Narrative Writing: The Charge

Inspired by Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade”, I have been searching for original sources that describe the battle. I’ve found diary extracts from the longest-living charge survivor, Sir George Wombwell. His vivid account of having his horse shot from under him, his capture, then escape from the Russian Cossacks makes exciting reading and is ample material to encourage your students to write about a desperate cavalry charge. Also included is an extract from William Howard Russell’s newspaper report on the Crimean War. As if that wasn’t enough, the folder also contains an extract from Michael Morpurgo’s “War Horse” which describes a cavalry charge. All of this is accompanied with a lively powerpoint with contemporary images to illustrate the key players in the drama. My lessons and worksheets on Tennyson’s poems are also thrown in free, so that your classes become absolute experts on this memorable battle in British history. Go forth and write!!