Awarded for Valour_ A History of the Victoria Cross and the Evolution of the British Concept of Heroism

14 AWARDED FOR VALOUR
‘That I had lost my left arm, mother. Well, that is nothing to fret about
when thousands have been killed. One can do very well without a left
arm; and I think, on the whole, that I have been wonderfully lucky.’^39
What is more, injury should never interfere with completing the task at
hand. InJack Archerthe hero and a companion, having lowered themselves
down a cliff in the face of a storm to save shipwrecked comrades below,
faced a minor annoyance:
‘I’ve broken my arm, Dick,’ Jack said; ‘but never mind me now. How
many are there alive?’
The hero and his companion went on to rescue 16 doomed souls before
themselves returning to safety:
The Midshipmen were the last to leave the ship. Dick had in vain
begged his companion to go up with one of the preceding batches, as the
last pair would necessarily be deprived of the assistance from the lower
rope, which had so materially aided the rest. Jack, however, refused to
hear of it.^40
Henty required his characters to be true to form to the very end:
‘Fortescue, are you hit?’
‘I am done for!’ the young officer replied faintly; ‘one of their bullets
has gone through my body; but never mind me now.’ As he spoke he
tottered, and would have fallen had not the others supported him and
gently laid him down on a heap of skins which served as an Afghan bed.^41
It was important to the Victorian writers to die well, and self-sacrifice
was the epitome of heroism. Henry Newbolt recounted heroism displayed
during the American Civil War and compared it favorably with British heroes
of the past:
Into the narrowing channel, between the shore
And the sunk torpedoes lying in treacherous rank;
She turned but a yard too short; a muffled roar,
A mountainous wave, and she rolled, righted, and sank.
Over the manhole, up in the ironclad tower,
Pilot and Captain met as they turned to fly;