Sebastopol Monument

File:Old Burial Ground Halifax.jpg

Welsford-Parker Monument

The Welsford-Parker Monument (also known as the Crimean War monument or Sevastopol Monument) is located in the Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia), Canada. This is the oldest war monument in Canada and the only monument to the Crimean War in North America. The memorial was built in 1860 by George Lang (also spelt Laing) to commemorate the Nova Scotians who had fought in the war. The memorial is named after two Haligonians, Major A. F. Welsford of the 97th Regiment and Captain Parker of the 77 Regiment, who both died in the battle at Redan in 1855 during the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855), Ukrainian. The monument was unvieled on 17 July 1860.

Crimean War

In November 1854, the Crimean War had broken out between Great Britain and Russia. During March and April, Nova Scotian Joseph Howe worked to recruite troops for the war effort. Welsford was sent to besiege the city of Sevastopol. The Siege lasted almost a year.

The Great Russian Redan was one of the large Russian fortifications that ringed the city of Sebastopol. The Redan was the centre of the defences the British forces were attacking. It became a symbol of the attempt to capture the city and eventually a symbol of its fall.

The first attack was on 18 June when a massive assault was made on the Redan, but failed. The Allied troops were easily driven back to their fortification where they stayed for the next two and a half months.

Under the command of Brigadier Charles Ash Windham, days before the siege ended, on 8 Sept. 1855, Welsford commanded a ladder party in the initial wave of an unsuccessful assault on the Great Redan. He crossed a broad open space and a ditch in front of the work and proceeded to climb one of the ladders which had been placed against the counterscarp. As he rose above the lip of an embrasure at the top, a gun was fired from within which blew his head off. Welsford was highly regarded in his regiment. Another Nova Scotian officer, William Buck Carthew Augustus Parker, the great grandson of Benjamin Green, successfully scaled the counterscarp, got inside the work, and made a vain attempt to stem the mounting British retreat before a hail of bullets swept him into the ditch.

Major Welsford

Siege of Sebastopol by Jean-Charles Langlois

Major Welsford was a native of Halifax. He attended the Halifax Grammar School. He afterwards went to the University of King's College, Windsor. On leaving college he purchased a commission and was gazetted as Ensign to the Ninty-fifth Regiment in February, 1832, became Lieutenant in 1834, obtained his Company in 1838, and was promoted to a Majority in 1850. On the return of the regiment from Corfu about 1848, Major Welsford resumed his acquaintance with his old friends. Like Captain Parker he was a member of the St. George's Society of Halifax and equally esteemed. At Kings College he was a contributor to the incorporated association of the Alumni. His name is blended for the future with this seat of learning, by the foundation of a prize annually competed for by the students in their first year ; and as each anniversary of his death occurs his gallant and loyal deeds are commemorated in Latin, and in the same hall where his voice was once a familiar sound, the President of the University presents the successful candidate with the Welsford Testimonial, founded by his old friend and classmate Dr. W. J. Almon — a representative of the City of Halifax in the Dominion Parliament.

Welsford-Parker Monument - Postcard

When the 97th Regiment was ordered to England he accompanied the regiment, and after having spent some little time at Chobham camp went to Greece, in the latter part of the year 1854. Colonel Lockyer having been suddenly promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, the command of the regiment devolved on Major Welsford for some time during the trying winter before Sabastopol. He, too, fell at the storming of the Redan. The Ninty-seventh had furnished three hundred and sixty men— one hundred and sixty for the ladder, and two hundred for the storming party. The former were under the command of Major Welsford, who had always been ambitious to take a foremost part in the assault. As early as six o'clock a.m. the regiment paraded, and each party marched to their respective stations. Bight men were told off to each ladder, and they had orders only to leave the trench when the appointed signal was given from the Malakolf. Six long weary hours of suspense were they compelled to wait, when Major Welsford's eye caught the rocket signal which told that the tri-color of France was waving on the captured tower, aud first gave the word " ladders to the front." The cohort rushed towards the Redan, and reaching the deep ditch, placed their ladders and scaled the parapets in the face of a murderous fire. The storming column followed on. As Welsford led his men, and was endeavoring to enter the ranks, his head was severed from his body. He, too, was a decided Christian, and had borne testimony to the piety and devotion to military duty of his friend Vicars who had fallen before him. " It was a bitter hour for us all"— writes; one of the Sergeants of his regiment, " when the poor Major's body was brought back to us. Had he lived he would have been crowned with laurels. Let us hope he has won a brighter crown now."

Captain Parker

Captain Parker was born in Lawrencetown, Halifax County, Nova Scotia and was educated at the Horton Academy and obtained a commission in October, 1839. He was gazetted as Ensign to the same regiment in which his father had obtained his company, and was for a short time stationed at Halifax. He was a member of the Saint George's Society. In February, 1843, Parker became Lieutenant, and exchanged to the Seventy-eighth Highlanders. For twelve years he served in India, and was promoted as Captain to the Seventy-seventh Regiment in January, 1855. He enjoyed his rank, only a few months. On September 3 he accompanied Captain Pechell of the same regiment to post some sentinels in the advanced trench near the Redan, the whole party, with the exception of Captain Parker and one man, was killed by the enemy. Having sent this man to report the circumstance, a number of Russians rushed out from the ranks to make him a prisoner, when ho ably defended himself, shot two of them with his revolver, and eventually succeeded in bringing into the camp the body of his friend. For his conduct on this occasion he is said to have received the thanks of the General commanding the Light Division, and was recommended for the Victoria Cross. This brave soldier fell in the final attack on the Redan on September 8, in the thirty-fifth year of his age, leaving a widow and three infant children to lament his death.

When the Great Redan actually fell, it was because the Russians had abandoned the stronghold overnight without a struggle on 8 September.

Nova Scotians in the Crimean War

• William Hall (VC)
• Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet, of Kars

Legacy

The builder George Lang also built the Federal Building in Halifax (what is now the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia). The monument was unvieled on 17 July 1860. The ceremony was attended by all the Halifax and Dartmouth Volunteer Companies, a large number of the Masonic body, and various public officials. His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, Lord Mulgrave and Rev. George Hill, the Orator of the day. Major General Charles Trollope and Rear Admiral Sir Alexander Milne also made a few remarks.

Major Welsford is also the namesake of Welsford, New Brunswick, Welsford in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Welsford in Kings County, Nova Scotia. (Alma, New Brunswick is named after the Crimean War Battle of Alma.)

External links

• The Great Russian Redan
• Marx and Engels - Siege of Great Redan
• Augustus Welsford - Canadian Biography Online
• George Lang - Canadian Biography Online
• Crimean War Monument - Halifax, Nova Scotia
• The (Old St. Paul's) Burying Ground
• Halifax's Old Burying Ground
• Old Burying Ground
• Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management

Also See

• Crimean War Research Society