James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, English lieutenant and politician (born 1797)

Lieutenant-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan was a British Army officer who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War, leading its disastrous charge at the Battle of Balaclava. Throughout his life in politics and his long military career, Cardigan characterised the arrogant and extravagant aristocrat of the period. His progression through the British army was marked by many episodes of extraordinary incompetence, but also by generosity to the men under his command and genuine bravery. As a member of the landed gentry, he had actively and steadfastly opposed any political reform in Britain but, in the last year of his life, he relented and came to acknowledge that such reform would bring benefit to all classes of society.

March 28 is the 87th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 278 days remain until the end of the year.