The
Coffey brothers Crimea bound
Coffey’s
departure for the Crimea came about in this way. Russia had taken
advantage of
the decline of the Turkish Ottoman Empire by claiming rights in Ottoman
territory, invading the Balkans in 1853, and successfully sinking the
Turkish
fleet near Constantinople. However, if Russia had expanded her
influence, that
would have proved a threat to British supremacy in India and at sea.
And so on 28 March 1854, Britain joined France as allies of
the Turks in a war
against
Russia.
William Coffey was now faced with a
choice. He could remain with his regiment and sail to India - it was
only much
later that the 82nd would be redirected to the war - or he could join
the
forces now bound for the Crimea by volunteering to another regiment.
Many of the 82nd’s best men
were transferring to the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot (later the
1st Battalion The
Border
Regiment). Moreover, Lt.-Col. Brown, who had only recently come to the
82nd
from the 34th, returned to command his old regiment.
Within days of the declaration of
war, the Coffey brothers had made their decisions. William and Timothy
became non-effective
with
the 82nd on 31 March at Edinburgh, and from 1 April they were
officially
members of their new regiment, the 34th, which assembled in England at
the new
Hillsborough Barracks at Sheffield. Coffey’s choice would lead to him
being
noted as more than a soldier of good conduct: the war would prove him a
soldier
of distinguished conduct and the highest valour.
Now one Allied war aim was to
capture
the Russian port of Sebastopol in the Crimean peninsula of the Black
Sea and
demolish its dockyards and storehouses. Forces were assembling to
invade the
Crimea, and the 34th was to join them. So on 22 August, Coffey left
Sheffield
with his regiment, and they made their way to Portsmouth, and from
there sailed
to
the Greek island of Corfu, which was at that time a British
protectorate.
The regiment remained on Corfu from 8 September until 22 November.