The Story of One of the Heavy Brigade

Oct 5, 2001 - © Derek Pardoe

Derek Pardoe, a fellow member of the Crimean War Research Society, has unearthed and researched family documents to compile his great grandfather's eye witness and participant's personal account of the Battle of Balaklava.

Derek is a contributor to 'The War Correspondent', the quarterly journal of the Crimean War Research Society which regularly features eyewitness accounts often previously unpublished, like this article. 'The War Correspondent' is free to members. Access to membership information can be obtained by direct link via my 'Welcome Page'.

I am sure that you will all be as pleased as I am to welcome Derek to our site, and will thoroughly enjoy his fascinating article.



Part 1 - Reconstructed from family documents, etc.
My name is Joseph James Pardoe, and I was born in Ribbesford near Bewdley in Worcestershire in 1821. My father, James, was a currier, that is he cured and coloured leather. I had little schooling, but did learn to read and write, and this stood me in good stead later, for when I was 23 years old, I fancied a soldier's life, and went to London to the Barracks of the 1st Royal Dragoons and there enlisted.

I was taught the regiment's history, especially their achievements in Flanders and their charge at Waterloo - why, that is why we have an eagle as a badge, for we captured one from the French 105th Infantry Regiment. I was proud to be part of an establishment with such a fine history, but any illusions I had of personal grandeur were soon swept away by the strict discipline maintained by the junior NCOs. Any disobedience or other offence was punished, and a soldier who struck a corporal would almost certainly be court-martialled and flogged for it. I was never flogged myself, but saw many men punished in this way, for the whole regiment would be paraded to witness it - the poor devil being tied to special fixings on the wall so he would not fall down whilst he was whipped on his bare back.

Shortly after I had been trained, the regiment moved to Ireland. After only one year and 234 days I was promoted to corporal, and a further 3 years and 132 days later I was made sergeant on 26th October 1849. In Ireland I met a girl called Elizabeth Farmer - her father was a gunmaker and sutler, a camp follower selling his wares. He and his family returned to England with the regiment when we moved to Nottingham, and as my pay as sergeant was now 3 shillings a day, Elizabeth and I were married on 24th February 1851 at the Parish Church, Lenton, Notts. My wife was then 'on the strength' of the regiment and so we obtained billets in the barracks at Nottingham. Slowly, living conditions for soldiers and their families were improving, savings banks and libraries were starting, and soldiers' children were being educated. We started a family with our first son, Joseph, born in 1852, and then another, William, in 1854. Life was becoming very content for me and my little family.

The copyright of the article The Story of One of the Heavy Brigade in Crimean War is owned by Derek Pardoe. Permission to republish The Story of One of the Heavy Brigade in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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