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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

Private Jesse Lockhurst and Private Thomas O'Brien

1883 copy after 1856 original

Carbon print | 21.3 x 17.3 cm (image) | RCIN 2500194

Photograph of Crimean War veterans Private Jesse Lockhurst and Private Thomas O'Brien convalescing at Chatham Military Hospital. Lockhurst is sitting on a chair to the left, his legs crossed and a shot in his right hand. He is wearing military uniform and there are visible wounds to his face. O'Brien is reclining on a bed to the right wearing hospital clothing. He is holding a shot in his right hand and there is a patch over his left eye. A curtain is draped behind. This photograph, printed by Jabez Hughes in 1883, is a carbon print pasted over the original photograph. There is a handwritten note beside the photograph detailing the men's injuries. Lockhurst was hit by a shot weighing 18 1/2 ounces while he was in the advanced trenches and O'Brien was injured by a shot weighing 6 3/4 ounces at the Battle of the Redan. Both men lost the sight in one eye and suffered extensive injuries to their jawbone.  

Queen Victoria met Private Lockhurst and Private O'Brien on 16th April 1856 at Chatham Military Hospital during one of a number of visits she made to wounded soldiers who had returned from the Crimean War. She recorded in her journal that she had held in her hands the shots which had been extracted from the men's wounds. This portrait is one of a series by Joseph Cundall and Robert Howlett commissioned by Queen Victoria following her visits to the hospital.

  • Creator(s)

    Cundall & Howlett (photographer)

    Jabez Hughes (1819-84) (printer)

    Subject(s)

    Jesse Lockhurst, Private (fl.1855)
    Thomas O'Brien, Private (active 1856)
    Army-GB-Infantry-1st (the Royal) Regiment (1822-1872)
    Army-GB-Infantry-31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot (1783-1881)

  • 21.3 x 17.3 cm (image)

    29.5 x 23.1 cm (page dimensions)

  • Private Jesse Lockhurst, 31st Regiment and Thomas O'Brien, 1st Royals [Crimean Portraits, 1854-1856].

  • Acquired by Queen Victoria

  • Subject(s)
    • Science, Medicine and Technology
      • 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)
    Object type(s)
      • visual works
        • photographs
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