George Bingham , 3rd Earl of Lucan Field Marshal George Charles Bingham , 3rd Earl of Lucan GCB ( 16 April 1800 – 10 November 1888 ) , styled Lord Bingham before 1839 , was a British Army officer . During the Great Famine in the late 1840s he acted in a sufficiently clumsy and insensitive manner , by introducing mass evictions from villages such as Ballinrobe , that he earned the hatred of many of the local people and became known as " The Exterminator " . At the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854 , during the Crimean War , Lucan , as commander of the cavalry division , received an order from the Army Commander , Lord Raglan , and in turn ordered the Light division commander , the Earl of Cardigan , to lead the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade leading to some 278 British casualities . Military career . Born the first son of the 2nd Earl of Lucan and Elizabeth Bingham ( née Belasyse ) , Bingham attended Westminster School but left formal education to be commissioned as an ensign in the 6th Regiment of Foot on 29 August 1816 . He transferred to the 11th Light Dragoons on 24 December 1818 . Bingham became a lieutenant in the 8th Regiment of Foot on 20 January 1820 , a captain in the 74th Regiment of Foot on 16 May 1822 and was promoted to major , unattached , on 23 June 1825 . He transferred to the 17th Lancers on 1 December 1825 and became commanding officer of the regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel on 9 November 1826 ; he lavished such expense on his officers ' uniforms and horses that the officers became known as " Bingham ' s Dandies . " He was also elected as MP for County Mayo in 1826 and held that seat until 1830 . During the Russo - Turkish War , which began in 1828 , he acted observer with the Imperial Russian Army . Bingham succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Lucan on 30 June 1839 and , having become an Irish Representative Peer in June 1840 and having been promoted to colonel on 23 November 1841 , he became Lord Lieutenant of Mayo in 1845 . During the Great Famine in the late 1840s he acted in a sufficiently clumsy and insensitive manner , by introducing mass evictions from villages such as Ballinrobe , that he earned the hatred of many of the local people and became known as " The Exterminator " . He was promoted to major - general on 11 November 1851 . At the outbreak of the Crimean War Lucan applied for a post and was made commander of the cavalry division . His brother - in - law , the Earl of Cardigan , was one of his subordinates , commanding the Light Brigade – an unfortunate choice as the two men heartily detested each other . Promoted to brevet lieutenant general on 18 August 1854 , he was present at the Battle of Alma in September 1854 but , on the orders of the Army commander , Lord Raglan , he held his division in reserve . At the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854 , Lucan received an order from Raglan and in turn ordered Cardigan to lead the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade leading to some 278 British casualities . As Lucan brought the Heavy Brigade forward in support he was lightly wounded in the leg . Raglan blamed Lucan for the loss , " you have lost the light brigade " , and censured him in dispatches . Although Lucan complained against this censure , as the relationship between the army commander and the cavalry commander had clearly broken down , he was recalled to England , where he returned at the beginning of March 1855 . On his arrival Lucan ' s demand for a court - martial was declined and instead he defended himself with a speech to the House of Lords on 19 March 1855 , blaming Raglan and his deceased aide - de - camp , Captain Louis Nolan . This tactic appears to have been successful as he was subsequently appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 5 July 1855 and Colonel of the 8th Light Dragoons , who had charged with the Light Brigade , on 17 November 1855 . A significant contribution was made by Lucan to Parliament when he produced an ingenious solution to the problem of admitting Jews to Parliament . Prior to this , distinguished Jews had declined to take the oath " on the true faith of a Christian " and having not been sworn in as required by statute , were refused voting rights although having been elected an MP . Lucan proposed , by way of a compromise , that each House could decide and modify its own oath . The House of Lords , who had long been obstructive , agreed to this . A prominent Jew , Lionel Nathan Rothschild , was thus allowed to enter the House of Commons and was sworn in on 26 July 1858 . Although Lucan never again saw active duty he was promoted to lieutenant - general on 24 December 1858 , and having become colonel of the 1st Regiment of Life Guards on 27 February 1865 , he was to promoted to general on 28 August 1865 . He formally retired in October 1877 but after some lobbying he was promoted to field marshal on 21 June 1887 . He died at 13 South Street , Park Lane , London on 10 November 1888 and was buried at Laleham in Middlesex . Family . In 1829 Bingham married Lady Anne Brudenell , seventh daughter of the 6th Earl of Cardigan ; they had six children . Honours . Lucan ' s honours included :