Lord Tredegar - Gorsedd Gardens, Cardiff, Wales
N 51° 29.111 W 003° 10.606
30U E 487726 N 5703796
The horse which carried the 1st Viscount Lord Tredegar in the famous Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava was at first called Mr Briggs and later Sir Briggs. Located in the Gorsedd Gardens, Cardiff, Wales.
Waymark Code: WME86K
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/17/2012
Views: 5
"Lord Tredegar born at Ruperra Castle in Glamorgan on April 28, 1830, Godfrey Charles Morgan was the second surviving son of Sir Charles Morgan Robinson, the Baron of Tredegar, whose wife Rosamund was the only daughter of General Godfrey Basil Mundy.
After being educated at Eton, Lord Tredegar, or the Hon Godfrey Morgan as he was then, joined the 17th Lancers – the Death or Glory Boys – as a lieutenant and throughout the Crimean War took part in the battles of Alma, Inkerman and Balaclava.
When the Crimean War broke out he held the rank of a captain and was in charge of a section of the Light Brigade that took part in the historic charge which inspired Lord Tennyson’s famous poem.
A little-known fact about Balaclava is that the trumpet which was said to have sounded the ill-fated charge was put up for sale in London some years afterwards and fetched £700. But until the day he died, Lord Tredegar maintained that no trumpet was ever sounded!
When his famous charger died it was known as Sir Briggs – perhaps it was “knighted” by his lordship after Balaclava – and was buried in the grounds of Tredegar House. The memorial stone, which was still there when I looked some years ago, reads: “In Memory of Sir Briggs – A favourite charger, he carried his master, Godfrey Morgan, Captain 17th Lancers, boldly and well at the battle of the Alma, in the first line in the Light Cavalry Charge of Balaclava and at the Battle of Inkerman in 1854. He died at Tredegar Park, February, in 1874 aged 28 years.”
Sir Briggs sustained a sabre cut to the ear in the charge. Another little-known fact is that Sir Briggs carried Lord Tredegar to success in his famed purple and orange racing colours in the principal steeplechase over the old Cowbridge Steeplechase course at Penllyne.
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