Cardigan, James Thomas Brudenell, 7th earl of

Cardigan, James Thomas Brudenell, 7th earl of, 1797–1868, British general. In the Crimean War he led the disastrous cavalry charge at Balaklava (1854) that Tennyson immortalized in The Charge of the Light Brigade. The charge was made on a misunderstood order, and the brigade was destroyed. Quarrels with his officers showed him a vain and contentious man. The cardigan sweater was named for him.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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