Word Origins http://www.hellskitchen.com/inkwor3.htm

Cardigan
Why would I begin a hot summer issue with a sweater? Because it's a damn good story, that's why. Now pay attention.

James Thomas Brudenell (1797-1868), the Seventh Earl of Cardigan, was not only one of the most famous (and most bumbling) military leaders of the Crimean War, but also one of the most impeccably dressed. His less successful, but more legendary claim to fame is that he was the soldier who led the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854 in Balaclava. This famous blunder was the result of a miscommunication from Lord Raglan (commander of the British troops) down his chain of command, resulting in Cardigan and his "Noble six hundred" charging the Russian guns. Three hundred of the men were killed or injured. Brudenell returned unscathed.

Upon witnessing the charge, the French General Borquet made the famous comment "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre." ("It is magnificent, but it is not war."). The charge was also immortalized in Tennyson's eponymous poem.


"...Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do or die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred..."
In honor of his fleeting moment of courage (it is said that Brudenell was the first to reach the Russian lines), the knitted vest he wore to protect himself from the Crimean winter was named after him. Oddly, the collarless, three-button V-neck that we know as the cardigan today bears little resemblance to the original.