The Victoria Cross

By Pat Rundgren.

The Crimean War had been a particularly bloody one. More importantly, it had been well covered by war correspondents and photographers such as Roger Fenton. Pictures showing the full horrors of having your face blown off had given the Victorian establishment vicarious thrills and renewed pride in the achievements of her servicemen.

Prince Albert, in a fit of national pride, suggested to his wife that she should consider awarding some memento to her soldiers and sailors who had particularly distinguished themselves.

The upshot of all this was a piece that appeared in the London Gazette dated 5 February 1856 announcing the creation of Britain’s premier award for gallantry for all ranks since the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854. The two applicable paragraphs to this particular story were as follows:-

• “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 a scroll bearing the inscription “For Valour”;
• The Cross shall only be awarded to those officers or 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”.

The award of the Cross also attracted a special pension of 10 Pounds per annum, but the Cross could be forfeited if the recipient was subsequently convicted of “treason, cowardice, felony or of any infamous crime….”.

The first awards were published in the London Gazette of 24 February 1857, and 62 of the 111 Crimean recipients were invested with their awards by the Queen on 26 June. At the time there was no provision for posthumous awards – you had to still be alive to get your VC! The Cross was iriginally suspended on a maroon ribbon for the Army and a blue one for the Navy.

Legend has it that the metal used to make the Cross originally came from barrel of a Russian artillery piece captured in the Crimea. Looted by some red coated soldiers and taken away to England, the barrel finally ended up as a lump on the floor in the stockroom of Messrs. Hancocks and Co., Jewellers of London. Since then, rumours abound that the metal eventually ran out, and was substituted by  pieces of gun barrel taken from the Taku Forts in China. That too eventually ran out and now only Hancocks knows what metal the newer ones are made of.

The criteria for the award were changed slightly by the Royal Warrant dated 10 August 1858, which provided that the VC could also be awarded “for acts of conspicuous courage and bravery under circumstances of extreme danger.…  in which, through the courage and devotion displayed, life or public property might be saved.”

It is generally accepted that only seven Crosses were awarded under these circumstances until the Royal Warrant of 23 April 1881 declared that the Cross should only be awarded for “conspicuous bravery or devotion to the country in the presence of the enemy” and thus, by implication, revoked the 1858 Warrant.

One of these seven recipients was Private William Griffiths 1/24 Regiment, later killed in action at Isandlwana. His story follows next week.