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(chuckle - a story about a pipe major and a whistle-blower ... LOL)
Heroes marked with the stamp of history honoured by the Royal Mail
By Jeremy Page, The Times, October 12, 2004
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,1-1304950,00.html
IN 1854, aged just 26, David Muir was sent to a distant land to fight in a war now synonymous with military mismanagement and incompetent leadership.
Over the next two years, the pipe major in the 42nd Regiment fought in four ferocious battles and endured appalling living conditions as his commanders pursued their illconceived campaign to push the Russians out of Crimea.
The stoical courage of soldiers such as Piper Muir has long been eclipsed by stories of The Charge of the Light Brigade, the â Å“Thin Red Lineâ ? and Florence Nightingale.
Today the Royal Mail pays tribute to these unsung heroes by featuring Piper Muir and five other soldiers on a set of stamps to mark the 150th anniversary of the Crimean War.
The six photographs, taken on the soldiers' return from Crimea, were chosen to highlight the bravery of the men whose suffering changed the nation's perception of warfare and revolutionised the Armed Forces. But they are also a reminder of the unprecedented role that the media â †especially The Times â †played in focusing public attention on the plight of ordinary soldiers.
Alistair Duthie, a pipe major in the Black Watch, travelled to Sebastopol last week to recreate for the Royal Mail some of the pictures of the Crimean War taken by The Times's photographer Roger Fenton.
â Å“It may have been 150 years ago but we shouldn't forget that those soldiers were sent out there for nothing that would benefit them,â ? he told The Times.
â Å“What he sent back and how he aroused the public's anger â †that was fantastic. The soldiers were treated like scumbags.â ?
Fenton's photographs of the bleak battlefield landscapes and images of life in the poorly equipped camps together with the dispatches sent over the recently invented telegraph wire by The Times correspondent, William Howard Russell, showed the public for the first time the reality of life on the front line.
The combined effect was electrifying.
Florence Nightingale, a German-trained nurse, was sent out to improve sanitary conditions in hospitals after Russell and others observed how quickly disease spread among the wounded. Of the 21,000 British dead, as many as 16,000 succumbed to disease.
The London-based French chef, Alexis Soyer, invented the portable battlefield stove, which revolutionised the organisation of army provisions.
The Editor of The Times, John Delane, together with the MP John Roebuck, called for a government inquiry. Public demonstrations and petitions eventually led to the fall of Lord Aberdeen's Government in 1855.
Queen Victoria was so shocked by the reports that she introduced the Victoria Cross and toured the country with Prince Albert to greet returning soldiers.
Heroes marked with the stamp of history honoured by the Royal Mail
By Jeremy Page, The Times, October 12, 2004
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,1-1304950,00.html
IN 1854, aged just 26, David Muir was sent to a distant land to fight in a war now synonymous with military mismanagement and incompetent leadership.
Over the next two years, the pipe major in the 42nd Regiment fought in four ferocious battles and endured appalling living conditions as his commanders pursued their illconceived campaign to push the Russians out of Crimea.
The stoical courage of soldiers such as Piper Muir has long been eclipsed by stories of The Charge of the Light Brigade, the â Å“Thin Red Lineâ ? and Florence Nightingale.
Today the Royal Mail pays tribute to these unsung heroes by featuring Piper Muir and five other soldiers on a set of stamps to mark the 150th anniversary of the Crimean War.
The six photographs, taken on the soldiers' return from Crimea, were chosen to highlight the bravery of the men whose suffering changed the nation's perception of warfare and revolutionised the Armed Forces. But they are also a reminder of the unprecedented role that the media â †especially The Times â †played in focusing public attention on the plight of ordinary soldiers.
Alistair Duthie, a pipe major in the Black Watch, travelled to Sebastopol last week to recreate for the Royal Mail some of the pictures of the Crimean War taken by The Times's photographer Roger Fenton.
â Å“It may have been 150 years ago but we shouldn't forget that those soldiers were sent out there for nothing that would benefit them,â ? he told The Times.
â Å“What he sent back and how he aroused the public's anger â †that was fantastic. The soldiers were treated like scumbags.â ?
Fenton's photographs of the bleak battlefield landscapes and images of life in the poorly equipped camps together with the dispatches sent over the recently invented telegraph wire by The Times correspondent, William Howard Russell, showed the public for the first time the reality of life on the front line.
The combined effect was electrifying.
Florence Nightingale, a German-trained nurse, was sent out to improve sanitary conditions in hospitals after Russell and others observed how quickly disease spread among the wounded. Of the 21,000 British dead, as many as 16,000 succumbed to disease.
The London-based French chef, Alexis Soyer, invented the portable battlefield stove, which revolutionised the organisation of army provisions.
The Editor of The Times, John Delane, together with the MP John Roebuck, called for a government inquiry. Public demonstrations and petitions eventually led to the fall of Lord Aberdeen's Government in 1855.
Queen Victoria was so shocked by the reports that she introduced the Victoria Cross and toured the country with Prince Albert to greet returning soldiers.
