Tent bag and accessories used by Major-General Sir William John Codrington during the Crimean War, 1854 (c)

General Codrington found that the official issue bell tent - which weighed 75 pounds (34 kg) - threatened to be too much for his baggage animals, so when he moved with the Brigade of Guards from Scutari to Bulgaria in June 1854, he took with him instead a lighter weight linen tent, purchased privately. On 11 July he wrote to his wife: 'My tent is about 6 ft wide, by about 7 ft long - and 7 ft high in the ridge - a small house indeed - but it has proved itself a sound one.'