The Complete Victoria Cross

A Full Chronological Record of All Holders of Britain's Highest Award for Gallantry

Kevin Brazier

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781473872066
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History Reference
• Index: History

This fully revised paperback edition of the complete chronological record of VC holders is an essential work of reference for every student of military history. All the British and Commonwealth servicemen who have been awarded the highest honour for exceptional acts of bravery and self-sacrifice are commemorated here. The first VCs awarded for the Crimean War and in the nineteenth-century colonial wars are described, as are the VCs awarded in the world wars of the twentieth century and the most recent VCs awarded during present-day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The extraordinary exploits recounted in this fascinating book make unforgettable reading.

Chapter One

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE VICTORIA CROSS

It was Queen Victoria herself who recognised that the bravery of her ‘ordinary’ soldiers and sailors went largely unrewarded, and she suggested a new medal for all ranks who conducted themselves with unusual bravery. Until then the government and military leaders had only felt the need to reward officers for their courage. Even the Duke of Wellington had believed that serving king and country was reward enough for any low-ranking soldier. The injustice of this state of affairs was exacerbated by the situation abroad, where since the early nineteenth century the junior grades of the French Legion of Honour (instituted in 1803) and the German Iron Cross (instituted in 1813) had been available to all ranks.

The terms of the new medal stipulated that it would be awarded not for ‘rank, nor long service, nor wounds, nor any other circumstance or condition whatsoever’, but only for ‘merit or conspicuous bravery’; this was the key clause and perhaps best describes the unrestricted nature of the award.

The Victoria Cross came into being when the queen signed the royal warrant on 29 January 1856. It takes the shape of a cross pattée (from the French for ‘with feet’ or ‘paws’, referring to the spreading ends) rather than a Maltese Cross, as described in the original warrant. The Cross is 1.375 inches across and weighs around 0.87 ounces with the suspension bar and link. The front bears the royal crest (a crown surmounted by a lion), with the words ‘For Valour’. (Originally it was intended to read ‘For Bravery’, but Queen Victoria did not like this as it implied that those who were not awarded it were not brave.) The suspension bar is decorated with laurel leaves and has a small ‘V’ to attach it to the cross. The ribbon is 1.5 inches wide, and was red for the army and blue for the navy until 1918, when crimson was adopted for all services. All living naval recipients were supposed to give up their blue ribbon for the new crimson, but not many did.

All the medals are made by Hancocks & Co., and always have been. Each cross is cast, then chased and finished by hand, then the medal, suspension bar and link are treated with chemicals to give them an overall dull brown colour, which is darker in some issues than others. The reverse is inscribed with the recipient’s name, rank and regiment, with the date of the deed engraved in the centre of the circle. In most cases only the initials are given, but the first name has been used on a few occasions. What makes the VC (and later the George Cross) unique is that each medal can be precisely identified in terms of its recipient: no other bravery award does this.

Much has been said about the metal for the first medals being taken from the cascabels (the balls found at the rear of cannon barrels) of two guns of Chinese origin captured in the Crimea. However, there is no real evidence that the Chinese guns in the Woolwich Arsenal had ever been near the Crimea. But there is evidence that they were captured from the Taku Forts in the Third China War. Historical records and scientific analysis, including X-rays, show that the cascabels were not used until 1924, 68 years after the first VCs were made. Also during the Second World War the cascabels disappeared for a time, and different metal was used between 1942 and 1945.

Awards of the VC have always been announced in the pages of the London Gazette. This is known as being ‘gazetted’. A recommendation for the VC is normally issued by an officer at regimental level and has to be supported by three witnesses, although this is not always the case. The recommendation is then passed up the military hierarchy until it reaches the Secretary of State for War (now the Secretary of State for Defence) and then the monarch. Royal assent is still required and all VCs are presented by the monarch.

