Officers of the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry), 1855 (c)

Photograph by Roger Fenton (1819-1869), Crimean War, 1855 (c).

Traditionally the British public had had to rely on written descriptions or artists' impressions for images of foreign wars, but Fenton's photographs were something of a revelation. They enabled a more accurate description of scenes than could be gleaned from paintings, prints and drawings alone.