Clemence Brophy

Photograph of Clemence Brophy seated with his legs crossed, leaning against the wall beside him to the left. He is wearing hospital clothing, his left arm visibly missing under the sleeve of his jacket. He is holding a pipe in his right hand. This photograph, printed by Jabez Hughes in 1883, is a carbon print pasted over the original photograph.

Clemence Brophy served with the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot during the Crimean War. He was badly wounded in the trenches on 31st August 1855, suffering severe chest injuries and loosing his left arm. He was one of the wounded veterans seen by Queen Victoria 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. 

The Queen wrote in her journal for 16 April 1856: 'The other case was Clemence Brophy 34th Regt whose left arm, shoulder, & shoulder blade had been removed, but he recovered! The enormous wound was entirely healed.'