Page from Corporal D's Diary - Crimean War

A good friend of mine, the Archivist NCO of the Scots Guards, Wellington Barracks, London, and I are working on publishing the hand-written diary of a Scots Fusilier Guards corporal (who will merely be called “D” until we publish), who was in the Crimean War (1854-1856).  It is an amazing document.

Usually ‘other ranks’ diaries, which are scarce to begin with, are in quite poor English and almost impossible to read … no capitals or too many, no periods between sentences, sentence fragments, no commas, bad tenses, and atrocious spelling.  This soldier was the opposite.  He was educated, and had a meticulous hand.  His writing is legible, even delicate, and grammatically better than most officer diaries I have seen.

We are typing it out as accurately as possible, and adding footnotes to explain such entries as, “Some of the Bashi Bazouks came by…” (The Bashi Bazouks – which literally means  ’damaged heads’ – were irregular Turkish cavalry fighting against the Russians.  They were recruited from the gutters, badly led, unreliable, and very willing to run when the heat was on.  However, on those rare occasions when they did actually engage the enemy, they were reputed to be impressive.)

It is also always interesting to read what was written at the time the battles of the Crimean War were fought, a primary source. Hopefully, we will be able to publish this diary within a year – It deserves to be read.

Bashi Bazouks

Bashi Bazouk Chief

Black Bashi Bazouk