A survivor's tale

Britain, France and their allies declared war on Russia in 1853. But it was the Battle of Balaclava, and most particularly the suicidal Charge of the Light Brigade on October 25, 1854, that will forever be remembered from the Crimean War.

That is partly thanks to Tennyson's brilliant poem, and partly because few military blunders were as terrible as Lord Cardigan's order to advance into a valley so heavily defended by Russian troops and artillery.

Of those men who entered the mouth of hell, five were from York. Private William Pearson of the 17th Lancers; Private John Hogan of the 8th Hussars; Private James Bolton of the 4th Light Dragoons; Private Robert Levett of the 11th Hussars, and Sergeant William Bentley, also of the 11th Hussars.

Sergeant Bentley's family have kept an archive of his possessions and newspaper cuttings. His great granddaughter Helen Carey kindly loaned this to us to help mark the 150th anniversary.

Family legend suggests William Bentley was as strict and orderly as you might expect of a man with an unblemished military record. Before he took his five sons and three daughters to church, "they had to have their shoes well polished and had to be lined up for inspection," said Mrs Carey, of Station Road, Haxby, York.

Another of Sergeant Bentley's great granddaughters, Mrs Dorothy Foster, also lives in York.

He had not always been a military man. Born at Kilnwick-on-the-Wold on October 25, 1816 - the Charge of the Light Brigade was to be his 38th birthday - William Bentley, the son of a labourer, became a farmer. No one knows why he enlisted in Beverley at the age of 19.

By 1851 he had been promoted to Corporal and he was made Sergeant in November 1853.

Less than a year later he faced the Russian battery and very nearly became one of the many victims of the Charge of the Light Brigade. The 11th Hussars were on the far left of the line. As the trumpeter sounded the gallop, the mounted squadrons faced devastating volleys of gunfire.

After regrouping and charging the guns again, the Russians broke. But it was a short-lived victory. The remaining 11th Hussars turned to be confronted by Russian Lancers, and it was "every man for himself".

Sergeant Bentley's horse was severely wounded and the Russians had knocked him out of his saddle, ready to finish him off.

He was saved by an extraordinary act of bravery. Lieutenant Alexander Dunn, a tall Canadian, saw Bentley's predicament and set out to rescue him. "Prancing, side-wheeling, rearing his thoroughbred, he parried, thrusted and slashed at the assailants, felling them all in a matter of minutes," ran an account in the Canadian Legion Magazine.

"But Bentley was still in dire straits, desperately hanging on to his horse by one of the stirrups so Dunn dismounted, lifted Bentley back into his own saddle, then belted the horse on the rump to send it galloping towards the British lines."

He also saved Private Levett, who later died from his wounds. Lieutenant Dunn's outstanding bravery saw him become first Canadian to win the Victoria Cross.

By a strange coincidence, Lieutenant Dunn was from York in Canada - a city later renamed Toronto. While serving in Abyssinia 14 years later his rifle exploded, killing him. His grave was recently rediscovered and his remains taken back to Canada, but a reburial ceremony set for today has been postponed.

Sergeant Bentley was injured in the Balaclava charge. He received a lance wound to the neck and a bullet graze in his calf. He was lucky. Of the 110 men of the 11th Hussars who took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade, only 25 returned.

He recovered, and a year later he was appointed Troop Sergeant Major. He was discharged in 1860, although he went on to serve with the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry until 1872, when his 37-year Army career finally ended.

Mrs Carey still has a small red book of her great grandfather's: the Formulary of Prescriptions For Use In Military Hospitals 1865. This details such frightening treatments as Draught of Bicarbonate of Potash, and Copper and Opium pills.

She also has his handbook of the Balaclava Commemoration Society, open only to those who fought in the battle.

Troop Sergeant Major Bentley attended the first Balaclava Charge Fete, at Alexandra Palace, London, on October 25, 1875, and Mrs Carey has the programme for this event too. It was a grand affair, with troop parades, poems, songs, a feast and the unveiling of a trophy.

He died on March 1, 1891, at his home in St John's Crescent, York, and was buried alongside his second wife Elizabeth in Fulford Cemetery five days later. His first wife Mary and his 31 year old son are buried together elsewhere in the cemetery.

William Bentley was accorded a full military funeral. "The body, which was encased in a plain oak coffin, rested on a gun carriage drawn by powerful black steeds in funeral trappings," said a contemporary newspaper report.

"The Union Jack overspread the bier, and a black velvet pall was laid on the colours."

Among the mourners was William Pearson, another York survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

In an interview with the Evening Press to mark the 50th anniversary of that day, Mr Pearson, who had joined the 17th Lancers in 1848, gave a vivid account of the hand-to-hand fighting.

"We took the guns," he said, "but we could not hold them, and after spiking a few we returned. I was assailed by three Cossacks, and while keeping them at bay with my lance, a fourth came up to their assistance and gave me a thrust in the right side as he passed.

"He could not pull up his horse or else he would have run me through.

"I had trained my horse to do some tricks, and to rear up at my bid. I had the presence of mind to press my charger's flanks with my legs and immediately the horse reared up and scattered my opponents."

He managed to find safety and was later tended to by Florence Nightingale at Scutari Hospital.

Updated: 09:15 Monday, October 25, 2004