Portal:University of Oxford/Selected biography/55

James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan (1797–1868) was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. He led the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. He was educated at Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford, but left Oxford after three years, without taking a degree. He became a Member of Parliament in his last term at Oxford, and spent time in the House of Commons before inheriting his father's peerage and with it a place in the House of Lords. Throughout his life in politics and his long military career he characterised the arrogant and extravagant aristocrat of the period. His progression through the Army was marked by many episodes of extraordinary incompetence, but this can be measured against his generosity to the men under his command and genuine bravery. As a member of the landed aristocracy he had actively and steadfastly opposed any political reform in Britain, but in the last year of his life he relented and came to acknowledge that such reform would bring benefit to all classes of society. (more...)