Photograph of three soldiers from the Coldstream Guards who served in the Crimean War. From left to right are Joseph Numa, John Potter and James Deal. Potter is sitting on a wooden table wearing a bearskin hat and with a rucksack on his knee. Numa and Deal are both resting one leg on the table and are each holding a rifle. All three are wearing the uniform of their regiment with a medal.
Throughout the war Queen Victoria had taken an active interest in the welfare of the troops and on their return from the Crimea she met a number of the veterans at Buckingham Palace, Chatham Military Hospital and Aldershot Garrison. Following these meetings she commissioned a series of photographs of the veterans from the photographers Joseph Cundall and Robert Howlett.