Mrs Duberly's War: Journal and Letters from the Crimea, 1854-6

by Frances Isabella Locke Duberly (Editor)

Mrs Duberly's journal is one of the most vivid eye-witness accounts we have of the Crimean War. Fanny Duberly, then aged 25, accompanied her husband to the Crimea in 1854, and remained there until the end of the fighting, the only officer's wife to remain throughout the entire campaign. She survived the severe winter of 1854-55, witnessed the battle of Balaklava and the charge of the Light Brigade, and rode through the ruins of Sebastopol.
Spirited and courageous, she was known by sight to British and French soldiers across the battlefields, regarded often with enthusiasm and sometimes with disapproval. Witty and beautiful, she enjoyed flirtatious friendships with many of the most important men of the campaign. Her Journal Kept During the Russian War was published in 1855 and caused a sensation. Although widely praised as the "new heroine for the Crimea," Fanny was also censured, ridiculed, and even parodied in Punch . She had stepped into a man's world, and written about it in a way that seemed to some at the front an invasion of privacy and to others at home an abandonment of gentility. A best-seller at the time, the Journal was not reprinted after its second edition of 1856, and this is the first edition since that time.
Christine Kelly provides an introduction, biographical and explanatory notes, and an index. She makes revealing use of Fanny's original, previously unpublished, letters to her sister Selina, which often show a reckless, immediate response to events and people where the journal is more circumspect. The edition includes photographs, maps, and some of Fanny's own sketches.

Genres: British Literature, Research, Military Fiction, History

418 pages, Paperback

First published February 8, 2007

Reviews

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main part of this book was first published in 1856, and comprises a letters and journals completed by Frances Duberly, the wife of a British Army officer who accompanied her husband to the war zone during the Crimean War. An appendix gives potted biographies of the various famous characters mentioned - another gives a brief historical overview of the campaign for context. The letters are not a historical account in themselves - the writers perspective means that the contents are far too disjointed and, at times, trivial to count as that - but their initial publication did much to colour public opinion about the inefficiency and incompetence which characterised the British involvement in much of the campaign. I feel that she did much to emphasise the huge British casualty toll due to illness as distinct from battle casualties. Mrs Duberly, in my opinion, comes across as a pushy, opinionated, class conscious harridan but opinions will vary, and in any case this adds to the enjoyment.

[Clare Harvey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but I'm afraid I just couldn't warm to Fanny, and haven't been able to finish the book because she just gets on my nerves too much!

[Moira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fanny was quite a girl. Maligned by some of her contemporaries because she didn't quite fit in with the Victorian image of what a 'lady' should be, she did things her way and wrote about them in a vivid, lively way, bringing the Crimean War to gut-wrenching life in a way no history book can. She was there for the duration, saw the Charge of the Light Brigade,walked through the ruins of Sebastopol and didn't hesitate to say what she thought.

Admired, parodied but never ignored, Fanny Duberly was a force of nature and a woman out of her time.

The diary is linked by well-chosen excerpts from her letters and brief historical notes, putting what Fanny is saying into its proper context.

Terrific book.

[Godlarvae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating study of English language as spoken 170 years ago, of military tactics of 170 years ago, of perceptions of 170 years ago, of customs of life 170 years ago-