Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (M. Holland, 11th Hussars), officially impressed naming, suspension claw tightened, edge bruising, contact marks and polished, fair to fine £4500-5500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late John Darwent.

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Matthew Holland was born in Pimlico, London and enlisted in the 11th Hussars in May 1852, aged 19 years. He served in Bulgaria from July to September 1854 and in the Crimea from the latter month until July 1856, and participated in the charge of the Light Brigade. He was also present at Alma, Inkermann and in the operations before Sebastopol. According to a brief statement he gave to fellow 11th Hussar, Regimental Sergeant-Major Loy Smith, in 1883, he ‘rode in the front rank of the right troop of the regiment’ at Balaklava, but ‘heard no word of command given by anyone except Colonel Douglas, either going down the valley or returning.’

Interestingly, Holland acted as a cook to Florence Nightingale at Scutari between April and May 1855, and appears to have been present at her funeral in August 1910. A contemporary account of that sombre occasion states:

‘It is interesting to note that amongst those who were closely acquainted with the deceased lady is an old 11th Hussar, in the person of Trooper Holland, of Nottingham, one of the few survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

During the seige of Sebastopol in 1855, Holland, with other men, was despatched from the front to Scutari to perform relief duty. Holland and three comrades volunteered to act as cooks and their open-air kitchen was situated close to the hospital wards. “Matt”, as Holland was locally known, remembers a window just above the cookhouse from which Miss Florence Nightingale frequently watched them at work. Often he went to the hospital to work for her and was amazed at her capacity for work. Hour after hour, he states, during the night, she would go from bed to bed tending the wounded and the poor fellows used to look at her as if she was an angel out of heaven.

In a lighter vein he relates an incident in which he was concerned, that caused Miss Nightingale much amusement. He and his friends had plenty of time on their hands and one day they amused themselves by holding a mock Court-Martial. “Big Jack” of the 17th Lancers volunteered to be the prisoner. The cookhouse sat in solemn conclave and the fiat went forth that the prisoner should be hanged. A makeshift gallows was erected, but when “Big Jack” was strung up it immediately collapsed with a tremendous clatter, which brought Miss Nightingale to her window and caused her great amusement.



At last came the welcome order and Holland was once more “for the front”. He met Miss Nightingale on the square just after the order had been issued. “Good morning, Miss Nightingale” he said, and she pleasantly returned the greeting. In the course of conversation he remarked that his flannel shirts were badly worn and the next day Miss Nightingale sent him two new ones. Holland concluded by saying that if they have a memorial of the “nicest and best-hearted woman” that ever stepped, he will subscribe to it if he has to pawn his shirt to do it.’

Unfortunately for Holland, he appeared before a real District Court-Martial in December 1855, charged with ‘being asleep on his post’, and was awarded 84 days imprisonment with hard labour. He transferred to the 8th Hussars in August 1857, served in the Indian Mutiny and was present in the actions at Kotah in March 1858 and at Koochawa in February 1859. Discharged at York in August 1864, Holland settled in Nottingham and worked as a labourer and a painter until aged 70 years of age, when through crippled hands he was no longer able to find employment. Fortuitously, however, he was assisted by the T.H. Roberts Fund.

During this latter period he was instrumental in founding the Nottinghamshire Crimean and Indian Mutiny Veterans Association, which body ensured that none of its members ever ended up in the workhouse. And there were several honorary doctors who gave their service and medicine free, in addition to which every member was provided with a winter and a summer uniform, including boots. The membership also enjoyed the full support of the county’s populace, and turned out for all sorts of local events - Holland and ten of his fellow ex-military colleagues are recorded as having played in a cricket match at Trent Bridge against ‘a team of ladies from Nottinghamshire in a match organised by Mr. Seeley Whitby.’

Holland attended the First Balaklava Banquet in 1875, became a member of the Balaklava Commemoration Society in 1879 and signed the Loyal Address to the Queen in 1887. In addition, he attended the Annual Dinners of 1895, 1906, 1909, 1910 and 1911; as a result of his regular attendance of such gatherings, he appears in several photographs of the period, while a portrait photograph maybe found in the Journal of the XI Hussars, October 1912.

When he died in December 1912, aged 79 years, there were just a dozen or so men of the Light Brigade still surviving. Holland was was buried with full military honours in the Veterans Ground of the General Cemetery in Nottingham, a firing party being furnished by the South Nottinghamshire Hussars and the gun carriage by the Nottinghamshire R.H.A. - at the close of the burial service the “Last Post” was sounded by a Trumpeter of the 11th Hussars.