General Sir James Yorke Scarlett (1 February 1799 – 6 December 1871) was a British Army officer and hero of the Crimean War who led the Charge of the Heavy Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854. Early life The second son of the 1st Baron Abinger, he was born in London and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, In 1835, he married Charlotte Anne Hargreaves, a coal heiress from Burnley, the town becoming his adopted home. Career Scarlett entered the army in 1818, as a cornet in the 18th Hussars; in 1830, he became a major in the 5th Dragoon Guards, whose Colonel was Sir John Slade (1762-1859). Slade served in the Peninsular War, where he was described as an officer of 'limited ability, lacking initiative and nearly useless' and 'that damned stupid fellow.' Combined with Slade's age, this resulted in Scarlett's appointment as Commanding Officer of the regiment in 1840, a post he held for nearly fourteen years. In 1854 he was close to retirement after an uneventful career during which he had not seen any active service. In this he was typical of the senior ranks of the British cavalry at the time, other than those posted to India. Crimean War In April 1854 Colonel Scarlett was appointed Brigadier-General of the Heavy Brigade of Cavalry, under Lord Lucan, Commander of the Cavalry Division. The 5th Dragoon Guards formed part of Scarlett's Heavy Brigade which was sent to the Black Sea in 1854. There it suffered heavily from cholera in the camps of Varna. During the Battle of Balaclava on the morning of 25 October 1854, the Russians had stormed a series of hills known as the Causeway Heights beyond which lay the "Valley of Death" where the Earl of Cardigan would lead the Light Brigade in one of the great military blunders of the nineteenth century. Lord Raglan ordered that Scarlett should move eight squadrons of his brigade back to Kadikoi, to support the 93rd Highlanders defence of the British base at Balaklava. As Scarlett led his column of the Heavy Brigade across the sprawling tented camp of the Light Brigade, a Russian cavalry force of approximately 2000 was spotted just 800 yards from their left flank, at the top of the heights. The 55-year-old Scarlett quickly assembled just 300 of his Inniskillings and Scots Greys (of Waterloo fame) at the foot of