And in calling to mind the heroism of the brave men who figure in these pages let us not forget those who may be said to have equally earned the distinction but who for some reason or other were passed over. Of such were Chaplain Smith, who was one of the heroes of Rorke’s Drift; Gumpunt Rao Deo Ker, the Mahratta sowar who stood by Lieutenant Kerr’s side at Kolapore, saving his leader’s life more than once in that terrible fight; and the gallant little bugler boy, Tom Keep, of the Grenadier Guards, who, while the battle of Inkerman was at its height and bullets were whistling round him (one actually passed through his jacket), went about tending the wounded on the field. These are names among many that deserve to be inscribed high up on the scroll which perpetuates the memory of our bravest of the brave.
Out of the 522 winners of the V.C. some 200 are alive at the present time. Death has been busy of late years in thinning the ranks. Only the other day, as it seems, we lost Seaman Trewavas, Mr. Ross Lowis Mangles (one of the few civilians decorated), General Channer, and Baker Pasha. We have, however, still with us the senior winner of the distinction, Rear-Admiral Lucas, whose exploit is narrated at length in its proper place, Field-Marshals Lord Roberts, Sir George White, and Sir Evelyn Wood, Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon, General Sir Redvers Buller, and many another hero of high rank. May the day be far distant when their names have to be erased from the survivors’ roll!
[1] No such clasp or bar has yet been granted.
It was in the Crimean War, as noted in the preceding chapter, that the first Victoria Crosses were won. I do not purpose giving a history of the war here, for space does not permit of it, nor would it be altogether in place. But for a proper appreciation of the incidents which I am about to describe it is necessary to say something about the events which led up to the war. The reader who wants to obtain a completer grasp of the campaign, the first great European war that our army had been engaged in since the war against Napoleon, will of course turn to an authoritative history for information, not forgetting to keep a map in front of him while he reads.