Hi Nick.
The Sultan of Turkey had some cossacks – funded by the British Government, but Polish in origin. They owe their existence to Michal Czajkowski (1804-1886), who declared his ambition to command the Cossacks in the Crimea under the Polish crown. Czajkowski arranged to be appointed as Chief Commander of the Sultan’s Cossacks, and obtained certificates from the Turkish government for Generals Zamoyski, Chrzanowski, Bystrzonowski and Breanski to serve in his command. After various early successes, command and control faltered, and a disagreement festered and became personal in nature, leading to Wladyslaw Zamoyski breaking away to form a Polish division of “Cossacks of the Sultan in the service of Great Britain”. So Morison was indeed with the Sultan’s Cossacks in the Crimea, but as far as I can tell they were not part of General Vivian’s Turkish Contingent. Rather, they were Poles.

Do you know which vessel T C Morison took to come to Port Philip (Melbourne)?
Thanks
Paul

Morison’s name cannot be found in the London Gazette being granted permission, nor is he listed in rolls extracted from the London Gazette . Morrison and his fellow surgeons were indeed “actually and entirely employed, beyond Her Majesty’s dominions, in the service of the foreign sovereign by whom the Order is conferred”, but perhaps the Orders had been awarded ‘in the field’ without formal notification through the usual channels to Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs^[ii]. This might particularly be the case if it was bestowed on behalf of the Sultan by General Zamoyski.