Crimean War relic. A silver mounted cane, the pommel engrave...

Hammer

£1,300

Crimean War relic. A silver mounted cane, the pommel engraved with crest, INKERMANN 1854 and initials ACC/WHLD CUDDY LT COL 55TH KILLED 8TH SEPTR 1855, steel tip, 91cm l, with early handwritten fabric label inscribed Juniper Stick. Cut by Lt Col Cuddy 55th Regiment after Inkermann from the scrub on the Heights sent to me at the Depot by him. I had it mounted after my return from the Crimea [signed] A C Cure

Alfred Capel-Cure and William Cuddy were brother officers serving in 55th (Westmorland)
Regiment when ordered to the Crimea. Capel-Cure was left commanding the depot, whilst Cuddy - as a captain - took command of the Regiment after casualties amongst his senior officers at the Battle of the Alma, 20 September 1854. Cuddy then led the 55th at the Sortie of Oct 26th and the great Battle of Inkermann, 5 Nov 1854 with distinction. After that battle, he cut this stick from the field of battle and sent it to his friend Capel-Cure who was languishing far from the action. 

However, Cuddy was slightly junior to Capel-Cure who purchased a vacant majority in the 55th which occasioned him to be sent to the Crimea as commanding officer. Capel-Cure rejoined the Regiment in early 1855 and replaced the now very experienced Cuddy in command. Although Cuddy received a brevet lieutenant colonelcy, he served under the newly arrived Capel-Cure and was killed during the assault on Sebastopol.

Cuddy’s memorial in Portrush, Co Londonderry reads:
SACRED/ TO THE MEMORY OF/ BREVET LIEUT. COLONEL/ WILLIAM HOLLAND LECKY
DANIEL CUDDY/ HM 55TH REGIMENT/ WHO FELL WHILE LEADING HIS REGIMENT/ AT THE FINAL ASSAULT OF THE REDAN,  SEVASTOPOL/ AND WAS INTERRED ON CATHCART'S HILL/SEPTEMBER 8TH 1855/ AGED 41 YEARS 11 MONTHS./

Colonel Alfred Capel-Cure (8 December 1826 − 29 July 1896) was an officer in the British Army and a pioneer of photography.

He was the nephew of the watercolour painter and photographer Robert Henry Cheney, who
introduced him to photography. His subjects were mostly architecture in England, Ireland, France and Gibraltar. He served in the Crimean War and was there wounded at the Redan.
Capel-Cure was commissioned into the 55th Foot, but later transferred to the Grenadier Guards. 
He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1858 and colonel in 1863.
He was killed in an accidental explosion while dynamiting tree roots in his park.