Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB (16 October 1797 – 28 March 1868) commanded the Light Brigade of the British Army during the Crimean War.
James Brudenell was born in Hambleden, Buckinghamshire and brought up at the Cardigan family seat of Deene Park, Northamptonshire. He was educated at Harrow (whence he was expelled for fighting) and Christ Church, Oxford. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Marlborough in W...
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Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB (16 October 1797 – 28 March 1868) commanded the Light Brigade of the British Army during the Crimean War.
James Brudenell was born in Hambleden, Buckinghamshire and brought up at the Cardigan family seat of Deene Park, Northamptonshire. He was educated at Harrow (whence he was expelled for fighting) and Christ Church, Oxford. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Marlborough in Wiltshire from 1818 to 1829, Fowey, Cornwall, from 1830 to 1832 and the family's local constituency of Northamptonshire North, from 1832 until inheriting the earldom from his father in 1837.
In 1823, Brudenell fell in love with Mrs. Elizabeth Tollemache Johnstone (8 December 1797 - 15 July 1858). Her husband, Lt.-Col. Christian Johnstone, started divorce proceedings in June 1824 and the divorce was finalised in June 1826. Johnstone was apparently happy to be rid of her, calling her “the most damned bad-tempered and extravagant bitch in the...
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