The plaque is on the back of one of the choristers stalls in the chancel.
South side, front row, eighth from the west end.
C.B. COMMANDING 41ST
THE WELSH REGT, HE
FELL AT THE HEAD OF
HIS REGIMENT AT THE BATTLE
OF INKERMAN NOV 5 1854
DD: HIS SON GEORGE.
Hero of the Crimea
In his book Our Heroes of the Crimea George E. Ryan wrote:-
"Lieutenant-Colonel George Carpenter [was the] only son of General Carpenter, of Great Cumberland-place, London. [He] entered the 41st Regiment of (Welsh) Infantry as ensign, on the 1st of October, 1818, became lieutenant on the 1st of March, 1820, captain by purchase on the 29th of October, 1825, brevet-major on 28th of June, 1838, major, by purchase, on the 22nd of July, 1845, and lieutenant-colonel on the 27th of December, 1850. This fine old officer saw active service in India, where he was with his regiment during the whole of the campaign of 1842, in Afghanistan, and was present in the engagements with the enemy on March 28th and April 28th in the Pisheen valley. He was also in the encounter near Candahar, on the 29th of May, and on the 30th of August at Goaine; on the 5th September before Ghuznee, in the occupation and destruction of that fortress, and of Cabool. He was also in the expedition into Kohistan, at the storm, capture, and destruction of Istaliff, and in all the other but comparatively minor engagements in the Bolan Pass, and in those between that and the Khyber Pass. When the British were ordered to the East, Colonel Carpenter embarked with his regiment, which formed part of the second division. The gallant officer fought bravely at the Battle of Alma, where his regiment suffered but slightly, there having been only four rank and file killed, and one serjeant and twenty-two rank and file wounded. At the Battle of Inkermann, however, the 41st suffered severely, having had five officers two Serjeants and thirty-two rank and file killed, while six officers, four Serjeants, two drummers, and eighty-five rank and file were wounded.
It was in this sanguinary engagement that Colonel Carpenter received his death wounds. The gallant veteran had repeatedly headed his regiment to the attack before he was struck down, and after he had received two gun-shot wounds he still urged them forward against a shower of balls, when he was struck a third time. Upon this occasion the brave old soldier fell to the ground, but was still heard crying out to his men to close up and charge. Overpowering numbers of the enemy, however, advancing, his men had to fall back, and the smoke becoming so dense, they could not see where their gallant leader lay stretched so as to bear him off to the rear.
The enemy, having gained some ground, were shortly forced by the 41st, on a desperate rally, to retire; but before the enemy. retreated they alighted upon the wounded colonel. Obedient either to a general order from their commanders on that day, or to a hellish instinct, which for ever must brand with disgrace the Russian army, they mutilated poor Carpenter, helpless and bleeding as he was from three gun-shot wounds. Not even his grey hairs could inspire them to look with commiseration upon the fallen brave ; they bayoneted him without mercy, and as his body quivered under the assaults of the miscreants, one ruffian, unsatiated by the bloody ferocity he already had displayed, clubbed his musket, and beat the old soldier across the face until he left him so mangled in features as only to be recognised by his uniform. What wonder that his men, when, after the battle had terminated, they found their well-loved commander in such a state, should vow a bloody vengeance upon his murderers, when next they might cross steel with them. This was no death by warfare, it was a death by wild beasts, and may have a fearful reckoning at no distant day from our men, however much we may deplore the punishment. We receive, in this country, the statement of the dying as evidence against murderers. Let us take the effect of poor Colonel Carpenter's words to the assistant chaplain of the second division:= 'Poor Colonel Carpenter, of the 41st, was dreadfully wounded. He received me most warmly. He told me all that had befallen him. He appeared quite aware of the dangerous condition he was in, and gave utterance to a long and fervid prayer. I could not restrain him from speaking. At last he seemed exhausted, and the surgeon, who just then came in, evidently considered him dying. Next morning I was surprised to hear from the surgeon that he was better, but in the course of the day he died. He was pierced through the stomach. He expressed anxiety about his poor wife and children ; he joined fervently in prayer, casting his care upon God. He was calm and resigned, but in extreme pain.' The surgeon speaks of the mutilation of the victim, and the mode of treatment he had received, as detailed by the dying man, and gives his opinion that Colonel Carpenter would possibly have survived his gunshot wounds if he had not been so fearfully struck on the head when he lay bathed in blood. Colonel Carpenter fought like a soldier at Inkermann, and on the day following he died as a Christian, 'calm and resigned,' in the 55th year of his life. He leaves behind him a widow and several children, one being an ensign, who was wounded at Alma. Let us hope they will not be forgotten by the country for which they are a brave man's legacies."
