Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (H. Burgess. 11th. Hussars.) officially impressed naming, minor edge nicks, otherwise good very fine £3000-4000

Provenance: Hamilton Smith Collection, Glendining’s, March 1927; Glendining’s, December 1937; Darwent Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, April 2004.

Henry Burgess was born in Norfolk and attested for the 11th Hussars in London on 16 March 1846. He served with the Regiment in the Crimea, and was present on the occasion of the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava on 25 October 1854. He died at Scutari on 21 January 1855.

Although Private Burgess’s names does not appear on the list of confirmed ‘Chargers’, this does not preclude him from having taken part in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Most members of the Light Brigade entitled to the Balaklava clasp, in the absence of any evidence or status details to the contrary, took part in the Charge, and his presence with the regiment at the time is verified on the Muster roll.