Michael D.Heath-Caldwell M.Arch.

1897

File PB130047

Legal document

1897

The Misses G.A. and R.J.Marsh-Caldwell

Re Alsager Cottages.

6.0.0

Barnard and Taylor

47LincolnsInn Fields

The Misses G.A. & R.J. Marsh Caldwell

To Messrs Barnard & Taylor

47 Lincolns Inn Fields. W.C.

Re Alsager Cottages.

March/April 1897

To deducing title to freehold hereditaments at Alsager. Perusing and completing conveyance. Scale fee on 400. 6.0.0

Received

Barnard and Taylor

6^th May 1897

Introduction to the book “Letters from the Black Sea” by Admiral Sir Leopold Heath

These letters have lain on a shelf untouched and almost unthought of for many years, but, as is the habit of old men, I took them down recently to refresh my memory of the events in which I had taken part during the most stirring times of my earlier life. They interested me much, and I publish them thinking that perhaps they may also interest others.

The earlier letters that is, those previous to February, 1855 describe events occurring whilst I was in command of the “Niger,” or of the “Sanspareil,” and carrying out the ordinary duties of the service; but those of a later date were written whilst I was holding the position of Harbour Master at Balaklava or of Principal A gent of Transports. It will be seen that the series begins with the declaration of war and ends with the fall of Sebastopol.

It will be seen that the series begins with the declaration of war and ends with the fall of Sebastopol. Some few letters have been lost, but none of much consequence, except, perhaps, that which described the battle of Tchernaya, in which victory over the attacking Russians – said to have been sixty thousand strong – was won by the Sardinians, aided partially by ourselves and the French, and, I think, by a few Turks.

Many “Letters from the Crimea” and histories of the campaign have been brought before the public, but I think they have all been written by Officers of the Sister Service and that these are the first from a Sailor’s pen. I have included amongst the Letters a semi-official report upon the loss of the “Prince,” and also two documents and two photographs showing the real conditions of Balaklava Harbour. On both these points the English newspapers used very strong language, but the “Correspondents” of those days were not the steady, history-recording gentlemen who now accompany our armies; they apparently considered that to interest and excite the readers of their newspapers was their only mission.

In the Appendix are two or three documents of interest, and it closes with the despatches from the Duke of Newcastle, after receiving reports of the first bombardment – of the battle of Balaklava – and that of Inkerman. The last-named is extraordinarily eloquent, and one cannot read its many tender and pathetic passages without a strong suspicion that although the pen was that of the Minister of War, the words were those of a more exalted person. What can be more Queen-like than “Let not any private soldier in the ranks believe that his conduct is unheeded – the Queen thanks him – his Country honours him.”

It was my great good fortune to obtain the good opinion both of Admiral Dundas and Sir Edmund Lyons, and I take this opportunity of expressing the gratitude with which I received their many acts of kindness both professional and private.

L.G. Heath

Anstie Grange, Holmwood

May, 1897

Globe
Saturday 10 July 1897

New Publications.

Now ready,

Letters From the Black Sea During the Crimean War.

By Admiral Sir Leopold George Heath K.C.B. In One Vol. crown 8vo, with illustrations and Plans, 7s 6d.
Richard Bentley and Son, New Burlington Street.

Army and Navy Gazette
Saturday 31 July 1897

Reviews.

Letters from the Black Sea.

The Letters From the Black Sea During the Crimean Wara, 1854-55, of Admiral Sir Leopold George Heath K.C.B. (Richard Bentley and Sons), were written for the delectation of his friends at home, though with the object that they should be preserved, and, we surmise, ultimately published. 

By the nature of the positions he filled in command of the Niger, and as harbourmaster at Balaclava and principle agent of transports, the author saw little of the active operations. His letters do not possess the vivi character and keen interest of some recent Crimean reminiscences, although they are instructive. 

We are a little surprised that Sir Leopold Heath did not edit the papers before publishing them. Some of his personal and family concerns can scarcely interest the public, and the relatives of personages whom he harshly criticises will not read with pleasure the judgments he formed haphazard.

SIr Edmond Lyons does not excape criticism, the Admirals Dundas and Boxer far badly at his hands. The letters describe the minor operations in the Black Sea, such as the capture of small Russian vessels which preceded the landing. The dealing with these seems to have exercised the commander of the Niger to some extent, and he tells us that he got into a great fright at Varna through selling a number before the proper court had pronounced them lawfrul prizes.

