Letter from Captain Arthur J Layard, 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot, to his brother A H Layard MP, 12 December 1854

Writing during the Crimean War (1854-1856), Layard includes a description of the plight of women accompanying the Army on campaign and stresses that 'our animals are all dead or the few that remain are but a bag of dying bones'.

Layard was the younger brother of the Radical Member of Parliament, Austen Henry Layard. His letters to his brother are generally critical of the higher military authorities and their logistical failings.