This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Record of historical events

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

JABEZ HUGHES (1819-84)

Major-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan (1797-1868)

1883 copy after 1854-6 original

Carbon print | 19.3 x 14.0 cm (image) | RCIN 2500027

Photograph of Major-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan standing facing slightly right. He is wearing a long coat and is holding a handkerchief in his right hand. This photograph, printed by Jabez Hughes in 1883, is a carbon print pasted over the original photograph. Either the negative or the original print was retouched, particularly around the head.

Major-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan led the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava.
  • Creator(s)

    Jabez Hughes (1819-84) (printer)

    Unknown Person (photographer)

  • 19.3 x 14.0 cm (image)

    29.6 x 23.1 cm (page dimensions)

  • Major-General Sir James Thomas, Earl of Cardigan, K.C.B., Inspector General of Cavalry, c.1856 [in Crimean Officers' Portraits, 1854 - 1856]

  • Acquired by Queen Victoria

  • Subject(s)
    • Social sciences
      • Military affairs
        • Cavalry
        • Wars, Campaigns & Battles
          • Wars
            • Wars of the nineteenth century
              • Crimean War (1853-1856)