Journals, Letters, and Medals belonging to Oliver Davies, Crimean War 1855-57

A large archive of letters, diaries, drawings, diagrams, ledgers and medals relating to Chief Accountant Oliver Davies’ service in the Crimean War all in very good condition. Consisting of:
 
2 letters in a secretarial hand dated 6/7 February 1855 (2 pages each), between the Deputy Secretary of War and Admiralty, signed by Benjamin Hawes, and a leading official from the Admiralty, regarding the need for a Chief Accountant to be sent to the Crimean War, to assist Colonel William McMurdo.  
 
A folded Warrant (2 pages undated) and similar appointment letter (1 page dated 10 February 1855), the latter address to Oliver Davies and signed by Benjamin Hawes.
 
A large and detailed 49-page journal written by Oliver Davies along with sketches and plans, dating from the start of his journey and acceptance of the post on 5 February 1855, his journey to and work in the Crimea through to his return to Ramsgate on 20 July 1855. 
 
Correspondence between Colonel William McMurdo and Oliver Davies, dating 23 June 1855 to 1 September 1855, including 2 fantastic letters in McMurdo’s hand, 2 pages and 3 pages in length, and several letters from Davies in a secretarial hand. 
 
A folder entitled “Crimea 1855, various papers” showing 2 pages of Payroll for the Land Transport Corps, 11 pages of financial costings for Oliver Davies’ journey and secondment and 34 pages of accountancy ledgers for 2 days’ worth of his time in the Crimea. 
 
A bundle of correspondence of 38 pages, largely in a secretarial hand, but signed by Oliver Davies and his successor Chief Accountants, relating to the accounts that he worked on during the war, and an annuity for him.
 
A wooden box, with felt lining, holding Oliver Davies’ Crimean War medals of which there are 4. He received The Crimea Medal with Sebastopol clasp; this now doesn’t have its ribbon. The medal is inscribed along the edge to ‘Oliver Davies, Cheif [spelt incorrectly] Accountant’, along with the Turkish Crimea Medal and two miniatures of the same medals. Again, the Crimea miniature has been inscribed.
 
Colonel McMurdo was sent to the Crimea to ensure the smooth running of the Grand Crimean Central Railway; a critical supply line built with the purpose of supplying ammunition and provisions to the allied forces in the bitter and long-standing Siege of Sevastopol. He needed urgent professional assistance though from an accountant, and so the Deputy Secretary of War, Benjamin Hawes set about obtaining one from the Admiralty. They obliged on this occasion, but not before a flurry of rejections from its most senior officers. It was being reported back that many allied officers and soldiers were dying from illnesses and even though the Government offered riches of £2 a day, a higher wage than that of the Colonel himself, the Admiralty had to reach down to its clerk pool. The first that was offered the chance, took it. A first-class clerk called Oliver Davies, highly respected and in his response, said he would take up his Country’s call.   
 
He received his warrant and appointment letter, preserved in this collection, and set sail for the Crimea. He detailed his long 2-month journey, where he went through France, met Colonel McMurdo and Queen Victoria’s envoy Captain Blackwood, and travelled with them through Malta and then into the Ottoman Empire. This included stays in the Greek Island of Syra, and then onto Smyrna (modern day Izmir), and then to the Bosphorus and Constantinople. Davies made sketches of these places, including of the Hagia Sophia. He began work in March 1855 in Constantinople and was handed here the accounts plus finances. He worked in an office, before setting off to Sebastopol in April 1855. He initially ran into trouble with his clerk team and was marooned on a bank but was towed off and managed to get going to the Crimea. When he arrived, he was told by McMurdo to visit the front line, and he did so. He carried out sketches, of his route, and a crude map of where people were based. 
 
Davies' journal then lacked any detail for a month in April-May 1855, as he set to work on McMurdo’s accounts. There are 2 days’ worth in this collection, showing the sort of work, he was doing, and authorising on behalf of the army. He clearly got to grips with things, and contributed to a smoother running of finance, for provisions, putting in a system, to what would have been a chaotic environment. Sadly, Davies didn’t last long in the squalid conditions, and he succumbed to the same fate as many thousands, by contracting ‘Crimea Fever’, most likely Typhoid. There is a sheet completed of his tale of woe, from the start of his illness to him being stretchered off to a waiting ship. There are letters between McMurdo and Davies at this point, and it is clear the Colonel became friends with him, was worried about his health and valued his efforts. 
 
Davies returned to Ramsgate and his family in July 1855, and then went back to working for the Admiralty. There is a series of letters between him and his successors, regarding the accounts and then latterly in 1857 an annuity, perhaps suggesting the illness he contracted in the Crimea meant a retirement of sorts for him at this stage. 
 
It is a fascinating collection and gives a clear picture as to a civil servant’s journey into the heart of the Crimean War, where he saw at close hand the conditions, the front line and dealt with financial issues, before succumbing to disease himself and being stretchered home. It is such a rarity to have sketches, maps, a journal and the medals inscribed to him.