Posthumous VCs
Ultimate sacrifice
When it was first instituted, the original VC warrant made no mention of posthumous awards. It had been decided from the beginning that the VC would not be awarded for an act in which the potential recipient was killed, or where he died shortly after.
In these circumstances an announcement was made in the London Gazette that had the person survived they would have been recommended for the VC. There were six instances of this between 1859-1897.
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Lieutenant Nevill Coghill
One of the most famous posthumous recipients of the VC was Lieutenant Nevill Coghill of the 24th Regiment of Foot, who was killed attempting to defend a comrade who was carrying the Queen's Colour from the battlefield of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879. 23 Victoria Crosses were won during the Zulu War but Coghill and hs fellow officer Lieutenant Teignmouth Melvill were not awarded theirs until January 1907.
Among its Zulu War collection the National Army Museum holds Lieutenant Coghill’s diary which was later recovered from the battlefield as well as the VC awarded to Corporal Christian Ferdinand Schiess for his actions during the defence of the mission station at Rorke’s Drift.
Schiess is the only Swiss National to have been awarded the Victoria Cross and the first man serving with South African forces to be decorated with the supreme British award for gallantry.
The first posthumous VC was awarded in 1900 to Lieutenant the Hon F. H. S. Roberts, of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, during the Boer War (1899-1902). During the remainder of the war in South Africa several other posthumous VCs were granted, although they, like the award to Roberts, were not published in the London Gazette until 1907.
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The Hon Lieutenant Frederick Hugh Sherston Roberts
The Hon Lieutenant Frederick Hugh Sherston Roberts, (1872-1899), the son of Field Marshal Lord Roberts, and Corporal George Nurse were both awarded the VC for their attempt to save the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, at the Battle of Colenso on 15 December 1899. Roberts was mortally wounded and died 24 hours after winning the VC.
As well as this posthumous portrait of Roberts wearing his VC the National Army Museum holds in Its collection the telegram sent by General Sir Redvers Buller to Lord Roberts informing him of the death of his only son.
It was not until 1920 that specific provision for posthumous awards was finally made in a Royal Warrant, despite the fact that posthumous VCs continued to be granted during World War One (1914-1918). During that conflict, over 180 posthumous awards were made. The National Army Museum holds Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Jones’ VC on loan. ‘H’ Jones of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, was one of two recipients of posthumous Victoria Crosses during the Falklands War of 1982.
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Captain Arthur Henderson
Captain Arthur Henderson, 2nd Battalion, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders won the VC on 23 April 1917 near Fontaine-les-Croiselles in France. Although wounded in the left arm, he led his company through the enemy front line and then proceeded to consolidate his position, which owing to heavy fire and bombing attacks was in danger of becoming isolated. He was killed soon afterwards.
Forfeiture
Under the terms of the original warrant there was a clause that allowed for a recipient's name to be erased from the official list of VC holders in certain circumstances. Between 1856 and 1908 eight cases of forfeiture took place, for a variety of criminal offences including theft and bigamy.
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Private Frederick Corbett
Private Frederick Corbett, 3rd Battalion, The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, won the VC at Kafr Dowar in Egypt in 1882. He forfeited his award on 30 July 1884 after being convicted of embezzlement and theft from an officer.
King George V felt very strongly about the issue of forfeiture and in a letter written by his Private Secretary, Lord Stamfordham, on 26 July 1920, it was stated:
‘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 to be sentenced to be hanged for murder, he should be allowed to wear his VC on the scaffold’.
Although the monarch’s power to both cancel and restore awards is still contained within the Victoria Cross warrant there have been no further awards forfeited since 1920.
