. Photo: Roger Fenton.
Alexander Menshikov by Franz Kruger. Russian commander-in-chief in the Crimea.