The Crimean War Research Society ...
Our Society exists to honour and remember those that fell in the war and to study the war in its entirety - from mainstream topics like the deaths from disease in the Crimea and the naval confrontation in the Baltic to little-known aspects of the war such as the British Army's refusal to deploy poison gas at Sevastopol, and the naval actions in the Pacific.
Scaling the Heights of the Alma; The Charge of the Light Brigade; the Soldier's Battle; Florence Nightingale; the Fall of Sevastopol; the incompetence of those in command; the endurance of the ordinary soldier; the Great Storm; the political wrangles in Constantinople, Vienna, Paris and London; the newspaper reporting and the new-fangled telegraph; the uniforms and the arms; the soldiers, sailors, camp-followers, spectators, businessmen and politicians; the effect on the military, industry and the man in the street; all of these and more are examined by the Crimean War Research Society.
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As with all wars, the Crimean War produced many a good tune!
Click to play one of our favourites!
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Our Annual General Meeting, usually in May, is an opportunity for members to meet and exchange views and information. In recent times the AGM has expanded to an entire Crimean Weekend, with members coming together from all over the world for three days of discussions, lectures, and other events, rounded off with a celebratory dinner.
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The Crimean 'Info-net'
Membership of the Society gives you access to hundreds of other researchers and students of the period; each with their own specialist interests and knowledge. Many are keen to assist in the researches of others, knowing that it might soon be their turn to be faced with an apparently insoluble problem. When you have joined the Society we hope you will also sign up for our online Members' Area to take advantage of our database of special interests and help offered. The Society is proud to number many leading historians amongst its members, and to publish their articles in the War Correspondent...
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Our illustrated journal,
The War Correspondent,
is published four times a year, and contains the results of recent researches by our members, many of whom are internationally-respected professional historians.
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CRIMEAN TEXTS
David Kelsey built an excellent website at www.crimeantexts.org.uk where he has posted a large selection of contemporary documents, transcribed by himself. Click here to be taken there. An excellent resource.
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MEMBERS' ARTICLES
A sample article from one of our members is displayed here. Called "The Mapleton Archive" - it is the edited transcripts of letters sent by officers on Lord Raglan's Staff to Dr. Henry Mapleton, Lord Raglan's personal physician, who was forced by ill-health to return to England from Varna shortly before the invasion of the Crimea.
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New York Public Library online galleries...
The New York Public Library's digital galleries have extensive images of military uniform prints from the Vinkhuijzen Collection. They have recently posted 30 new images which cover the Sardinian army of the 1850s - click on the example at right to be taken there...
The Vinkhuijzen Collection online at the NYPL also has over 60 prints of British uniforms of the Crimean War period; 40 from Turkey of 1850-1896, and six galleries of Russian uniforms from 1855 alone! Click on the links below for the relevant sections (the Russian link is to the start of Part 1, 1855):
British
Turkish
Russian
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SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS
The Society produces a wide range of publications of interest to those researching the war; these include copies of contemporary maps and books, up-to-date information sheets on the contents of regimental museums, bibliographies, medal rolls and other books and booklets written by members: all of these publications
are available to members at a considerable discount. Click here for full details of all Society publications, and how to get them.
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The Mary Seacole Statue Appeal
Mary Seacole is a key personality of the Crimean War whose recognition has grown in recent years - The Crimean War Research Society are making a small donation to the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal, which was established in November 2004 by Lord Soley of Hammersmith and is now a registered charity. The aim is to commission a memorial in central London that recognises the contributions made by Jamaican born Mary Seacole (1805-1881) in nursing British soldiers in the Crimean War. Whist an annual memorial service is held at her graveside in London there is no permanent memorial and the MSMSA are in the process of raising approximately half a million pounds to rectify this situation. Members wishing to make individual donations to the Appeal, should may note that donations can either be sent by post to: The Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3XX., or made online at: maryseacoleappeal.org.uk
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MEMBERS' CORNER
Members! If your email address is published in the Society booklet then you will receive an invitation to join the CWRS Members' Area in due course. However, if you click on the Members' Area link on the lefthand navigation column, you will be able to fill in an application yourself by clicking on the filling out a profile link. This will save me a lot of time and get you joined up quicker.
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