Fitzroy Somerset Biography

Birth of FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, eighth and youngest son of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort

Distinguises himself as the leader of the Household Cavalry brigade at the Battle of Waterloo, wounded in the right arm and had to undergo amputation, but he quickly learned to write with his left hand

Appointed Secretary to the embassy at Paris, 1st term

Appointed Secretary to the embassy at Paris, 2nd term

Appointed Secretary to the Duke of Wellington as Master General of the Ordnance, and from 1827 till the death of the Duke in 1852

Appointed Privy Counsellor

Created Baron Raglan

Receives command of the British expeditionary army.

Anglo-French forces occupy Piraeus to prevent the Greek fleet from aiding Russia.

Commands the British expeditionary force cooperating with the French army in the eastern theatre.

Moves British troops to Varna before the Crimean landing.

Sees disease weaken the Allied camp before the invasion of Crimea.

The Allied force departs to the Crimean Peninsula in a convoy of 150 warships.

Lands British troops on the Crimean coast.

The Allied force lands at Old Fort on an open beach 30 miles North of Sevastopol.

Helps win the first major Allied battle in Crimea.

Uses Balaclava as the British supply base.

Faces supply collapse during the first Crimean winter.

Helps repel the Russian attack at Inkerman.

Raglan and his staff are blamed by the press and the Government for the hardships and sufferings of the British soldiers in the terrible Crimean winter before the Siege of Sevastopol, owing to shortages of food and clothing.

Benefits from improved supply arrangements after winter failures.

Commands British forces as the Allies renew their bombardment of Sevastopol in April.

Orders the British assault on the Great Redan during the June attacks on Sevastopol.

Orders an attack on the Great Redan that fails.

Dies during the siege after the failed June assaults.