We hear of differences between the admirals and others: "I have had Admiral Lyons on board here for six or seven hours, and he did not hesitate in telling me of all the divisions at the council table; they certainly don't seem at all unanimous and it is a greast pity Admiral Dudas does not go to England and leave Sir Edmund Lyons the Commander-in-Chief." 
Sir Leopold Heath witnessed the battle of the Alma from the maintop of the Niger, and remarks that the streaming away from the Russian rear was a curious sight. He censures the allied generals for not following up the victory, as also for allowing the Russian to throw up their works at Sebastopol unimpeded. 

Todleben, he says rather strangely, should have been a railway contractor, since the idea of digging such ditches, and forming so massive a parapet, could hardly have entered anyone's head but that of a Brassey or a Peto. 

In the bombardment of the Oct. 17, which was the only active work of the campaign that Sir Leopold Heath saw, his ship was lashed, as a "tower," on the off side of the London, and suffered very little loss. 
He describes briefly the successive bombardments, and the actions of Balaclava and Inkerman, without throwing any interesting light upon them. When Captain Dacres, of the Sans Pareil, was invalided, he was appointed in his place, and remarks when he received his appointment as harbourmaster, that he was "a very lucky fellow, and Admiral Dundas a very discerning and disinterested Commander-in-Chief." 

This appintment, we take occasion to note, was intimated to him on Nov.23, 1854, and he appears to have been occupied during subsequent days in settling what he calls his domestic affairs and making himself comfortable, for he had a pleasant "suite of apartments, a fireplace for the cold weather, and a warm delightful stern walk all round the stern for warm weather." 
He remarks that his grandchildren would never believe he was promoted for the bombardment of Sebastopol on Oct.17 because they would read "that grandpapa ws made a post-captain on Nov.13." 

We note this remark to show a little of the character of the admiral's reminiscences. He was very much offended with "Our Own Correspondent" for remarking, in the Times, that Balaclava harbour was managed in a "higgledy-piggled, rough-and-tumble" fashion. 

He had seen this remark, he says, in the Evening Mail of Dec. 15 to 18. The passage quoted, however, was in a letter of Nov. 25, and it seems to have been quite superfluous to circularise the captains of the transports on Jan.10 following to give testimony as to the satisfactory state of the harbour at the end of November, nor can the memorandum of the same period, in regard to the piloting, berthing, wharfage, and other details of the harbour management be of any value to illustrate its condition at an anterior period.

The admiral was perhaps a little more inclined to censure the correspondents, and to think that on future occasions we should be very foolish if we did not gag them before entering upon a campaign, for the reason that he did not himself feel that "churlish chiding of the winder's wind," nor that want of supplies, which so grievously afflicted those who were not so fortunate as to enjoy comfortable "suites of apartments" on the uplands about Sebastopol

At the same time the author was not unaware of the mismanagement which inflicted so much misery upon our soldiers. Admiral Boxer succeeded him at Balaclava, and he writes that he expected that officer to make a "very pretty hotch-potch" of his business. 

The Sabastopol committee does not escape his sarcasm, and it is extraordinary that he can have allowed it to appear in print in 1897 that he thought the evidence "the most wonderful jumble of gossip and second editions of newspaper correspondence that had ever been gathered together before so solemn a tribunal" in 1855. 

But he already convinced himself that Sir John McNeil, a member of the committee, was a gobe-mouche. 

The whole tone of the book shows that the gallant author never understood the situation, and hence that he fails to appreciate the good that was done in awaking the public to the mismanagement which had been so disastrous. He is quite wrong in saying that Sir Edmund Lyons disapproved the flank march, which he himself thinks to have been an excellent thing. He attributes mismanagement to the officers of some regiments, and cannot undertand why one should have gone bodily to "hospital or the grave." 

The misfortune was due to the fact, in order that the continuity of front might be kept up, they were encamped on low ground, which was flooded during rain. 

It is correct to attribute to Gen. Canrobert the spoiling of the first expedition to Kertch, for the general acted in obedience to positive orders. Sir Leopold Heath's volume is not without defects, but old naval officers will be glad to have it. 

Globe.Tuesday 28 September 1897

Deaths.

Heath - On the 25th inst. at Kitlands, Holmwood, Surrey, Douglas Denon Heath Esq., J.P., formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and for many years Judge of the Bloomsbury County Court, in his 87th year.