The Crimean War: The Fall of Sebastopol

For the soldiers, the end of the fighting in the Crimean War, came with the fall of the Russian port of Sebastopol on 5th September 1855. The latter fell only after the Russians had started to abandon the town. However, before leaving they destroyed their forts, ships and munition dumps to stop them falling into allied hands. One local soldier 'T.M.', an artilleryman, (probably Thomas Moreton R.A., who had previously had a letter printed in the Sentinel) writing of the event to his parents in the Potteries, was manning one of the gun batteries that had pounded the town in the days prior to its fall and thus had a grandstand view of the final allied advance.

British artillery during the Crimean War.

'Dear Parents,

It is with pleasure that I have another opportunity of addressing a few lines to you, hoping they will find you enjoying perfect health, I am happy to inform you that I never enjoyed better health in my life than I am doing at present time. Dear parents I am very happy to inform you that Sebastopol has fallen into the hands of the allies at last, the bombardment commenced on the morning of the 5th inst, and at twelve O' clock mid day, on the 5th, the Malakoff and Redan Batteries stopped, two divisions of the British Army assisted the French at the Malakoff, and Redan was attacked by the red jackets. I believe they advanced into Malakoff without a gun opening fire on them, the Russians being quite surprised when the enemy perceived the attack, they retired a little to the rear and got under cover, and a sharp struggle ensued, and after a lapse of time they had to retire from the Malakoff entirely and leave in the hands of the Allies. My brave countrymen, who attacked the Redan were not so fortunate, they perceived them coming. Dear parents I can scarcely tell what my feelings were when I saw our men jumping over our works to make the attack, many of them never to return alive; They had no sooner left the works than the Musketry commenced to rattle, and the firing from the Cannonade that was pretty brisk before, was now kept up with more vigour, but a very short time elapsed, before the British were climbing over the ramparts of the enemy's works, driving the enemy before them. When our men got into this the "Redan" we commenced to send the shell further over the works to catch the enemy when retiring.

British troops attacking the Redan

The infantry were in the Redan for about a hour or a hour and a half as near as I can tell; We had ceased firing at the battery I was at for fear of wounding some of our men.I was looking over to see what was going on when all at once I perceived the infantry retiring from the Redan as fast as their legs would carry them. When I saw this I thought it was going to be another 18th of June affair (i.e. an earlier unsuccessful attempt to storm the Redan). We did not take possession of it until about twelve O'clock at night, and then the Russians abandoned it altogether. They did not only leave the Redan and Malakoff in our hands, but the Barrack, Flag staff, Garden and point Batteries, in fact, they deserted the place entirely, and went to the north side. The next day, Sunday, was a regular day of plunder, everyone who could pass the sentries made their way into Sebastopol, for to make themselves masters of anything they could find. I got in myself, and was not a little surprised to find every house that was not destroyed by shot and shell the enemy had set fire to; It was nothing but a heap of ruins; and furniture of every description, pictures, pianofortes, in fact, everything that you could mention was there. I had as much as I could carry away, but it was all taken away from me, and from hundreds more; there was a line of sentries all along, who had orders to take every article away from everyone. The French, on the contrary, were allowed to take away whatever they could carry. There was a great many who got drunk in the town, some of the stores being cramped with spirits. I managed to get away a very nice forage cap, by putting it into my breast, also some silver lace, and a few other articles. Their shipping is completely destroyed. The French have thrown up a Battery in the town to play upon some of the Forts on the north side; They still keep possession of that point Our Batteries look strange, all the platforms are dug up, and the guns are being taken away daily, and we have orders to destroy the works entirely. I don't known how they are going to act, but reports are going abroad that part of the seige train will be removed from the Crimea altogether to go on station. Some of the infantry are removed to Balaklava, they say they are going to sail around to Perekop. God only knows how it is to be; As yet they have only to give orders, and we will obey them. I don't expect to leave the Crimea until the enemy is driven from it, and winter will soon be upon us now, and prevent us from doing much more, without they look sharp. I received a letter from Morgan the day I received your last; He was in Portsmouth, but was expecting to be shifted to Woolwich; He said he should come on Furlough. I am very happy to inform you that I did not receive a scratch this last bombardment. We had two men killed one of them by the bursting of one of our guns, the other by gun shot. I was at the gun that burst the day before, they only fired six rounds out of it after I left it when it burst. I fired sixty rounds myself out of it the day before; It was the man that fired it off that was killed. I have nothing more to say at present, but wishing you all well. Give my love to brother, and accept the same yourselves.

