BALACLAVA HERO.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1927, 9 December 1913, Page 5

BALACLAVA HERO.

LATE SIR GEO. WOMBWELL. STORY OF THE FAMOUS FIGHT. Tho band of Balaclava heroes is slowly dwindling, and death has just claimed another m the person of Sir George Wonibwoll, of Nowburgh Priory, Yorkshire (says a London paper of October 24). He was in his Slst year. Of ail the miraculous escapes in tho charge of the Light lirigado none was nioro marvellous than t'hat of Sir George, who redo with liis regiment, tlie 17th Lancers. Fortunately lie kept a diary, and tho following i-i his account cf -the. lighting, written 011 the same day in 1854: — "Wednesday, 25th: This has been a dreadful day for the Light- Brigade. While 011 parado this morning [Suddenly t'iio Turkish batteries on the hills to our front opened a tremendous fire. Wo soon found out tho reason: tlie Russians wcro advancing iii a very large, force. Our field batteries and a troop of Horse Artillery came quickly up and opened fire. 'I'iie shells began to como very near us, and 0110 went right into Captain Maude's horse and exploded, completely blowing Captain Maude up into the air. Ho was badly wounded in the faco aiul arm. Ho will bo a great loss, as ho was a first-rato soldier, and his troop of artillery, with him in command, was perfect. All this timo the Russians came up in the most plucky manner, and their shot and shells came nearer and nearer, bursting right over 11s. "At last wo heard musketry, and on looking round wo could see our allies, the Turks, living away at them, but instead of making any resistance, they were flying from tlie different redoubts in every direction, and left their guns, etc., in tho hands of the .Russians, who were still advancing. The Kussians were now coming down tlie 'hil Howards us, land they brought a troop of artillery to tho top of tho hill, from which they opened 011 us a murderous lire. Wo keptall the timo retreating. Tho Russians remained on tho hill. An order now canic down for us to retire, and we did, out of range of their guns. "Shortiv afterwards, tliov (evidently thinking wo wero beaten) sent a tremendous body of cavalry, with a- hordo of Cossacks, across the plain after us„ and bitterly tliev found out their mistake, for they were met. by tlie Scots Greys and Inuiskillcns, wlio charged them magnificently, and completely routed tho whole lot- of them. Nothing could be moro beautiful than the Greys and Inniskillons looked as they dashed right into the Russian cnvalrv. who seemed quite astounded, and rarely made any resistance. At last they suddenly wheeled round and 211 Hoped olf as hard as they could go. pursued by tho Greys and the others, who cut a great many down.

Tho Charge. "Both brigades of cavalry then advanced, and aiij order in writing came down from Lord IMglau telling us to attack some guns which/wero hring on us. So tho Light Brigade, in two lines, tho 13th Light Dragoons and tho 17th Lancers in the first line, and tho 4th Light Dragoons, Bth and lltli Hussar:; in tho second line, were ordered to the front, and off wo went at a trot, when suddenly a tremendous firo opened upon, us, killing poor Nolan of the 15th Hussars, who brought tho order down from Lord Raglan, close to me. We brake into a gallop, every man feeling convinced t-liat tho quicker we rode through the awful showers of grapo shot, musketry, and shells which tlioj' poured into our flanks as we passed tho hotter chanco wo should have of escaping nilhurt.

"We charged up to the guns, which kept firing at us till we got up to them, and cut the Russian gunners down as they stood at their guns. Tho way tho showers of grapo and canister, musketry and shells came among us was something too awful to de.scribe; tho men were falling in heaps all round me, and every timo I looked up I could ?eo our lino getting thinner, till by tho time we passed the guns and got up to tho third line of Russian c-avalry we wero but a mere handful.

"1 had been riding all day as orderly officer to Lord Cardigan, who behaved most pluckily, and led tho way by himself, so of course I followed him with his other A.D.C.'s clcso behind, and just as ho got close up to a gun it went off, luckily without touching him, and not being ablo to see for the smoke ho rode right up against tho gun. My horse was shot under mo, in what place I know not, but down ho came. I luckily soon caught a trooper which had lost its rider, and got on his back and joined tho second line— but in coming back he got quito knocked up and refused to move. 1 at last got him into a slow walk, and was congratulating myself on having parsed, unseen two squadrons of Russian Lancers, when suddenly a horrid yell arose and I was surrounded by a lot of them, brandishing their swords and lances, and desiring. me to throw down niy sword, which, seeing resistance was useless, I did. They then seized my pistols in my holsters and helped mo in a very rough way oil' my wounded trooper, and marched mo off n prisoner on foot between two of them, with three more behind.

"I, of course, walked quietly with them, but seeing the lltli Hussars coining back at a gallop,"when they got near I made a rush forward, and luckily caught anothor trooper, on which I jumped and joined tho 11th, and rode back with them. When I was taken, "they took away my sword and pistols from me, which I never got back, and a Rusian officer came up and told me iu French not to bo alarmed, as they would not touch me, and that they were only a little rough. However, thank God, I managed to got away, and got back again." "You Young Fool." It was Lord Cardigan, riding in front of tho remnant of his shattered brigade, who saw Wombwell horseless, and shouted, "Catch a horse, you young fool, and come with us," advice which Wombwell promptly took. Sir George gave it as his impression that Colonel Nolan, the bearer of tho written order from Lord Raglan, wrongly described the position of .the guns which were to be attacked, pointing to those in front, whereas those to whicli the order related woro on tho right; flank. Both Sir George's sons found a' soldier's grave, one in India and tho other in South Africa, and the title passes to a younger brother. The family is one of great antiquity, tho first ancestor on record being Robert de Wombwell who was living in tho time of King Stephen, and.derived his surnamo from the place of his residence, AYombwoll, near Barnsley, where ho owned much land. Oliver Cromwell, too, was an ancestor on the distaff side of ,Sir George Wombwell. Tho bones of the great Lord Protector aro believed to lie in a stone vault at Newburgh, which bears a bronze inscription indicating tho contents of the casket. Thcro is no record of tho vault having been opened or tlie tradition verified, and it is related that King Edward VII, inspecting the vault one day, laughingly remarked, "Look here, Sir George, 1 shall never he satisfied about this until you open tho vault. Why not send for tho workmen at once, and havo'it opened now!" "No, Sir," replied Sir George. "I have been brought up in the belief —I shall dio in the' belief—and I will not open it for anybody." Tlk> fact remains, however, that Cromwell's daughter Mary married Thomas Bcllasyss, Baron Fauconberg, ox Newburg Priory, who was Cromwell's .Ambassador at Paris. George Wombwell, a chairman of tho East India Company was created a Baronet in 1778, and died two years later, when he was succeeded by his eldest s6n, tho second baronet, who died in 1816-