A lot happening here

I was in a bit of town I've not visited for ages and took a photo of this glorious building. Engraved above the entrance it is announced as the "Kent County Ophthalmic Hospital" and below that "Diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat" and finally, above the door, "Founded 1846". When she was young Jemma had a myringotomy here. It's now posh apartments and folk with problems of the eye, ear, nose or throat are treated at the hospital on Hermitage Lane (which has featured in a few blips of late).

In front of the old hospital is a striking statue of a Hussar on a prancing horse. This is Louis Nolan (though his name is spelt as Lewis on one side of the plinth and as Louis on another side). I'm really not sure why Captain Nolan is commemorated in Maidstone, I can't see any clear connection as he was born in Canada and trained at the Austrian Pioneer School where he learnt a range of languages as well as military theory, mathematics, fencing and engineering. From here he joined the 10th Austrian Hussar regiment where he was recognised as an expert horseman. It's clear to see that Louis had a bit of a life but it's still not clear how he came to have a statue raised in the UK. As a foreigner in the Austrian military he couldn't really rise very far so his British father, a minor diplomat, greased a few palms and got Louis a commission in the 15th Light Dragoons of the British Army.

On the 25th October, 1854 at the Battle of Balaclava, Lord Raglan sent an order to Lord Cardigan for the Light Brigade to protect guns captured from the Turks. The order was carried by Captain Louis Nolan. What happened next is still open to conjecture but it is thought that when Nolan realised that Cardigan had misunderstood the orders and was taking the Light Brigade towards a well-prepared battery, against which it had little chance of success, he tried to stop the charge. However, he was hit and killed instantly by shrapnel from one of the first shells fired in the engagement. So died Captain Nolan but he is remembered as one of the people blamed for the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade. 

I still don't know why his supporters paid for a plaque in Trinity Church in Maidstone and why there is a statue too. But an interesting bloke who had a fascinating but short life.