Lot Essay
INDENTCaptain Edward Augustus Stotherd entered the 93rd. Highlanders as an Ensign, 1851; Lieutenant 1854; Captain 1856 and placed on half-pay later the same year. Captain Stotherd, who subsequently joined the 60th. Rifles, drowned in the wreck of the Anglo Saxon off Newfoundland, 27th. April, 1863.
The Stotherd Letters
Stotherd wrote several well known graphic letters describing his experiences in the Crimea. The following extract, taken from a letter written from Balaklava, 27th. October, 1854 describes the battle: "Sir Colin Campbell then thought it time to retire our Regiment under the edge of a small ridge and to lie down. When I was called in and went to my place with the Light Company, the enemy's cavalry were at the same time advancing on our cavalry, who were on our left some quarter of a mile off. On went the enemy's cavalry, about I should say, at least 4,000 strong, and when close to our cavalry the splendid body of Greys rode out and charged them...Now for the 93rd. In the first place, you must know that our Regiment, with the exception of the Turks, were the only infantry down from Sebastopol, and thank goodness we were, as we got all the honour, and, I may say richly deserved all the praise we got. After the cavalry charge, two bodies of the enemy's cavalry formed and came straight at us, or rather at the Turks, who appeared in masses on our flanks. We were not seen by them on the tops of the hill as they were, being under the edge and lying down. As they came, we rose and advanced on to the edge of the hill, and gave them three British cheers and peppered them so much that they turned and swerved away, and they finally beat a retreat at a hard gallop, leaving many a corpse behind.."
The Stotherd Letters
Stotherd wrote several well known graphic letters describing his experiences in the Crimea. The following extract, taken from a letter written from Balaklava, 27th. October, 1854 describes the battle: "Sir Colin Campbell then thought it time to retire our Regiment under the edge of a small ridge and to lie down. When I was called in and went to my place with the Light Company, the enemy's cavalry were at the same time advancing on our cavalry, who were on our left some quarter of a mile off. On went the enemy's cavalry, about I should say, at least 4,000 strong, and when close to our cavalry the splendid body of Greys rode out and charged them...Now for the 93rd. In the first place, you must know that our Regiment, with the exception of the Turks, were the only infantry down from Sebastopol, and thank goodness we were, as we got all the honour, and, I may say richly deserved all the praise we got. After the cavalry charge, two bodies of the enemy's cavalry formed and came straight at us, or rather at the Turks, who appeared in masses on our flanks. We were not seen by them on the tops of the hill as they were, being under the edge and lying down. As they came, we rose and advanced on to the edge of the hill, and gave them three British cheers and peppered them so much that they turned and swerved away, and they finally beat a retreat at a hard gallop, leaving many a corpse behind.."
