Cardigan James Thomas Brudenell

Cardigan, James Thomas Brudenell, seventh Earl of, general, was born in 1797 at Hambledon, in Hampshire. In 1818 he entered Parliament as representative for Marlborough, succeeding to the peerage on the death of his father in 1837. Meanwhile, in 1824, he had entered the army as cornet in the 8th Hussars, becoming lieutenant-colonel in the 15th Hussars in 1832. In this last regiment he succeeded in making himself one of the most unpopular of officers, and in the two years during which he was connected with it held 105 courts-martial and made 700 arrests. In 1840 he engaged in a duel with Captain Tuckett, and being arraigned before the House of Lords, was acquitted on a point of law. He was commander of the Light Cavalry brigade in the Crimean campaign, and led the Six Hundred at the famous Balaclava charge. For his services in the Crimea he received the Crimean medal, was made a K.C.B. and a Commander of the Legion of Honour. In 1859 he was appointed inspector-general of cavalry, attaining the rank of lieutenant-general in 1861. He died in 1868, and, though twice married, left no children, the title thus passing to the Marquis of Ailesbury.