James Yorke Scarlett

James Yorke Scarlett
General Sir James Yorke Scarlett
Born	(1799-02-01)1 February 1799 London, England, Great Britain
Died	6 December 1871(1871-12-06) (aged 72) Burnley, Lancashire, England, UK
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	General
Commands held	5th Dragoon Guards South-West District Aldershot Division
Battles/wars	Crimean War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

General the Hon. Sir James Yorke Scarlett GCB (1 February 1799 – 6 December 1871) was a British soldier and hero of the Crimean War who led the Charge of the Heavy Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854.

The second son of the 1st Baron Abinger, he was born in London and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, In 1835, he married Charlotte Anne Hargreaves, a coal heiress from Burnley, the town becoming his adopted home.

Scarlett had entered the army in 1818, as a cornet in the 18th Hussars and in 1830 became a major in the 5th Dragoon Guards. In 1840, Scarlett was appointed to command his regiment, the 5th Dragoon Guards, a post he held for nearly fourteen years. In 1854 he was close to retirement after an uneventful career during which he had not seen any active service. In this he was typical of the senior ranks of the British cavalry at the time, other than those posted to India.

In April 1854 Colonel Scarlett was appointed Brigadier-General of the Heavy Brigade of Cavalry, under Lord Lucan, Commander of the Cavalry Division. The 5th Dragoon Guards formed part of Scarlett's Heavy Brigade which was sent to the Black Sea in 1854. There it suffered heavily from cholera in the camps of Varna.

During the Battle of Balaclava on the morning of 25 October 1854, the Russians had stormed a series of hills known as the Causeway Heights beyond which lay the "Valley of Death" where the Earl of Cardigan would lead the Light Brigade in one of the great military blunders of the nineteenth century.