In January 1858, The Age reported that a communication was received from Lord Panmure, by the Right Worshipful the Mayor of the City of Melbourne, in which that nobleman, as Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's Forces, offered to the City of Melbourne two Russian Guns, to be preserved in the City as Russian War Trophies. The offer was made in consequence of the manner the citizens of Melbourne displayed their loyalty to the Sovereign, and the handsome way in which they came forward with their subscriptions for the relief of the sufferers by the late Russian War (1).
Russian Trophies, Botanical Gardens, 1862.
Artist: George Stafford; Engraver: Samuel Calvert.
State Library of Victoria Image H4205
The Russian War, also known as the Crimean War, was fought on the Crimean Peninsula between Russia and an alliance consisting of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia. It began in October 1853 and ended on March 30, 1856. For people like me, who are not military historians, the Crimean War is remembered due to its connection to Florence Nightingale who was in charge of nursing the British and Allied soldiers and improved the standard of care, cleanliness and food provided to the wounded. On her return to England she established a school of Nursing to improve the training of nurses.
The other interesting thing about the Crimean War is that many Victorian place and street names are connected to the battles and personalities of the War. A prime example can be seen in the suburb of St Kilda which has a Crimea, Odessa, Sebastapol, Raglan, Alma, Inkerman (2), Malakoff and Redan Street and is next to the suburb of Balaclava; the last five are named after battles; Odessa is a port on the Black Sea. Sebastapol is named for a city on the Crimean Peninsula, which was besieged for eleven months from October 1854. It is also the source of the name of the town of Sebastapol, near Ballarat. Raglan is named for Baron Raglan (1788-1855) a commander of the British troops during the War and there is also a town called Raglan, near Beaufort.
The town of St Arnaud, was named for Armand-Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud (1798-1854), the Commander of the French forces. Napier Street in St Arnaud is named for Sir Charles Napier (1786-1860), commander of the British Baltic fleet in the War.In Cranbourne there are three streets with a Crimean War connection -
Codrington - Sir William John Codrington (1804 - 1884) was Commander in Chief of the British Forces in the War; Clarendon - George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800 - 1870) was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1847 to 1852 and the British Foreign Secretary on three occasions from 1853 to 1870. He negotiated a favourable outcome for Britain at the end of the Crimean War in 1856 at the Congress of Paris Peace talks. The third Cranbourne street is Lyons Street - named for Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons (1790-1858), 1st Baronet Lyons, who commanded the Black Sea fleet during the War.
Codrington - Sir William John Codrington (1804 - 1884) was Commander in Chief of the British Forces in the War; Clarendon - George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800 - 1870) was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1847 to 1852 and the British Foreign Secretary on three occasions from 1853 to 1870. He negotiated a favourable outcome for Britain at the end of the Crimean War in 1856 at the Congress of Paris Peace talks. The third Cranbourne street is Lyons Street - named for Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons (1790-1858), 1st Baronet Lyons, who commanded the Black Sea fleet during the War.
I also believe that Pakenham was named after Lieutenant-Colonel Edward William Pakenham (1819 -1854) who was killed at Inkerman during the Crimean War. This has been disputed, but I stand by my research. You can read more about the naming of Pakenham, here.
The Russian cannons and the rotunda, Botanical Gardens, Melbourne, c. 1870.
State Library of Victoria Image H10788
Back to the cannons - the loyal citizens of Melbourne were indeed happy to accept the war trophies and a year later, they had arrived and The Age reported in January 5, 1859 -
A platform of stone work is now being erected in the Botanic Gardens, for the accommodation of the Russian guns presented to the colony, trophies of the late war, by the Home Government. The platform is in the immediate vicinity of the music pavilion (3).
At this time, just after the end of the Crimean War, Victorians were happy to display these trophies and on occasions the cannons were fired. The Geelong Advertiser reported in March 1859 that a Military Band performed at the Botanical Gardens, the highlight of which was -
Two days later, The Argus had this detailed report -
Trophies from the Crimea - Two of the Russian guns taken at the Redan fortification in the Crimea, and forwarded by the Imperial to the Victorian Government, have recently been placed in the Botanical Gardens, on an elevated spot overlooking the southern and eastern portions of the city. The peculiar construction and formidable powers of these enormous engines of warfare render them well worthy of Inspection, not to take into consideration the ideas which they must naturally suggest of the sufferings and triumphs of the allied armies in the late war.
The cannon weigh each three tons, and their comparatively light-looking carriages weigh a ton-and-a-half each. The carriages are of very peculiar form, being entirely of iron, and in some degree resembling that of the English field-gun, with the exception that the wheels are not more than 2½ feet in diameter, and are fitted with double-spokes of crossed iron bars. The sockets into which the elevating screws are turned project from the back part of the carriages, and when the screws are entirely removed form a rest for the breach, keeping the guns at point-blank range, beyond which range the muzzles cannot be elevated. The muzzles may, however, be so far depressed as to bear upon a force within a very short distance of an embrasure, in which they were no doubt placed. Each gun is 9 feet 4 inches in length, and about 2 feet in diameter at the breech. The calibres are 7¾ inches, and will receive balls weighing about 40 lb. When loaded with the full or distance charge (12¾ lb.) of powder, these imposing-looking iron magnates would propel their iron globes with much greater velocity than lighter guns of the same calibre to a distance of nearly 4,000 yards.
