ONE hundred and fifty years ago, what could reasonably be argued to be the single most famous action by the British Army took place.

On October 25, 1854, 673 officers and men of the Light Brigade, the cream of the British cavalry regiments, charged for a mile down the North Valley at Balaclava straight into the full fury of the waiting Russian guns.

Horses and humans were blown to pieces in a scene memorably described by watching French General Bosquet as: "Magnificent, but it is not war".

Less than 200 of the British cavalry survived to straggle back to their own lines, the rest lay either dead or wounded or were taken prisoner.

Among them were several Worcester-born soldiers, including young George Clowes, who was serving in the 8th Hussars with the rank of cornet.

Facing cannon to the front of him and cannons left and right, Clowes got to within 100 yards of the enemy before his horse was killed and he was wounded.

Other dismounted men began the long walk back to the British lines, but he was weak with loss of blood and so pretended to be dead.

However, when Clowes saw Russian troops moving among the fallen British bodies spearing everyone on the ground, whether wounded or dead, he suddenly found the strength to get to his feet and try to make a run for it.

But he didn't get far before being captured.

Nevertheless, the Russians impressed by his bravery decided not to kill him and Clowes was taken prisoner.

He was later released and returned to live at Sherwood House, St John's, Worcester.

Two other Worcester men were less fortunate that day.

George Wooton, a baker by trade, and Henry Pearce, a jeweller, were killed. Both were privates, Wooton in the 11th Hussars and Pearce in the 17th Lancers.

Rather more fortunate was John Proctor, who was at Balaclava but had been wounded before the charge began and didn't take part in it.

He returned home to Worcester and worked for Worcester Gas Company for 40 years.

He died in 1912 and his funeral was held in St Stephen's church.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of what the leader of the Light Brigade himself, Lord Cardigan, described as "a mad-brained trick", a series of commemorative events are being held throughout the country. Anyone who has a special interest in the charge or, better still, had an ancestor in the Light Brigade or any Crimean War regiment, is invited to attend.

"I wonder whether the descendants of any of the Worcester men who took part still live in the area," said Terry Brighton, of the Queen's Royal Lancers Museum at Grantham, who is co-ordinating the celebrations.

"As the last survivors of the charge died in the 1920s, perhaps someone remembers hearing about these local heroes from parents or grandparents. If so, I would love them to contact me."

The spectacular disaster that was the Charge of the Light Brigade came about through a combination of misunderstandings, clashes of personality and bad soldiering.

The intention of the British army's commander, Lord Raglan, had been that the Light Brigade, which consisted of the 13th Light Dragoons, the 17th Lancers, the 11th Hussars, the 4th Light Dragoons and the 8th Hussars, should attack Russian troops, carrying off British guns that had been abandoned in the hills above the North Valley.

However, from his position in the valley, Lord Cardigan could not see these guns. The only Russian soldiers visible to him were those massed around Russian guns at the far end of the valley.

When he received Raglan's orders to attack the Russians, famously conveyed by the impetuous Captain Nolan, Cardigan could see only one target and despite the obvious futility of the mission, his military discipline told him he had no option but to carry it out, whatever the consequences.

The scene that followed has been described thousands of times over the years. The Light Brigade was cut to shreds by the Russian guns, which fired on it from three sides.

Horses and riders fell in bloody confusion under a hail of cannon and rifle shot.

Amazingly, Lord Cardigan, riding at the head of the Brigade on his distinctive chestnut charger with two white legs, emerged largely unscathed and rode past the guns towards the Russian cavalry massed behind them

However, in a remarkable insight into social attitudes of the time, he refused to fight them.

He later declared he saw it "no part of a general's duty to fight the enemy among private soldiers".

So turning his horse away, he left the private soldiers to their battle and trotted back up the valley in search of Lord Raglan, to lodge a complaint about the behaviour of Captain Nolan.

By now the Light Brigade had been decimated. Although they had massacred the Russian gunners, the target of the charge, they had been faced by the mass of Russian cavalry and forced into retreat.

The most splendid-looking cavalry in the world had been reduced to a pitiful sight. Less than a third of their number were still standing. Their gorgeous uniforms were torn and smeared with blood, their horses as damp and bedragged as water rats. And they were the lucky ones.

Others were on foot, alone or in pairs or dragging their loved horses limping and bleeding to death behind them.

The ground was strewn with the dead and the dying. Horses in every position of agony, according to an eyewitness, struggled to get up and then floundered back again on their mutilated riders.

A troop of Russian lancers had moved across the valley to cut off the Light Brigade's retreat, but so shocked were they by the plight of their British counterparts, they moved aside to let them through.

Under flags of truce the dead and wounded were brought back from the now silent valley. Horses streaming with blood and unable to get to their feet were put out of their misery by the farriers' pistols. In all, 500 horses were lost.

Lord Cardigan, who refused to accept any blame for the disaster, maintaining he was merely following orders, rode back to his yacht with a clear conscience.

Most of his men were not so fortunate.

If your family has any connection with either the Charge of the Light Brigade or the Crimea War in general, please contact Terry Brighton, The Queens Royal Lancers Museum, Lancer House, Prince William of Gloucester Barracks, Grantham NG31 7TJ