During the Russian War, in 1854, when the whole country was horror-struck
with the report of the sufferings endured by our brave soldiers in the
Crimea, Mr. Peto, in the most noble and disinterested manner, and at the
cost of his seat in the House of Commons for Norwich—which city he had
represented for several years—constructed for the Government a line of
railway from Balaclava to the English camp before Sebastopol, which at
the end of the war, with its various branches, was 37 English miles in
length and had 10 locomotives on it. In recognition of this patriotic
service the honour of a baronetcy was, in the following year, conferred
upon him by Her Majesty.
—_Old Jonathan_.