William John Codrington
| Sir William Codrington | |
|---|---|
Lieutenant General Sir W.J. Codrington, 1855
|
|
| Born | 26 November 1804 |
| Died | 6 August 1884 (aged 79) Heckfield, Hampshire |
| Buried at | Woking, Surrey |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom/British Empire
|
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Years of service | 1804–55 |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | Crimean War |
| Awards |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Legion of Honour (France) Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy (Sardinia) Order of the Medjidie, 1st Class (Ottoman Empire) |
| Relations | Admiral Sir Edward Codrington (father) Lieutenant General Sir Alfred Codrington (son) |
General Sir William John Codrington, GCB (26 November 1804 – 6 August 1884) was a British Army officer and politician who served in the Crimean War.
He was the second son of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, the victor of the Battle of Navarino. He was born on 26 November 1804. He entered the army as an ensign in the Coldstream Guards in 1821, and was promoted lieutenant in 1823, lieutenant and captain in 1826, captain and lieutenant colonel in 1836, and colonel in 1846, and throughout that period had never been on active service.
He found himself at Varna in the summer of 1854, when the English and French armies were encamped there, either as a mere visitor and colonel unattached, as Kinglake says, or in command of the battalion of Coldstream guards, when his promotion to the rank of major general was gazetted on 20 June 1854. As a general officer on the spot, he was requested by Lord Raglan to take command of the 1st Brigade of the Light Division, consisting of the 7th, 23rd, and 33rd regiments, which had become vacant owing to the promotion of Brigadier General Richard Airey to be quartermaster-general in the place of Lord de Ros.
As a general commanding a brigade and absolutely without experience of war, Codrington went into action in his first battle, the Battle of Alma. The light division got too far ahead and fell into confusion in crossing the Alma, and Codrington, seeing that his men could not lie still and be slaughtered by the Russian guns, boldly charged the great redoubt and carried it. But he had soon to fall back before the weight of the Russian column, and ran a risk of being utterly crushed, until the Russian column was broken by the charge of the highland brigade under Sir Colin Campbell. His bravery in this battle showed that Codrington deserved his command, and he again proved his courage at the battle of Inkerman, where he occupied the Victoria Ridge throughout the day, and perpetually sent off all the troops who came up to his help to assist in the real battle on the Inkerman tusk. Sir George Brown, who commanded the light division, was severely wounded in this battle, and after it Codrington assumed the command of the whole division as senior brigadier.
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