File:The 'Diamond' Battery at the Siege of Sebastopol, 15 December 1854 RMG BHC0634.tiff

A scene on 15 December 1854 during the bombardment of Sebastopol. It shows the scene behind the battery where members of the frigate HMS 'Diamond' are positioned. 'Diamond' was sent to the Black Sea at the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854. The 'Diamond' battery formed part of the Naval Brigade of 1020 officers and men when Lord Raglan asked the Navy for assistance during the land operations. Initially the sailors contributed a non-combatant role but as more soldiers were either killed or wounded, they were replaced by the sailors.

The painting shows part of the 'Diamond' battery positioned behind their trench. The tall officer standing beyond it with his right hand on his hip is Captain William Peel VC, the Commander of the 'Diamond'. Commander Burnet, wearing a beard, stands in front of him looking through the embrasure and holding a telescope in his right hand. The ship's guns are from 'Diamond' and the gun in the foreground is a Lancaster 68- pounder. It was a smooth-bore weapon firing round shot and around the gun are various objects necessary for it to function. Other members of the battery can be seen at their posts and in the foreground, several are in positions of repose facing the viewer. Captain William Peel was the third son of Robert Peel, the Prime Minister, who took command of HMS 'Diamond' in October 1852. On 18 October 1854 Peel was at the siege of Sebastopol and his was the first act of bravery that would lead to awarding of VCs for him and his ADC Edward St John Daniel in the first list of citations. He won his medal through acts of bravery on several occasions, the first by taking up a live shell, with the fuse still burning from among several powder cases and throwing it over the parapet.

The Crimean War was the first in which correspondents were allowed to report first-hand from the battlefield and they sent their eyewitness accounts to London journals. Before photography replaced them, the number of illustrated magazines and newspapers meant that the importance of the war artist grew and William Simpson was one of the best known, together with the journalist William Howard Russell of 'The Times'. He produced battlefield sketches and drawings in a series of notebooks and these were redrawn and revised by engravers, with enhancements of their dramatic imagery to emphasize British heroism amid collective defeat in far-off locations. On Simpson's return, Colnaghi and Sons also reproduced the results of his sketches in two volumes, 'The Seat of War in the East'. From 1866 Simpson worked for 'The Illustrated London News', providing sketches and illustrations to accompany the text.