T. M.

Reference: Staffordshire Sentinel and Commercial & General Advertiser, Saturday 06 October 1855, p.3

The World's First Mid-Air Rescue

On 9 July 1908, the Longton Park Fête was in full swing and as well as the numerous stalls, funfair rides and other amusements put on to beguile the crowds that flocked to the park, there was another attraction, a parachute descent was to be performed by Captain Auguste Gaudron’s team. Thrilling as this was in itself, spice would be added to the display by the descent being made not by men, but by two young women, an experienced parachutist, Elizabeth ‘Dolly’ Shepherd and a novice named Louie May. In fact, Louie May should have made her first jump the day before from a new large balloon known as the ‘Mammoth’, the biggest then in Britain. The balloon and its passengers had indeed gone up, but it had been too windy to make the jump and to console the disappointed crowd Captain Gaudron had announced that they would try again the next day. He added that they would be joined overnight by the famous Dolly Shepherd who was doing a jump elsewhere that day, but that tomorrow she and Louie would make a double descent. Sure enough, Dolly arrived in Longton later that night and though initially surprised that Louie’s jump had not gone ahead, she was happy to join her for her maiden descent. 

L to R: Dolly Shepherd and Louie May

This morning the day seemed perfect; the sun was out and there was no sign of the high wind that had spoilt the jump the day before. At Captain Gaudron's request Dolly and Louie went out early and mingled with the spectators to drum up interest. This they could do without even trying. Dolly was an attractive brunette and Louie a pretty blue-eyed blonde and both of them were practically clad in – for the time – rather daring, masculine-looking blue knickerbocker suits styled loosely after a midshipman's uniform, plus matching caps that certainly attracted a lot of attention. So too again did the Mammoth which Gaudron’s men now began filling with gas and this soon towered high over the park and stood waiting for its passengers.

However, the weather again spoilt their plans, this time with a short but heavy downpour of rain that suddenly and rather unexpectedly caused the Mammoth to sag and then collapse. There were urgent cries from Gaudron’s team and announcements over a loudspeaker, “No smoking please. Gas is escaping.” The spectators moved back a safe distance and watched the balloon in dismay. Sensing the frustration of the onlookers, seemingly robbed of yet another chance to see the lady parachutists, Captain Gaudron now turned to Dolly and asked her if she had brought her smaller balloon with her from her previous performance. Luckily, she had left it at the train station, so a pony and trap were immediately sent to collect it while the Mammoth crumpled into an untidy heap and Gaudron’s men went in to check it over. The problem was soon identified as a faulty top valve that had been leaking and it had only needed the weight of the rain to cause its collapse. 

All was not lost, though, for Dolly’s balloon, though much smaller in size was quite capable of lifting two people. There was no basket underneath, instead the parachute hung down beneath the balloon and the parachutist would be suspended at the bottom in a sling-like seat into which she was tied with a belt, whilst holding onto a trapeze bar. Keeping track of her altitude with an aneroid barometer on her wrist, once the correct height had been reached, the parachutist would then tug on a cord that would release the parachute via a simple mechanism. The mechanism would also cause a valve on the balloon to open, venting the gas and thus sending it back to earth. These ‘solo’ balloons were normally reserved for more advanced parachutists and it was unusual to send a first-timer up under them, maiden jumps usually being accomplished from a basket, but as that was no longer an option and with Dolly as a willing chaperone, Captain Gaudron felt confident enough to let Louie go up with her.

When the balloon arrived it was immediately hooked up to the gas pipe and the canvas soon began to swell up into a large globular shape, the ground staff holding it down with ropes attached to the netting that covered the balloon. It was no hardship to rig it for two parachutes, one on either side to balance it up, though a second release mechanism had to be hastily improvised for Louie’s chute and this worked perfectly. Then the two women were carefully fastened into their slings and held onto their trapeze bars while the balloon was held suspended above them. With all of the delays it was now 8 p.m., and a huge crowd had gathered to watch. Captain Gaudron now gave the order, “Let go!”, the ropes were released, the two women ran forward to get under the balloon as it leapt into the air and were suddenly lifted off the ground, Dolly setting off with a jaunty wave of the silk Union Jack that she kept for such occasions.

The plan was for the balloon to climb to a height of 4,000 feet before the two women pulled their release cords; they would then float to earth within view of the thousands of spectators. However, that height came and went and no descent was made. Instead the balloon kept on climbing higher and drifting out of sight. By this time the spectators as well as Captain Gaudron and his people, had realised that something had gone wrong. Alarmed, Gaudron soon set off in urgent pursuit of the errant balloon and its two passengers, leaving the crowds in Longton Park to slowly disperse and go home, troubled by the turn of events and anxiously awaiting news of the fate of the two female aeronauts.

Something had indeed gone badly wrong. High in the sky above North Staffordshire away from the eyes of the assembled spectators, a scene of high drama was taking place, against which even the excitement and danger of a normal parachute drop paled into insignificance.

