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conduct of the war. In Dartmouth, donations flooded into the Royal Patriotic Fund, set up by Queen Victoria for soldiers’ widows and orphans (it still exists today). Public pressure forced a change of government and wide-ranging Army reforms. From April 1855, the siege
intensified. On 8 September, in a massive assault, the allies finally broke through; four days later they occupied Sevastopol. Peace was agreed on 30 March 1856 (“the merry bells of St Saviours have rung peals at intervals during the aſternoon”, reported the Chron- icle). Over the next six months the allies evacuated their forces. HMS Britannia, having returned to Portsmouth, accommodated repat- riated convalescents and long-term hospital cases. In 1859 she became the training ship for naval officer cadets, moving to the Dart in 1863; she too was a Crimean veteran. Te allies also removed huge
Russian Gun, detail: the Imperial Russian Eagle
quantities of Russian military equipment. In January 1857 the British government decided to grant pieces of iron ordnance as “war trophies” to cities and towns across the British Empire with space to display them. In Decem- ber 1858 Dartmouth Town Council decided to apply – the gun arrived in 1859. Te gun was a giſt, but the Council had to pay £16 for the carriage and £2 for fitting the gun to it. Cast in 1826 in Bryansk, Russia, near today’s Belarus/Ukraine
border, it was intended as garrison or coastal artillery (so would not have fired on the Light Brigade). Te inscription shows it fired 18lb roundshot, but in Dartmouth it was only ornamental. It was placed first on the New Ground (now the Royal Avenue Gardens) and later, in Coronation Park. During the Second World War,
many such guns distributed to British towns were melted down for salvage. By then Russia was a valued ally, so Dartmouth Town Council ensured their gun was preserved. Today it represents a tangible reminder of the costs of the Crimean War, and indeed, of war at any time or in any place.
Text © Gail Ham If you’re interested in discovering more about Dartmouth’s rich history, why not come along to a meeting of the Dartmouth History Research Group? Find out more at
www.dartmouth-history.org.uk
Memories to last a lifetime
Memories to last a lifetime
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