THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF HEROISM IN BRITAIN 29
By mid-century the subjects of Queen Victoria were used to reading
accounts of the latest British achievements and comfortable with the percep-
tion that they lived in the most advanced and stable country in the world.
The Great Exhibition of 1851 reinforced this self-righteous self-perception,
as a showcase of British technological and social superiority enclosed in
crystal.^17 Britain saw itself as walking the via media between the political
extremes of the Continent, neither a military despotism nor a state ruled
by the passions of the mob.^18 It reaped the benefits of this middle path in
terms of material prosperity and political stability.^19 It was ready to accept
a national hero as another symbol of national greatness.
The general social climate of Britain was receptive to the idea of a national
standard of heroism, but it took a special set of political circumstances to
develop it. A combination of political uncertainty, royal anxiety, and public
outrage came together to create the Victoria Cross. At the heart of these was
the controversy concerning the Army’s performance in the Crimean War.
Among other issues, the controversy highlighted the ill-defined relationship
between the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies and the Commander-
in-Chief.
The Army’s performance in the Crimea suddenly threw the deficiencies of
its administration into high contrast, for the force dispatched to the Crimea
brought something new with it as it made its landing on that peninsula: a
professional war correspondent. The high command had never dealt with
such a creature before and did not think to censor the dispatches William
Howard Russell dashed off toThe Timesin London.^20 While some readers
dismissed his stark reports from the front as defeatist or sensationalist, most
reacted with first horror, and then outrage. As true privations set in during
the winter of 1854–55 letters voicing the anger of readers appeared in the
pages ofThe Times:
the time has arrived when the abuses which are the bane of our military
system must cease. The blood so wantonly wasted by mal-administration
cries aloud, and calls for protection to the survivors. The means of reform
are patent to every eye, excepting when viewed through the distorted
medium of official spectacles, and yet, simple and honest as the question
is, the remedy for the evil will never be applied, unless the public insists
that the public work be wrought by the best men.^21
The controversy came to center on two individuals, the Duke of Newcastle,
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the Aberdeen Government,
and the out-of-office Earl Grey. Grey, as Viscount Howick, had pushed for
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