'The Thin Red Line, 1854'

Chromolithograph by or after Robert Gidd.

'The thin red line' specifically refers to the crucial stand of the 93rd (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Balaklava in 1854. Deployed in line to meet the advancing Russian cavalry, the 93rd were described by William Howard Russell, the Times' correspondent during the Crimean War (1854-1856), as that 'thin red streak, topped with a line of steel'.