Circassians at the Fort of Waia, 8th Octr 1855

Simpson had been the Duke of Newcastle's guide in the Crimea (the artist took the former Minister of War on a tour of the battlefields) and was subsequently requested to accompany him on a tour of Circassia to make sketches. The party, including the Duke's servant Lucca, Laurence Oliphant and the marine artist, Oswald Brierly, sailed on 29 September 1855 on HMS Highflier, shortly after the Fall of Sebastopol. They travelled in Circassia with a large group of fiercely patriotic Circassians, who showed themselves still keen to drive out the remnants of the Russian forces who were occupying a few of the otherwise abandoned forts. The party returned across the Black Sea to Balaklava on 4 November.