FIFTY YEARS ON: A HALF-CENTURY OF HEROISM 99
the industrial age. Both Buller and Roberts were of the old school, reaching
the end of their respective careers. If the dubious VCs of Colenso and Korn
Spruit they put forward are discounted, this trend continued through the
turn of the century, with the ratio dropping to under 6 percent of the
Crosses awarded between 1890 and 1904.
One factor that remained steady throughout the half-century was the
percentage of awards bestowed for what have been categorized as ‘war-
winning secondary’ acts. These medals went to feats that aided success
indirectly, such as bringing up fresh ammunition, reconnaissance of enemy
dispositions, serving as a courier, or performing operations that today would
be termed combat engineering:
For distinguished conduct on the night of 4 August 1855, when in
command of the working party in the advanced trenches in front of the
quarries, encouraging and inciting his men by his example, to work under
a dreadful fire; and, when there was hesitation shown, in consequence of
the severity of the fire, going into the open, and working with pick and
shovel, the showing the best possible example to the men. In the words
of one of them, ‘there was not another officer in the British Army who
would have done what Major [Frederick C.] Elton did that night.’^9
Enlisted personnel were also rewarded for combat engineering. Corporal
John Ross displayed:
Extremely creditable conduct on the 23rd of August 1855, in charge of the
advance from the Fifth Parallel Right Attack on the Redan, in placing and
filling 25 gabions under very heavy fire, whilst annoyed by the presence
of light balls.
Intrepid and devoted conduct in creeping to the Redan in the night
of the 8th September 1855, and reporting its evacuation; on which its
occupation by the English took place.^10
Like the defensive VCs, these functions can be vital to the success of a
campaign, but lack the glamor of saving the guns or carrying the enemy
breastworks. With the exception of just under 10 percent reported in the
1850s – the Crimean War involved a lot of trench digging under fire –
only about 5 percent of the pre-First World War Crosses were bestowed for
paving the way for others.
Humanitarian acts comprised the majority of the remaining nineteenth-
century Victoria Crosses. Private John J. Sims was one of the early winners
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