Initially, the ascent to 4,000 feet had been trouble free and as Dolly later recalled, Louie had been delighted with the experience. When they did eventually reach the required height, Dolly as the more experienced parachutist called time and waited to see Louie release her chute and start her descent before she did the same. It was just as well that she did, for when Louie reached up and pulled on her release cord, nothing happened; the improvised mechanism that worked so well on the ground had jammed. Pulling herself over via a connecting rope, Dolly tried to release her companion's parachute but to no avail and the balloon carried on ascending, passing through the cloud layer and into the clear sky above to a height of 11,000 feet. At this height the air was thin and it was getting cold and Dolly realised that the only way that they would both escape from their increasingly perilous situation would be to risk making the drop back to earth on her parachute. Using the connecting rope to pull them together once more, she now told her frightened companion what they needed to do. Painfully aware of the two mile drop below them, Dolly held them together while Louie carefully unfastened herself from her sling and the two women wrapped their arms and legs around each other tightly before letting the defective 'chute swing away. Hoping that her own parachute release still worked, Dolly reached up and pulled the release cord and was rewarded instantly by the sight of the the balloon apparently leaping away from them as they plummeted earthward. For a few nerve-wracking seconds the parachute struggled to open, but as they exited the clouds and hit heavier air Dolly felt a familiar pull and looked up to see the parachute fully deployed above them, arresting their fall to what she hoped was a survivable speed.

A wildly exaggerated newspaper illustration of the

incident. Not only are details of the rescue incorrect

but in reality Dolly and Louie's knickerbocker 

suits were much more practical.

Swinging down out of the evening sky on their single parachute, the two women now found themselves suspended over a vast tapestry of green fields, woods and little villages. The prevailing winds had taken them south-east of the Potteries in the direction of Uttoxeter. Dolly, though, was not so much concerned about where they were, but how to land safely, as with Louie restricting her movements, there was no way of steering to a softer landing spot and the ground was rushing up much faster than normal. As they neared the ground, for the first time in the entire episode Dolly felt a pang of fear and cried out in alarm, as they seemed to be heading directly for a road, the hard surface of which might prove fatal at this speed. Luck, though was on their side and moments later they thumped down into the soil of a farmer’s field,  Dolly hitting the ground first and falling backwards as Louie, still holding on tightly, landed on top of her. The impact felt like a hammer blow for both of them and Louie immediately jumped to her feet, crying that all her teeth were knocked out. In fact she was unharmed and when the initial shock had passed, the two of them burst into peals of hysterical laughter out of sheer relief at having survived such a terrifying but remarkable adventure. 

Though Louie was fine, Dolly remained lying on her back and did not move. She felt that she had injured herself quite badly and that she needed to stay where she was until help arrived. Moments later a portly farmer appeared followed by his wife and children, then another farmer and his family, all of whom had seen the parachute coming down. They immediately offered to help Dolly to her feet but she begged them to leave her alone and call for a doctor. One of the farmers, Charles Hollins then took charge and a man was sent off to Shelton to get a doctor. The women now discovered that they had landed at Field Farm, three miles from the village of Leigh and 14 miles from Longton where they had begun their balloon ride.

When the doctor eventually arrived he immediately appreciated that Dolly had sustained a serious back injury and had her carefully lifted into a door provided by Farmer Hollins in lieu of a stretcher. She was then transported back to the Hollins’ farmhouse where she would find herself laid up for the next 8 weeks. Here, under the doting care of the Hollins family and the watchful eyes of a couple of local physicians, who treated her with mild electrical therapy, Dolly made a remarkable recovery and to the surprise of many within a couple of months of her accident she was not only walking, but parachuting once more.

Dolly continued with her parachuting career until 1912, when during one of her solo ascents, she claimed to have heard a voice telling her quite clearly not to come up again or she would be killed. Utterly convinced, once she had landed safely she announced to Captain Gaudron that she was giving up parachuting and immediately returned to London, where for a time she worked in her aunt’s shop. During World War One, Dolly served as an ambulance driver on the Western Front. Occasionally, she was called upon to use her driving skills to chauffeur army officers around the front; one of these she later married and finally settled down. True to her word, she never did another parachute jump.

Decades later, though, in her twilight years, the old parachutist did mix with like-minded people once more. She was famous now not only for her pioneering achievements in parachuting, but also because she was a record holder, being officially recognised by the Guinness Book of Records, for making the world’s first mid-air rescue. As a result she was honoured by invites from the Parachute Regiment’s Red Devils and the RAF Falcons display teams and despite the ethereal warning from above not to go up again, in 1976, the elderly Dolly took advantage of her latter-day fame to take a ride up in an aeroplane with the Red Devils, to watch them perform a sky dive, but it was her last journey up into the clouds. Dolly Sedgwick, nee Shepherd, died in 1983, just a few weeks short of her 97th birthday. 

As to what became of the other actor in that famous first mid-air rescue, Louie May, Dolly could not say. Captain Gaudron and Louie had returned to London during Dolly’s convalescence and she never saw her again. She later heard that Louie’s fiancé was livid when he discovered what she had been doing and that he had immediately spirited her away from the crazy world of parachuting and the dangerous company of Miss Dolly Shepherd.

Reference: Dolly Shepherd, When the Chute Went Up, pp. 129-151 : Uttoxeter Advertiser and Ashbourne Times 17 june 1908, p.8 and 1 July 1908, p.5.