Soldiers awarded the Crimean Medal by Queen Victoria, Buckingham Palace

Photograph of a group of six soldiers who served in the Crimean War. On the back row, standing left to right: Private Charles Smith of the Grenadier Guards and Gunner George Bagsham of the Royal Artillery. On the front row, seated from left to right: Sergeant Thomas Owens of the Royal Artillery, Private George Biddlecom of the Scots Fusilier Guards, Private Isaac Church of the Grenadier Guards and Private Ed Barrett of the Grenadier Guards. They are wearing the dress uniform of their regiment and the Crimean Medal. There are two windows of Buckingham Palace behind them. This photograph, printed by Jabez Hughes in 1883, is a carbon print pasted over the original photograph.

These soldiers were awarded the Crimean Medal by Queen Victoria on 18th May 1855. Throughout the war she had taken an active interest in the welfare of the troops and on their return to Britain she met a number of veterans at Buckingham Palace and at the military hospital at Chatham. Private Church later became a night porter at Windsor Castle.