One of the guns is "spiked"-that is, a brittle steel rod has been driven into the vent, and then broken off, of course rendering the gun useless until the steel is drilled out again. This must have taken place at the storming of the Redan. The other gun has the vent so enlarged from constant firing, that the finger may be readily introduced. Besides these evidences of use, one of the cannon bears a singular mark, caused by the bursting of a shell upon it breach. The projectile must have been thrown from a howitzer from the English trenches, as it has evidently entered the narrow embrasure in which the gun was placed in a horizontal direction, and has scored a horizontal trace along one side of the metal, and finally burst at the breech. The mark made on the metal where the shell burst is a deep circular dent, from which radiate pretty equally and pretty thickly, in every direction, grooves cut into the solid iron, some of them an inch wide and a third of an inch deep. Of course, the Russian artillerymen on that side of the gun must have been killed, and the man stationed at the breech, who would occupy a position similar to that occupied by an artilleryman No. 4 in working an English gun, must have been blown to pieces. The guns are of excellent workmanship, and bear the date 1836 on the trunnions. The sight of them will well repay a visit to the spot where they are placed (4). There is more on the date of manufacture, below.
At this time, just after the end of the Crimean War, Victorians were happy to display these trophies and on occasions the cannons were fired. The Geelong Advertiser reported in March 1859 that a Military Band performed at the Botanical Gardens, the highlight of which was -
a performance of a Battle Sinfonie, descriptive of British troops leaving their native shores for the seat of war, the composition of the band-master, Mr Johnston. During the performance, one of the Russian war trophies placed in the gardens, was called into requisition and fired, to represent the daybreak morning gun. Owing to some negligence in not warning the spectators, a man who was crossing within range of the gun, was struck to the ground with a piece of wadding, which caught him in the face, and carried away a portion of his nasal organ. When removed from the ground, he was bleeding most profusely, and it will be fortunate if he has not received any severer injury (5).
However, the relationship between England and Russia thawed as the years went on. They thawed to such an extent that on January 23, 1874 Queen Victoria's second eldest son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (6) married the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, the daughter of the Russian Emperor, Alexander II, at the Winter Palace at St Petersburg (7). After this it was thought inappropriate to have such war trophies on display in such a prominent location so they were, as the Herald reported in February 1882, bundled into the barrack yard where they now lie (8). By 1889, they were located either side of the central door at Victoria Barracks, St. Kilda road (9), where they are today.
The wedding of Prince Alfred to the the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, January 1874.
I don't have a specific date as to when they were moved from the Gardens to the Barracks, even though I do like to know these things - the best I can do is between 1874, when the Royal wedding took place and 1882.
The Age report from 1859 said the guns bear the date 1836 on the trunnions. Major Bill Billett, in his book Victoria's Guns: a field guide (10) notes that the guns were restored at the Ordnance Factory in Bendigo in 1989 and an attempt was made at translating the marks of their origins. Major Billett, who was the curator of Arms and Armour at the Melbourne Museum, also says the guns were made in 1838, possibly at the Alexander Arsenal in Russia to a design by Armstrong, or supervised by him, for the Tsar of Russia. He lists the guns as a Type 36-Pr SB with the numbers 26028 and 26046 (11).
The cannons at the Victoria Barracks, St Kilda Road, 1975.
Photographer: John T. Collins.
State Library of Victoria Image H98.251/183
Finally, even before the 1874 Royal Wedding, some Victorians were tiring of the glorification of the Allied victory over the Russians on the Crimea Peninsula - this is from the St Kilda Telegraph of August 1869, written by the journalist 'Figaro' -
Why Redan and the Crimea? I ask the question in connexion with the naming of two new streets about to be formed in St. Kilda. I am sorry to see the council have sanctioned this ill-advised nomenclature. I do not approve of thus to perpetuating names that were brought into prominence by events which, if they cannot be forgotten, need not at least be thus ever-lastingly obtrusively forced on our notice. Have we not already Inkermann-street and Balaclava-road to keep the Russian campaign green in our memories, to say nothing of the trophy-guns in the Botanical gardens? Where, then, is the good of adding to these souvenirs of a miserable epoch in the national history? Why should we Australians in particular - who had nothing to do with the war, excepting as a matter of sympathy - thus perpetuate its sad memories? Besides, what might be justifiable when the Russians were at war with the mother-country, is, now they are at peace with her, very like an insult (12).
I understand what 'Figaro' is saying, but I have a real interest in the origin of place and street names and find this pocket of Crimean War names in St Kilda an interesting part of our Colonial history. There were , of course, Crimean War veterans who migrated to Australia and I have written about some of them, here.
Footnotes
(1) The Age, January 12, 1858, see here.
(2) Inkerman Street was originally spelt as Inkermann, which was how the town on the Crimean Peninsula was actually spelt. I don't know when the last n was dropped. (Cooper, John Butler The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a City and after, 1840 - 1930, v. 1 (City of St Kilda, 1931), p. 93)
(3) The Age, January 5, 1859, see here.
(4) The Argus, January 7, 1859, see here.
(5) Geelong Advertiser, March 15, 1859, see here.
(6) I have written about Prince Alfred in this blog before, read it here.
(8) The Herald, February 3, 1882, see here.
(9) The Herald, March 18, 1889, see here.
(10) Billett, Bill Victoria's Guns: a field guide (Scienceworks, Museum of Victoria, 1994)
(11) Billett, op.cit, p. 39.
(12) St Kilda Telegraph, August 7, 1869, see here.
