96 AWARDED FOR VALOUR
Table 5.1 Acts winning the Victoria Cross, nineteenth century: winners per decade
Decade 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890–1904
296 39 48 21 117
#Awarded Raw % Raw % Raw % Raw % Raw %
War-Winning 178 60 17 44 29 60 3 14 52 44
- Offensive 55 19 6 15 9 19 0 0 16 14
- Defensive 19 6 0 0 14 30 0 0 9 8
- Symbolic 76 26 7 18 3 6 2 9 22 19
- Secondary 28 9 2 5 3 6 1 5 5 4
Humanitarian 103 35 18 46 16 33 18 86 63 54 - Enlisted 64 22 14 36 13 27 11 53 43 37
- Officer 39 13 4 10 3 6 7 33 20 17
Symbolic 12 4 6 15 2 4 0 0 2 2
Special 3 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0
enemy body, and serving the guns under fire, acts that materially contributed
to victory:
On 5 November 1854 at the Battle of Inkerman, Crimea, Brevet Major
[Charles] Russell offered to dislodge a party of Russians from the Sand
Bag Battery if anyone would follow him. A Sergeant and two privates
(one of whom was subsequently killed) were the first to volunteer. The
party met with much resistance and several times seemed to be of the
point of a annihilation but their skill, especially with the bayonet, finally
brought success. Major Russell himself fought with great valour and in
single combat wrenched the rifle out of the grasp of a powerful Russian.^4
War-winning is not necessarily confined to acts of conquest and capture.
Often holding a vital position in the face of a determined attack can be just
as decisive as a cavalry charge:
On 26 September 1857 at Lucknow, India, Private [James] Hollowell was
one of a party which was shut up and besieged in one of the houses. He
behaved throughout the day in a most admirable manner, encouraging
the other nine men, who were in low spirits, to keep going. His cheerful
persuasion prevailed and they made successful defence in a burning house
with the enemy firing through four windows.^5
It was not, however, as glorious in the eyes of the War Office. Defensive
stands accounted for only about 7 percent in the decades they were