British Army Field Marshal. He was in command of the British Army’s Cavalry Division at the October 1854 Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War, and was responsible, along with overall British Army commanding General FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, 1st Baron Raglan and staff officer Captain Louis Edward Nolan, of ordering a suicidal charge of British cavalry that became immortalized as “The Charge of the Light Brigade”. Born in London, England, he was the eldest son of the second Earl of Lucan and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Belasyse, the daughter of Earl Fauconberg, who had been married to and divorced from the Duke of Norfolk. Lord Bingham, as he was known until his father's death in 1839, was educated at Westminster School. When he was sixteen, a commission was bought for him in the 6th Regiment of Foot. Within ten years, he had reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 17th Lancers Regiment. In the same year (1826), he was elected to the House of Commons, representing County Mayo in Ireland, where his family were landowners; he held this seat until 1830. In 1829, he married the youngest of the seven daughters of the sixth Earl of Cardigan. Lord Lucan became a Colonel in 1841 and a Major General in 1851. In February 1854, when the British Army, under the command of Lord Raglan, was about to be sent to the Crimea, he was given command of the Cavalry Division, which had two brigades: the Heavy Brigade under Brigadier General James Yorke Scarlett, and the Light Brigade under Major General James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, Lucan's brother-in-law, with whom he did not enjoy a good relationship. On October 24, 1854, the Russians advanced on Balaclava and captured the redoubts, which had been held by Turkish troops. The Russians were then driven back by a charge made by General Scarlett’s Heavy Brigade, after which Lord Lucan placed the Heavy Brigade on the slopes. He was waiting for the approach of the Infantry, when Captain Nolan brought him the message: "Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front. Follow the enemy and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Troop of horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate." The intention was for the attack to be on the Causeway Heights and the redoubts, but Lord Lucan understood it, quite wrongly, to mean that the advance was to be along the North valley, at the end of which the defeated Russian cavalry was drawn up behind twelve guns, with other Russian troops on the heights at either side. Although he realized it was wrong, Lord Lucan felt bound to obey, and sent the Light Brigade forward, with two regiments of the Heavy Brigade to cover its retirement. The Light Brigade was decimated by the Russian guns, and was reduced from 673 to 195 men. The two Heavy regiments also suffered high casualties, and Lord Lucan was wounded in the leg. He was recalled and returned to England at the beginning of March 1855. He applied for a court-martial, which was refused, but was vindicated by the House of Lords. He had no further military employment, but was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1858, General in 1865, and Field Marshal in 1887. In 1858 he proposed the wording of the clause which enabled practicing Jews, who could not take the Parliamentary Oath, to sit in the Houses of Parliament. He died in London at age 88. In the 1968 film, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", Lord Lucan was played by actor Harry Andrews.