Page 20 - Oundle Life September 2023

DEENE
PARK
Lord Cardigan
It was the most famous cavalry charge in history. Celebrated in poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, and subject of a major Hollywood movie, The Charge of the Light Brigade was a terrible mistake but the bravery of the men who carried it out was exceptional.
Casualties were understandably heavy: of the 600 men who took part in the charge, 156 lost their lives and 122 were wounded, but the reputation of the British Cavalry was enhanced beyond measure. Tennyson’s poem ‘The
And they were led by Lord Cardigan, who called Deene Park his home.
The action took place in 1854, at the
Battle of Balaclava, during the Crimean
War, when Britain and her allies were
battling Russia over religious access
to Jerusalem. Having misunderstood
orders from Lord Raglan, the Light Cavalry
– hopelessly outnumbered and inadequately equipped – charged head-on into a murderously heavy artillery fire, from right, left, and in front, in the knowledge that it was probably a suicide mission. Yet the cavalrymen obeyed their (misunderstood) orders to the last man.
Charge of the Light Brigade’ greatly contributed to this reputation, with the immortal lines ‘Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.’
James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan (played by Trevor Howard in the 1968 movie), survived the charge and returned home to Deene
Park along with his faithful horse Ronald, and many souvenirs from the action that made him a national hero. The uniform the Earl wore
that day (along with several others) are still on display in the mansion, as are two more grisly souvenirs – the head and tail of faithful Ronald!
The Brudenells had lived at Deene Park – just
‘Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.’
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