Inkerman Mug

Transcript

Voiceover:

Now, in "A small piece of history", Emma Mawdsley of the National Army Museum presents a favourite object from the Collection.

Emma Mawdsley:

This is a mug which is decorated with a scene from the Battle of Inkerman of 1854. And it shows Sergeant Davis defending the colours and he's attacking Russian soldiers - a sort of swashbuckling tale of bayonetting the Russians and attacking them with the butt of his musket.

And he wrote to the press in London telling this story and heroic deed which the newspaper said was almost incredible. And that's because it was just that - it was a complete and utter lie.

Poolfield Davis wasn't actually at the Battle of Inkerman. He was on ship in the harbour. And even at the Battle of Alma, which had been six weeks previously, he had apparently chosen to be at the rear of the fighting with the wounded.

What I like about this is that it's an example of somebody who has gained publicity falsely and become a hero.

When the truth was outed they stopped production of these mugs, but they were still on sale so some of them still exist, and they reprinted them but they changed the name on the bottom and they say 'Sergeant Thomas defending the colours at Inkerman'. But he didn't defend the colours at Inkerman either. His great heroic deed was at the Battle of Alma six weeks before.

So it's rather an interesting false piece of history and our job as historians is to reveal these falsehoods and to tell the truth.