The Victoria Cross: For Valour

Of the 20 million or so men and women who have served in the Armed Forces since the medal’s inception 160 years ago only 1,358 have been awarded. 

 

By late 1854, a confident Britain was fully engaged in its first major conflict in almost 40 years against the Russians on the Crimean Peninsula. Here was the opportunity to tame the Russian Bear yet regardless of the jingoism that had preceded it the war very soon became deeply unpopular as the army proved itself to be ill-prepared, inefficient and worse still incompetently led. 

 

In what soon became an arduous and bloody campaign the dispatches from the front sent by from correspondents such as John Howard Russell of The Times detailed a string of woes and near calamities that not only appalled the public but also greatly disturbed the Queen. 

 

But despite being poorly led, inadequately provisioned and dying of disease in their thousands in the rat-infested hospital at Scutarii or of hypothermia in their bivouacs great victories were still won at the Battles of Alma, Inkerman and Balaclava. 

 

For all the incompetence displayed by those who commanded them the troops behaviour in combat remained exemplary as highlighted in such incidences as the Thin Red Line and the Charge of the Light Brigade; both deeds heralded as being of the utmost heroism – surely there should be some way of acknowledging and rewarding acts that went way beyond a soldiers mere devotion to duty. Certainly, Queen Victoria thought so, but a reward system that recognised neither rank nor status would be controversial. 

 

It was widely believed that an Officer led his men into battle and that the common soldier fighting under instruction from his social superior was in obeying orders merely doing his duty. It was the Officer who should be praised for the quality of his leadership. In any case, the army fought as a collective unit and to single out any individual from the ranks for praise would damage morale. 

 

Queen Victoria, supported by her husband Prince Albert under whose guidance the new medal was designed and named, inaugurated the Victoria Cross by Royal Decree (Royal Sign Manual) on 29 January 1858, and backdated to cover the Crimean War. Its creation was later endorsed by Parliament. 

 

Cast from the bronze of enemy cannon captured at the Siege of Sevastopol it was intended to have no intrinsic value other than as a symbol of the nation’s gratitude with the simple inscription - For Valour. 

 

On 26 June 1857, at a ceremony held in London’s Hyde Park, Queen Victoria awarded 62 Crimean War combat veterans with the medal that now carried her name. 

1. England 621 

2. Ireland 180 

3. Scotland 164 

4. Australia 96 

5. Canada 96 

6. India 27 

7. Wales 25 

8. New Zealand 22 

9. South Africa 21 

10. Nepal (Gurkhas) 13 

11. Channel Islands 11 

 

5 United States, 3 Denmark, 2 Newfoundland, 2 German, 2 Rhodesia, 1 Belgium, Ceylon, Fiji, Grenada, Jamaica, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Virgin Islands, 58 remain uncertain. 

 

Royal Navy 117 

Royal Artillery 65 

Royal Air Force 39 

Royal Medical Corps 38 

Infantry, Cavalry, and other Combat Units 1,191 

 

Awarded World War One 634 

Awarded World War Two 182 

Post – 1945 12 

 

Lt Charles Lucas RN from County Monaghan in Ireland who serving aboard HMS Hecla during the bombardment of the Russian fortress at Bomarsund on the Baltic coast picked up a smouldering shell about to explode and carried onto the deck before throwing it overboard where it detonated, saving a great many lives. 

 

Thomas Flynn (Drummer Boy) 15 years and 3 months – on 26 November 1857 during the assault on Cawnpore in India he engaged several of the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. He died an inmate of the Workhouse in 1892. 

Andrew Fitzgibbon (Stretcher-Bearer) 15 years and 3 months – on 26 August 1860 during the storming of the Taku Forts in China he repeatedly exposed himself to danger to remove wounded soldiers from the line of fire despite being severely injured himself. 

 

William Raynor, Lt Bengal Army 66 years – 11 May 1857, during the Siege of Delhi along with 9 others he defended the ammunition depot against overwhelming odds. Aware that they were about to be overrun he detonated the ammunition killing a great many of the enemy but also five of the defenders. He had expected to die in the explosion but survived. 

 

Jack Cornwell RN 16 years and 145 days – on 31 May whilst serving aboard HMS Chester during the Battle of Jutland he remained at his post manning a deck gun despite the rest of his crew having been killed. Mortally wounded he was nonetheless taken to a civilian hospital where it was hoped his mother would be able to see him before he died. She did not arrive in time. 

 

The decision to award the Victoria Cross posthumously wasn’t made until 1907 with amongst its first recipients Lt Teignmouth Melvill and Lt Nevill Coghill who were killed at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 whilst trying to save the Regimental Colours. A decision that remains controversial to this day. 

 

 

Captain Arthur Martin-Leake (Royal Army Medical Corps) 1902 & 1914. 

Captain Noel Chavasse (Royal Army Medical Corps) 1916 & 1917. 

Captain Charles Upham (New Zealand Army) 1941 & 1942. 

 

 

Most Victoria Crosses awarded on a single day: 24 - Second Relief of Lucknow, 16 November 1857. 

 

7 - B Company, 24th Regiment of Foot, Defence of Rorke’s Drift 22/23, January 1879. Eleven were awarded in total. 

 

 

 

Captain Chard died of cancer on 1 November 1897, aged 49. 

 

His Citation Read: 

 

 

 

Squadron-Leader Guy Gibson was killed on active service when his Mosquito plane crashed over Holland on 19 September 1944. He was 26 years of age. 

 

His citation read: 

 

 

Captain Fegen went down with his ship along with 167 of its crew of 254. 

The most recent award of the Victoria Cross was on 26 February 2015, to Lance-Corporal Joshua Leakey of the Parachute Regiment ‘For Valour’ during service in Afghanistan.