THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MODERN HEROISM 171
When the ‘Committee on Co-Ordination etc. of Warrants Relating to the
V.C.’ convened its first meeting, Lieutenant-Colonel the Right Honorable Sir
Frederick Ponsonby served as chairman. The other members understood that
Ponsonby, as Keeper of the Privy Purse and an intimate of George V, repres-
ented His Majesty and spoke for the King.^21 The Army tapped Deputy Military
Secretary Colonel Graham as its representative; Admiral Everett, as Naval
Secretary, spoke for the Admiralty. Colonel Robert Henry More and Colonel
S. D. Gordon represented the Air Ministry and the India Office, respectively.
The Colonial Office had two officials present, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander
Elder Beatie and the Assistant Under-Secretary of State, Henry Charles Miller
Lambert. Although Robert U. Morgan of the War Office served as Secretary,
the actual minutes of the meeting were taken in shorthand by a civilian
clerk from the firm of W. B. Gurney and Sons. None of the representatives
held a Victoria Cross, and of the military officers, only Lieutenant-Colonel
Beatie had a gallantry award (the Military Cross) listed among the honors
recorded in the roll of representatives.^22
That the debate over the controversial aspects of the day’s work had
become heated since Davies’s original letter was reflected in Ponsonby’s
opening remarks: ‘We have got a lot of very simple work in front of us,
and a certain amount of rather intricate work. I do not think, however,
there is anything that requires any acrimonious discussion.’^23 His hope was
apparently to begin with one of the innocuous housekeeping tasks, that of
how to word the warrant to bring in the RAF. Should there be separate
paragraphs for each service, or could they all be included in one blanket
qualifying clause? He turned to Colonel Graham for the Army’s thoughts on
the matter. He discovered that the Army was thinking about women.
Graham quickly turned the discussion of how to include the RAF into a
discourse on the possibility of a woman being in a position to win the VC:
The only objection I see to that [writing a separate clause for each branch]
is that we rather have an advantage in redrafting the warrant by ignoring
the status of the individual, and laying down what the decoration can
be won for. If we were to determine the specific qualifications under
each Service of the State it would be rather complicated. I therefore rather
favour the idea that we should say what action can get the V.C. in the
Navy, Army and Air Force, and then the question arises, can women and
civilians get it? If the answer is Yes, then we can say ‘The following shall
be the qualifications for which the award can be given.’ Then if you take
the Navy you have got the side issue of the Mercantile Marine, and if you
go to the Army you have the side issue of the nursing services, Queen
lily
(lily)
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