The first award ceremony was held in Hyde Park on 26 June 1857. Preparations for the day were made in something of a hurry, the final list of recipients not being published until 22 June, and the staff at Hancocks had to work around the clock to engrave all the crosses in time. Queen Victoria caused some dismay by electing to stay on horseback throughout the ceremony, while awarding the 62 recipients with their crosses. The queen pinned on the entire batch in just 10–15 minutes, and the whole parade went off extremely well, to the rapturous applause of the public. There is, however, one story that the queen, leaning forward to pin the medal on Commander Raby, accidentally stabbed him in the chest. True to the spirit in which he had earned his cross, he stood unflinching.

There is a widespread myth that it is statutory for all ranks to salute the bearer of a VC. There is no official requirement for this in the royal warrant, nor in Queen’s Regulations & Orders (QROs). Yet tradition dictates that this occurs, and thus even the Chiefs of Staff will salute a private soldier awarded the VC.

To date (March 2015) a total of 1,363 VCs have been awarded to 1,360 people. Three men have been awarded it twice: Noel Chavasse and Arthur Martin-Leake, both for saving wounded men, and Charles Upham for combat in Crete and North Africa. In 1921 the award was given to the Unknown American Soldier of the First World War. The recipients also include five Americans, four civilians, three Danes, two Germans, a Belgian, a Fijian, a Swede, a Swiss, a Ukrainian and a Grenadian. Six men under the age of 18 have been awarded it, with a similar number over the age of 50.

There is one VC that is not counted in any official records. In 1856 Queen Victoria laid a VC beneath the foundation stone of Netley Military Hospital. When the hospital was demolished in 1966, this cross, known as the ‘Netley VC’, was recovered and is now on display at the Army Medical Services Museum, Mytchett.

Women are eligible for the medal, but to date none has been awarded it. However, a gold replica of the cross, but with no inscription on the reverse, was presented to Mrs Webber Harris, the wife of the commanding officer of the 104th Bengal Fusiliers. She received her award from the officers of the regiment for her ‘indomitable pluck’ while nursing the men through an outbreak of cholera during the Indian Mutiny.

Eight men have forfeited their awards under Rule Fifteen of the warrant. There is a widespread belief that the forfeited VCs were reinstated, but in fact none was ever removed from the VC register. All eight were subject to a Forfeiture Warrant signed by the sovereign and should have returned their medals, but not all of them did. So if none were removed from the register, none could be reinstated. George V was concerned by the prospect of future forfeits as it was declared: ‘The King feels so strongly that, no matter the crime committed by anyone on whom the VC has been conferred, the decoration should not be forfeited. Even were a VC [holder] sentenced to be hanged for murder, he should be allowed to wear his VC on the scaffold.’

The largest number of VCs awarded in a single day was 23, on 16 November 1857, at the relief of Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny (but this figure also includes 4 VCs awarded for the period 14–22 November). The largest number awarded for a single action was 11, on 22/23 January 1879, at Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu War, and the largest number awarded for a single conflict was 629 for the First World War, nearly half of all VCs awarded. A total of 182 VCs were awarded in both the Indian Mutiny and the Second World War, 111 were awarded in the Crimean War, 78 in the Second Boer War and 23 in the Zulu War. Assistant Surgeon William Manley remains the only man to have received both the VC for his actions in the Waikato-Haubau Maori War of 1864 and the German Iron Cross for tending the wounded in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. Flying Officer Lloyd Trigg has the distinction of being the only man ever to be awarded a VC solely on evidence provided by the enemy, for an action where there were no surviving Allied witnesses. Six men under the age of 18 have been awarded the Cross, while a similar number have been awarded it while over the age of 50. The two youngest men to be awarded the Cross were Thomas Flynn and Andrew Fitzgibbon, both aged just 15 years and 3 months. The oldest was William Raynor, just 2 months short of his 62nd birthday.

