Who Blew the Balaklava Bugle?: The Charge of the Light Brigade and the Afterlife of the Crimean War

The signal event of the Crimean War, the Charge of the Light Brigade, transpired on 25 October 1854. Its reverberations would, however, last long after, as a battle that was waged in the popular press and in auction rooms across the twentieth century attests. The battle involved a bugle and its provenance. In question were two competing claims to have sounded the charge at the Battle of Balaklava, fought at the height of the Crimean War. Did the distinction belong to Trumpet Major William Brittain or to Trumpet Major Henry Joy? The case, which preoccupied family members and interested parties, was closed some fifty years ago in favour of Brittain’s partisans. Why did the contest attain such longevity? Why did it rage with such fervour? This article offers an answer beyond the simple question of provenance as it charts the twists and turns in the dispute, from the mid-nineteenth century through the moment of resolution in the 1960s. In the process, it attests to the politics of presence on the field of battle. It points, too, to the long afterlife of the Crimean War and the lingering shadow of the Victorian Age.