'The Brilliant Cavalry Action at Balaklava Octr 25th 1854'

Tinted lithograph by Edmund Walker after Henry Martens, published by Messrs Fores, 41 Piccadilly, London, 4 December 1854.

During the Crimean War (1854-1856) the British Heavy Cavalry Brigade was commanded by Major-General The Honourable James Yorke Scarlett. At the Battle of Balaklava on 25 October 1854 a large body of some 3,000 Russian cavalry threatened the road to the harbour of Balaklava. Seeing the Russian horsemen halted, and thus vulnerable to attack, Scarlett immediately charged uphill with three of his squadrons, being successively reinforced by the remaining seven squadrons of his brigade. Reeling from this series of attacks, the Russian cavalry retired in disorder a few minutes later.