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Record of historical events

Victoria and Albert collected photographs that documented the political and military events that defined a period of global expansion

CUNDALL & HOWLETT

Amputees at Chatham Military Hospital

1883 copy after 1856 original

Carbon print | 18.1 x 23.7 cm (image) | RCIN 2500189

Photograph of three soldiers who were injured during the Crimean War sitting on a bed covered by a tartan blanket. From left to right are William Young, Henry Burland and John Connery. Young and Burland have had both of their legs amputated and Connery has lost his left leg. He is holding his artificial leg on his lap. All of the men are wearing hospital clothing with caps and there is a sheet hanging behind them. This photograph, printed by Jabez Hughes in 1883, is a carbon print pasted over the original photograph. There is a handwritten note below the photograph detailing the men's injuries. Young lost his legs in a shell explosion on 18th June 1855, while Burland and Connery lost limbs due to frostbite suffered in the trenches.

Throughout the war Queen Victoria had taken an active interest in the welfare of the troops and on their return to Britain she met a number of the wounded veterans at Chatham Military Hospital. Following her visits to the hospital she commissioned a series of photographs of the veterans from the photographers Joseph Cundall and Robert Howlett. She is also known to have paid for a significant number of artificial limbs and to have found employment for some of the men.
  • Creator(s)

    Cundall & Howlett (photographer)

    Jabez Hughes (1819-84) (printer)

  • 18.1 x 23.7 cm (image)

    29.5 x 23.1 cm (page dimensions)

  • William Young, 23rd Regiment, Corporal Henry Burland, 34th Regiment & John Connery, all with amputations. Seen by Queen Victoria at Chatham, 28 November, 1855 [in Crimean Portraits 1854 - 1856]

  • Acquired by Queen Victoria

  • Subject(s)
    • Science, Medicine and Technology
      • Medical sciences
        • Pathology
          • Amputations (surgical operations)
      • Home economics
        • Furniture & accessories
          • Beds
      • Industries, Crafts and Trades
        • Clothing
          • Costume
            • Uniforms
              • Military uniforms
    • Social sciences
      • Military affairs
        • Wars, Campaigns & Battles
          • Wars
            • Wars of the nineteenth century
              • Crimean War (1853-1856)