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The Russian Memorial is an obelisk in the churchyard of St John sub Castro in Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, England (). It was erected in 1877 at the behest of Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, in memory of 28 Finnish soldiers of the Russian Army of the Crimean War who died while prisoners of war in Lewes between 1854 and 1856. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. ==Background== What became known as the Crimean War was declared in March 1854. In June, concerned at the possible threat posed to Britain by the Russian Baltic Fleet, the Royal Navy attacked the fortress of Bomarsund, in the Åland Islands off the coast of Finland. That attack was repulsed, but a further attack by British and French forces in August proved successful. The fortress was destroyed and prisoners taken to Britain and France. Some 340 members of the Fusilier Grenadiers were taken to Lewes, in Sussex. The officers were Russian, but the men were mostly Finns – Finland was part of the Russian Empire at the time and many of the defenders of Bomarsund had been Finnish conscripts. The officers, having given their parole, were housed with local families and integrated themselves into local society. After "several of the leading gentlemen of the county () been introduced to the officers, and others left their cards", the officers went riding, appearing "delighted with the salubrity of the air",〔 were invited to shoot on a local estate, succeeding in "bagging a large quantity of game", and attended a charity concert in Brighton. Such freedom of movement left them "frequently subjected to annoyance, insult, and even personal violence from the low characters who loiter in the streets", though the local magistrates dealt severely with such offences. The men were confined in the old County Gaol, which had been given a new lease of life as a naval prison. A workshop was set up so that they could produce wooden toys for sale to the public to earn themselves pocket money. By October 1854, it was reported that:〔 The prison became quite a tourist attraction, admitting as many as 500 visitors in a day, and some days the sale of toys brought in as much as £40 (£ at today's prices). The receipts were used to purchase additional food and luxuries: according to the ''Times'', "it has been said that they are too well fed", and "scarcely a prisoner is without a watch, and many of the time-pieces are of gold". The generous treatment afforded to the Finnish prisoners was not universally popular: a letter to the ''Times'' spoke of general disgust that: After a group of men had refused to go out for exercise unless accompanied by three of their number in solitary confinement for misconduct, and their protest had escalated to armed rebellion, 25 of the ringleaders were removed to a prison ship at Sheerness, and the remainder locked in their own cells at night.〔 By September 1855, 15 prisoners had died of disease – tuberculosis was prevalent. The death-toll would rise to 28 by the end of their incarceration, and the dead were buried in the nearby churchyard of St John sub Castro. The prisoners' popularity in Lewes remained undimmed. When peace was concluded between Britain and Russia in 1856, and the time came for their return home, the parting "is said to have been genuinely sorrowful". The commanding officer publicly thanked the people of Lewes and wrote to the Senior Constable on behalf of his fellow officers, expressing gratitude for having "enjoyed the hospitality of many, and urbane treatment from all" and spoke of their pleasure at the prospect of returning home being "much modified by the regret we feel in thus bidding farewell to those who have shown so much kindness". After a civic farewell, the townsfolk lined the streets to watch them leave. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Russian Memorial, Lewes」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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