5th Dragoon Guards


Rough-Rider Michael Macnamara


In July 1856, at the Crimean War's end, troops gathered in Aldershot for a London victory parade. Macnamara was among the soldiers photographed in Aldershot by Robert Howlett and Joseph Cundall for their series of portraits entitled 'Crimean Heroes 1856'. Born in 1822, McNamara was in the 5th Dragoon Guards during the Crimean War. He took part in the Heavy Brigade charge at the Battle of Balaklava and served at Inkerman and Sevastopol. Awarded a Campaign Medal with three clasps and 5-pound gratuity for Distinguished Conduct in Field, he was discharged in 1867 as a corporal. Macnamara was a private at the time of the photograph and wears an embroidered rough-rider's spur badge on his right arm. The name seems to imply that he treated horses badly but it simply meant that he was a riding instructor. He wears the new style tunic introduced in 1856 but his waistbelt is the type that was worn with the old coatee. The belt clasp has a regimental star badge.


Regimental details | Soldiers


Armed Forces | Art and Culture | Articles | Biographies | Colonies | Discussion | Glossary | Home | Library | Links | Map Room | Sources and Media | Science and Technology | Search | Student Zone | Timelines | TV & Film | Wargames



by Stephen Luscombe