page_title: Evelyn Wood (British Army officer)
section_title: Crimean War: from sailor to soldier
hierarchical_section_title: Evelyn Wood (British Army officer) / Early military career / Crimean War: from sailor to soldier
caption_attribution_description: Cornet Wood, 13th Light Dragoons, 1855.
context_page_description: Field Marshal Sir Henry Evelyn Wood, VC, GCB, GCMG was a British Army officer. After an early career in the Royal Navy, Wood joined the British Army in 1855. He served in several major conflicts including the Indian Mutiny where, as a lieutenant, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valour in the face of the enemy that is awarded to British and Imperial forces, for rescuing a local merchant from a band of robbers who had taken their captive into the jungle, where they intended to hang him. Wood further served as a commander in several other conflicts, notably the Third Anglo-Ashanti War, the Anglo-Zulu War, the First Boer War and the Mahdist War. His service in Egypt led to his appointment as Sirdar where he reorganised the Egyptian Army. He returned to Britain to serve as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Aldershot Command from 1889, as Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 1893 and as Adjutant General from 1897. His last appointment was as commander of 2nd Army Corps from 1901 to 1904.
context_section_description: Like his near contemporary John French, Wood began his career in the Royal Navy, serving under his uncle Captain Frederick Mitchell on HMS Queen, but vertigo stopped him going aloft. He became a midshipman on 15 April 1852.
  Wood served in the Crimean War during the siege of Sebastopol, in Captain William Peel’s 1,400 strong naval brigade, whose job was to man some guns on a ridge opposite Sebastopol. He was at Inkerman and aged 16, was Peel's aide de camp in the assault on the Redan on 18 June 1855, having risen from his sickbed to join the attack. He was seriously wounded and almost lost his left arm, which doctors wanted to amputate. Wood was mentioned in despatches and received his first, but unsuccessful, recommendation for a VC.
  Invalided home with a letter of recommendation from Lord Raglan, written five days before the latter's death, Wood left the Royal Navy to join the British Army, becoming a cornet (without purchase) in the 13th Light Dragoons on 7 September 1855 and reporting to their depot with his arm still in a sling. He had only £250 (equivalent to £24,000 in 2019) a year in private income, rather than the £400 (equivalent to £38,000 in 2019) needed, and was soon in debt.
  Wood returned to the Crimean Theatre (January 1856). His promotion to lieutenant, which his uncle had paid for, took effect on 1 February 1856. However, within a month he was in hospital at Scutari with pneumonia and typhoid.  His parents were told he was dying, so his mother arrived on 20 March 1856 only to find one of Florence Nightingale’s nurses striking him.  He was so emaciated that his hip bones were poking through his skin. Against medical advice he was brought home to England to recover.
caption: Cornet Wood, 1855
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