NAM.2017-09-7-6-4

Photograph of ten veterans of the Crimean War, 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, posed for the image in front of a large sculptural tympanum of the Royal Coat of Arms, Tower of London, Inkerman Day 1895. They sit and stand in two rows, some in civilian suits and some in greatcoats and forage caps. Many of them appear to be In-Pensioners of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. They are all wearing medals, including the Crimea medal. There are two drums on the floor in front of them, one captured at the Battle of Sevastopol (left) and the other captured at the Battle of Inkerman (right). They are: (Back row, from left to right): Cpl T Charles; Pte J Selby; Pte J Walters (Front row, from left to right): Pte W Cruse; Pte J Sherman; Pte J Sawyer; Sgt Albert Ablett VC (who won his VC for his actions at Sevastopol); Sgt Henry Doswell; Sgt J Gray; Pte W Carter. The sculpture, carved by John Young, once formed the tympanum of the Ordnance Office's Grand Storehouse from 1691 to 1841. The Ordnance Office operated from the Tower of London, equipping the nation's armed forces at home and overseas, from the early 1400s until 1855. The seventeenth-century Grand Storehouse was destroyed by fire in 1841 and Young's tympanum spent the next century outside the Martin Tower. Young's sculpture shows contemporary weapons and equipment flanking the royal arms. To the left appears a fully equipped mortar, to the right, a cannon and field carriage plus powder keg and case shot, all set against a background of munitions' equipment, drums and flags. From an album of 99 photographs compiled by or presented to Captain (later Brig-Gen) Ernest Frederick Orby Gascoigne. The album is entitled: ‘Personal album E F O Gascoigne. 1st & 3rd Battalions - 1894-1905’, but covers the period 1892-1905; taken in England and Gibraltar.

Inkerman, Battle of, 1854 (Crimean War 1854-1856), Sevastopol, Siege of, 1854-55 (Crimean War 1854-1856)