Lucan, George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of

▪ British soldier

born April 16, 1800, London, Eng.

died Nov. 10, 1888, London

      British soldier who commanded the cavalry division, including the famous Light Brigade, at the Battle of Balaklava (Balaklava, Battle of) (q.v.) in the Crimean War.

      The eldest son of the 2nd Earl of Lucan, Lord Bingham was educated at Westminster and was commissioned an ensign in 1816, rising to a lieutenant-colonelcy by 1826 (which he held until 1837) and seeing service with the Russians in the Balkans (1828). He was a member of Parliament from 1826 to 1830 and succeeded as Earl of Lucan in 1839.

      Having been appointed a major-general in 1851, he applied for a command at the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854 and was given a cavalry division, consisting of two brigades—the Heavy Brigade under James Yorke Scarlett and the Light Brigade under his brother-in-law, the Earl of Cardigan. Despite the relationship, Lucan and Cardigan disdained each other.

      In the Battle of Balaklava, Lord Raglan of the British staff issued two orders through an aide-de-camp, intending to disrupt a Russian withdrawal by means of an attack by the Light Brigade. A combination of circumstances resulted in a fatal confusion in relaying the final order, and Lucan sent the Light Brigade, followed by two regiments of the Heavy Brigade, toward the stronger, rather than the weaker, Russian positions. The brigade was decimated, and Lucan himself was wounded in the leg.

      Lucan was recalled to England in 1855 and asked for a court-martial, which was refused. His case was discussed in the House of Lords and the Commons, without result. He received no more military employment but was promoted to general in 1865 and field marshal in 1887, a year before his death.

* * *