Home / Browse / Military & Naval / Letters from the Crimea
BIRD, Henry, Capt.
Letters from the Crimea
No other copy traced, "These letters were written from the Crimea by Capt. H. Bird (the spelling of the name was afterwards changed to Byrde. Capt. Bird resigned his commission a few years after the Crimean War, going to Ceylon to take charge of his father's business. He took great interest in the Volunteer movement, and for many years was Colonel of the Ceylon Light Infantry (Rifle Corps)" (preface,signed A.R.S., Capt. Bird's daughter Amy Rebecca married into the Scrimgeour family). Bird served with the 57th Regiment, The 'Die-Hards', the centrepiece of this collection of letters to his Uncle and Aunt Mais on Guernsey is a terrific 5-page account of the fall of Sebastopol; " … explosions were continually taking place. The latter were magnificent, for there suddenly appeared a glare and then a huge mass of dust. One mass I saw looked exactly like an immense tree of brown yellowish colour."
Octavo. Wire-stitched in the original textured paper wraps, lettered on the upper panel. 20-page pamphlet. Wraps slightly rubbed and discoloured on the lower panel, contents lightly toned, very good.
