Trumpet in E flat (Gray)
This badly damaged trumpet—possibly made by Köhler & Son—belonged to Trumpet Major Gray of the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, who took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in 1854. “The Russian gunners tried to knock Gray out of his saddle with their rammers, and the trumpet was so badly battered that it was condemned as useless,” reported The Sketch a Victorian periodical, on 21 June 1899. “ It was left in a scrap heap, but was rescued by Farrier-Major Dyer, who kept it in the forge-waggon and restored it to Gray.”
Trumpet in E flat, Brass. Köhler & Son, Battle of Balaclava, Crimean War, 1854. Inventory number: MAM 1:0259e. Collection: Museum of Army Music, Alford Schools of Military Music, Portsmouth, UK.
