Tennyson wrote his poem The Charge of the Light Brigade in response to the dramatic newspaper reports of the Battle of Balaklava, which took place on 25 October 1854. It is Tennyson’s best-known verse and today it is probably the most famous of any literary or artistic work to have been produced during the Crimean War. Lesser-known is Tennyson’s other Crimean War poem The Charge of the Heavy Brigade. Written three decades later, it commemorated another important action that occurred during the Battle of Balaklava.

Acquired by Queen Victoria c.1893