Three: Private John McKenzie, 93rd Highlanders, one of the ‘Thin Red Line’ at the Battle of Balaklava

Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Sebastopol (No. 2564 John Mackenzie 93d Highlandrs.) contemporary engraved naming; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Lucknow (John McKenzie, 93rd Highlanders); Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed as issued, pierced with ring suspension, some edge bruising and light contact marks, otherwise about very fine (3) £1,800-£2,200

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, November 2015.

John McKenzie, a Labourer from Inverness, enlisted into the 93rd Highlanders at Inverness on 16 November 1850. He served with the regiment at Malta from April 1854 and afterwards in Turkey and the Crimea, and was present at Balaklava on 25 October 1854, when the 93rd routed the Russian cavalry and won themselves the title of ‘The Thin Red Line’. The Times correspondent, William Howard Russell, who, standing on the hills above, could clearly see that nothing stood between the Russian cavalry and the defenceless British base but the ‘thin red streak tipped with a line of steel’ wrote of the 93rd:
‘With breathless suspense everyone awaits the bursting of the wave [of Russian Cavalry] upon the line of Gaelic rock, but ere they came within 200 yards another deadly volley flashes from the levelled rifle, and carries terror into the Russians. They wheel about, open files right and left, and fly back faster than they came. “Brave Highlanders! Well done!” shout the spectators.’

Returning to England in June 1856, McKenzie embarked for India in June 1857, where he remained until 18 March 1861, when he appears in a list of ‘numbers discontinued in the regiment’ as ‘sent home 18th March 1861’. He was discharged from the Invalid Depot, Aberdeen, on 20 August 1861.

Sold with full muster details, copied muster rolls, and medal roll entries confirming all clasps.