Pair: Major H. W. J. Dashwood, Royal Horse Artillery, who had two horses shot from under him while commanding ‘I’ Troop in the early stages of the battle of Balaklava

Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (Captn. Dashwood, R.H.A.), old engraved naming; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed, original frayed ribands, the last with Hunt & Roskell brooch-pin buckle for wearing, one or two edge bruises but generally very fine (2) £600-800

Henry Walpole John Dashwood was born in Malta in 1830, the son of Robert Dashwood and his wife, Henrietta Mary Annette (nee Eyre).

Commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Horse Artillery in June 1848, he saw extensive action in ‘I’ Troop, R.H.A. in the Crimea, including the ‘affair of the Boulganac’, the Alma and Inkermann, but it was at Balaklava on 25 October 1854, as part of Lucan’s Cavalry Division, that he was most heavily engaged. Indeed he emerged as the Troop’s senior surviving officer in the early stages of the battle, when, according to Jocelyn’s History of the Royal Artillery (Crimean Period), it ‘lost many horses and the gun carriages were abundantly marked by bullets ... Dashwood had had two horses shot from under him, and a gunner and more than a third of the gun teams [horses] had been killed, before ‘I’ Troop, with the Greys as escort, descended from the position that had occupied in action.’

As it transpired, ‘I’ Troop returned to the scene of battle in time to witness the charge of the Light Brigade. Luckily, Raglan’s order for the Troop to accompany the Light Brigade ‘rapidly to the front’ was never received, although it did follow the doomed cavalrymen until, as Jocelyn puts it, ‘it became momentarily more and more apparent as the Troop trotted steadily forward that, before it could render any efficient service, the Russian fire would entirely cripple it ... the word was given to go about, and it retired to a position not far from the Heavy Brigade.’

Having returned to the U.K. on his promotion to Captain in early 1855, Dashwood obtained his Majority in June 1856 and died at Donnington Grove, near Newbury, in August 1857, aged 28 years. The Grove was the former family home of Edward “Beau” Brummell (1778-1840).

Also see Lots 379 and 590 for other family awards.