The Lord Raglan | |
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FitzRoy Somerset by William Salter, 1838–1840
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Born |
Badminton House, Gloucestershire |
30 September 1788
Died | 29 June 1855 Crimea, Russian Empire |
(aged 66)
Buried at | Badminton, Gloucestershire |
Allegiance | United Kingdom / British Empire |
Service/branch | British Army |
Years of service | 1804–1855 |
Rank | Field Marshal |
Commands held |
Master-General of the Ordnance British Troops in the Crimea |
Battles/wars | Crimean War |
Awards |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph (Bavaria) Order of the Medjidie, First Class (Ottoman Empire) |
Field Marshal FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, GCB, PC (30 September 1788 – 29 June 1855), known before 1852 as Lord FitzRoy Somerset, was a British Army officer. As a junior officer he served in the Peninsular War and the Hundred Days, latterly as military secretary to the Duke of Wellington. He also took part in politics as Tory Member of Parliament for Truro before becoming Master-General of the Ordnance. He became commander of the British troops sent to the Crimea in 1854: while his primary objective was to defend Constantinople he was ordered to besiege the Russian Port of Sevastopol. After an early success at the Battle of Alma, a failure to deliver orders with sufficient clarity caused the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. Despite further success at the Battle of Inkerman, a piecemeal allied assault on Sevastopol in June 1855 was a complete failure. Raglan died later that month from a mixture of dysentery and clinical depression.