Colour-Sergeant Poolfield Davis
Poolfield Davis defending the Colours. NAM 1999-01-145
‘I should be inclined myself to laugh, and let the great overgrown brute swagger a la Bobadil were it not that I hear people are making him presents and writing him flattering notices on his prowess...’ - Captain George Higginson, Grenadier Guards.
Commemerative mug depicting Davis' action, c. 1854. NAM 1999-01-144
This picture, reproduced on a commemorative mug, recreates Colour-Sergeant Poolfield Davis’ apparent defence of his regiment’s Colours against Russian infantry at the Battle of Inkerman, in 1854. According to Davis and the newspapers at the time, this brave soldier kept the Russians at bay and more or less won the battle single-handed. In fact Davis was on board ship sick at the time of the battle.
Modern inventions like the telegraph meant that news from the Crimean War (1854-1856) could be reported more quickly than ever before. It also meant that war correspondents didn’t always have the time or inclination to check their facts. After all, everybody loves a hero.
Captain Bobadil, incidentally, is a boastful but cowardly soldier in the play 'Every Man in his Humour' by Ben Jonson.
