FOR VALOUR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 862, 4 January 1930, Page 14

FOR VALOUR

FIRST V.C. MADE FROM RUSSIAN GUN STORY OF THE MEDAL The original subject of a medal or badge of distinction for gallant services on the part of members of the Navy and Army was first considered when the third Duke of Newcastle was Secretary of State for War in 1554-55. Queen Victoria took a very lively interest in it, but nothing was done until Lord Panmure, later eleventh Earl of Dalhousie, became Secretary of State. Then her Majesty at Buckingham Palace on July 29, 1856. signed the Royal Warrant instituting the decoration, with the title “The Victoria Cross.” As time went on it was apparent that to confine this decoration to members of the Navy and Army constituted hardship to others who might be temporarily acting with the forces of the Crown. Won By a Clergyman Accordingly, in 1557, the decoration was extended to members of the forces of the Honourable East India Company. Next year a warrant admitted acts under circumstances of extreme danger by members of the Navy and the Army not in the presence of the enemy. Under this head, in 1867, the cross was granted to Private Timothy O’Hea, First Battalion, Rifle Brigade, who, at a railway station between Quebec and Montreal, extinguished a fire in a railway car containing ammunition. In 1858, also, it was decided to extend the decoration to non-military persons acting as volunteers against the mutineers at Lucknow and elsewhere. Another extension came in 1881— the admission of members of the Indian Ecclesiastical Establishments. The Rev. J. A. Adams won the cross at Kabul. Native oflicers and men of the Indian Army were included in 1911. By a warrant issued in 1920, King George caused all previous warrants to be consolidated and made certain variations:—(a) The Riband—originally blue for the Navy, red for the Army—was made red for all services; (b) a cross in miniature to be worn on the riband in undress; (c) the cross may be awarded posthumously. The Original Cross

The original cross struck for submission to and approved of by Queen Victoria on its institution in 1856 is now in the museum of the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall. It came into the possession of the donor, Lieutenant-Colonel M. P. Hancock, D. 5.0., Royal Fusiliers, from his grandfather, who founded the firm which made and still makes the decoration.

The bronze for the cross came originally from a Russian gun taken in the Crimea, and on that source being exhausted, is taken from a Chinese gun, probably owing to the nature of the metal.

Only two bars or clasps have been won, the recipients being A. MartinLeake, Lieutenant, R.A.M.C. (“London Gazette,” February 18, 19151, who. as surgeon-captain in the Indian Volunteers, won the cross when serving with the South African Constabulary (“London Gazette,” May 13, 1903) ; and N. G. Chevasse, captain, R.A.M.C., attached to 1/10 Liverpool Regiment who won the cross at Guillemont on August 9, 1916, and a bar at Wieltjie on July 31-August 2, 1917, where he was killed. Of all the many crosses won only eight have been subsequently forfeited. Father and Son A pension of £lO a year is attached to the cross in the case of holders below the rank of commissioned officer, but should any holder —commissioned officer or other—be unable, in consequence of age or of infirmity occasioned by causes beyond his own control, to earn a livelihood, such holder may be granted an annuity provided that the total amount of the annuity thus granted, together with any other pension received from public funds, shall not exceed £75 a year. The cross has been conferred three times upon father and son, including Lord Roberts and his son; and upon two pairs of brothers. The Victoria Crosses granted before the Great War numbered 527. The Victoria Crosses granted for the Great War numbered 631 and two bars. The Victoria Crosses granted since the Great War number four. There is in the village of Wantage a gallery of receipients of the V.C., left to the village by a Lord Wantage who himself won that decoration, but it is believed it is in a lamentable condition.