In recent years some Commonwealth countries have introduced their own honours system, separate from the British Honours System. This began with the partition of India in 1947, when the new countries of India and Pakistan introduced their own awards scheme and replaced the VC with the Param Vir Chakra (PVR) in India and the Nishan-e-Haider in Pakistan. However, both countries continue to permit holders of British awards to wear their medals. Australia was the first Commonwealth country to create its own VC in 1991. Although it is a separate award, its appearance is identical to its British counterpart. Canada followed suit in 1993, creating the Canadian VC, which is similar to the British version but bears the Latin words PRO VALORE. New Zealand was next to adapt the VC into its own honours system in 1999. Australia has also set up a committee to investigate any claims or recommendations for a VC that may have been overlooked in the past. While all these are technically separate awards, the decoration in all cases is identical to the British design with the exception of the Canadian motto. They will even be made from the same metal as British VCs and made by Hancocks. The first person to be awarded one of these is Willie Apiata from New Zealand.

Chapter Two

THE TERMS OF THE 1856 VICTORIA CROSS WARRANT, AND ITS AMENDMENTS

WHERAS WE, taking into Our Royal consideration that there exists no means of adequately rewarding the individual gallant services either of officers of the lower grades in our Naval and Military Service, or of warrant and petty officers, seamen and marines in Our Navy, and non-commissioned officers and soldiers in Our Army; And wheras the Third Class of Our Most Honourable Order of the Bath is limited, except in very rare cases, to the higher ranks of both Services, and the granting of medals, both in Our Navy and Army, is only awarded for long service or meritorious conduct, rather than for bravery in action or distinction before an enemy, such cases alone excepted where a general medal is granted for a particular action or campaign, or a clasp added to the medal for some special engagement, in both of which cases all share equally in the boon, and those who by their valour have particularly signalised themselves remain undistinguished from their comrades; Now, for the purpose of attaining an end so desirable as that of rewarding individual instances of merit and valour, We have instituted and created, and by these present, for Us, Our Heirs and Successors, institute and create a New Naval and Military decoration, which We are desirous should be highly prized and eagerly sought after by the officers and men of Our Naval and Military Services, and are graciously pleased to make, ordain, and establish the following rules and ordinances for the government of the same, which shall from henceforth be inviolably observed and kept.

Firstly. – It is ordained, that the distinction shall be styled and designated ‘The Victoria Cross’, and shall consist of a Maltese Cross of Bronze with Our Royal Crest in the Centre, and underneath which an escroll bearing this inscription, ‘For Valour’.

Secondly. – It is ordained, that the Cross shall be suspended from the left breast, by a blue riband for the Navy, and by a red riband for the Army.

Thirdly. – It is ordained, that the names of those upon whom We may be pleased to confer the decoration shall be published in the London Gazette, and a registry thereof kept in the office of Our Secretary of State for War.

Fourthly. – It is ordained, that anyone who, after having received the Cross, shall again perform an act of bravery, which if he had not received such Cross would have entitled him to it, such further act shall be recorded by a Bar attached to the riband by which the Cross is suspended, and for every additional act of bravery an additional Bar may be added.

Fifthly. – It is ordained, that the Cross shall only be awarded to those officers and men who have served Us in the presence of the enemy, and shall have then performed some signal act of valour, or devotion to their country.

Sixthly. – It is ordained, with a view to place all persons on a perfectly equal footing in relation to eligibility for the Decoration, that neither rank, nor long service, nor wounds, nor any other circumstance or condition whatsoever, save the merit of conspicuous bravery, shall be held to establish a sufficient claim to the honour.

Seventhly. – It is ordained, that the Decoration may be conferred on the spot where the act to be rewarded by the grant of such Decoration has been performed, under the following circumstances:

I. When the Fleet or Army in which such act has been performed, is under the eye and command of an Admiral or General officer commanding the forces.

II. Where the naval or military force is under the eye and command of an Admiral or Commodore commanding a squadron or detached naval force, or of a General commanding a corps, or division or brigade on a distinct and detached service, when such Admiral, Commodore, or General Officer shall have the power of conferring the decoration on the spot, subject to confirmation by Us.

