Bashi-Bazouk, 1854 (c)

Coloured lithograph after Captain W H Parker 1853-1855 (c), published by Dickinson Brothers.

During the Crimean War (1854-1856) 4,000 Bashi Bazouks, Turkish irregulars, were placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel (later Major-General) William Fergusson Beatson (1804-1872). The Bashi Bazouks had earned an unsavoury reputation for pillage and indiscipline during fighting in Silistria. In spite of the subsequent attempt of Beatson to instil order into the irregulars brought into British pay, his efforts were undermined by the refusal of Lord Raglan to make use of them.