Eighthly. – It is ordained, where such act shall not have been performed in sight of a commanding officer as aforesaid, then the claimant for the honour shall prove the act to the satisfaction of the captain or officer commanding his ship, or to the officer commanding the regiment to which the claimant belongs, and such captain or commanding officer shall report the same through the usual channel to the Admiral or Commodore commanding the forces employed on the service, or to the officer commanding the forces in the field, who shall call for such description and attestation of the act as he may think requisite, and on approval shall recommend the grant of the Decoration.

Ninthly. – It is ordained that every person selected for the Cross, under rule seven, shall be publicly decorated before the naval military force or body to which he belongs, and with which the act of bravery for which he is to be rewarded shall have been performed, and his name shall be recorded in a General Order, together with the cause of his special distinction.

Tenthly. – It is ordained that every person selected under rule eight shall receive his Decoration as soon as possible, and his name shall likewise appear in a General Order as above required, such General Order to be issued by the naval or military commander of the forces employed on the service.

Eleventhly. – It is ordained that the General Orders above referred to shall from time to time be transmitted to Our Secretary of State for War, to be laid before us, and shall be by him registered.

Twelfthly. – It is ordained that as cases may arise not falling within the rules above specified, or in which a claim, though well founded, may not have been established on the spot, We will, on the joint submission of Our Secretary of State for War, and of Our Commander-in-Chief of Our Army, or on that of Our Lord High Admiral or Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty in the case of the Navy, confer the decoration, but never without conclusive proof of the performance of the act of bravery for which the claim is made.

Thirteenthly. – It is ordained that, in the event of a gallant and daring act having been performed by a squadron, ship’s company, a detached body of seamen or marines, not under fifty in number, or by a brigade, regiment, troop, or company, in which the Admiral, General, or officer commanding such forces, may deem that all are equally brave and distinguished, and that no special selection can be made by them, then in such case the Admiral, General, or other officer commanding may direct that for any such body of seamen and marines, or for every troop or company of soldiers, one officer shall be selected by the officers engaged for the Decoration; and in like manner one petty officer or noncommissioned officer shall be selected by the petty officers and non-commissioned officers engaged; and two seamen or private soldiers or marines shall be selected by the seamen, or private soldiers, or marines engaged respectively, for the Decoration; and the names of those selected shall be transmitted by the senior officer in command of the naval force, brigade, regiment, troop, or company, to the Admiral or General Officer commanding, who shall in due manner confer the Decoration as if the acts were done under his own eye.

Fourteenthly. – It is ordained that every warrant officer, petty officer, seaman, or marine, or non-commissioned officer or soldier, who shall have received the Cross, shall, from the date of the act by which the Decoration has been gained, be entitled to a Special Pension of Ten Pounds a year, and each additional Bar conferred under rule four on such warrant or petty officers, or noncommissioned officers or men, shall carry with it an additional pension of Five Pounds per annum.

Fifteenthly. – In order to make such additional provision as shall effectually preserve pure this most honourable distinction, it is ordained, that if any person on whom such distinction shall be conferred, be convicted of treason, cowardice, felony, or of any infamous crime, or if he is accused of any such offence and doth not after reasonable time surrender himself to be tried for same, his name shall forthwith be erased from the registry of individuals upon whom the said Decoration shall have been conferred by an especial Warrant under Our Royal Sign Manual, and the pension conferred under rule fourteen shall cease and determine from the date of such Warrant. It is hereby further declared that We, Our Heirs and Successors, shall be the sole judges of the circumstance demanding such expulsion; moreover, We shall at times have power to restore such persons as may at any time have been expelled both to the enjoyment of the Decoration and pension.

Given at Our Court at Buckingham Palace, this twenty-ninth day of January, in the nineteenth yea...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Preface
• Author’s Note
• Chapter 1: A Short History of the Victoria Cross
• Chapter 2: The Terms of the 1856 Victoria Cross Warrant, and its Amendments
• Chapter 3: Roll of Honour: Complete Chronological List of All Victoria Cross Holders
• Campaigns of the Victoria Cross
• Chapter 14: Burial Locations
• Chapter 15: Alphabetical List of Victoria Cross Holders
• Bibliography