TEETHING PROBLEMS, 1856–1867 47
at this point. The volume of the recommendations apparently surprised the
Duke of Cambridge as the first replies to the circular arrived in London.
Accordingly, he sought guidance on the matter from the War Office. In
reply he was informed:
his Lordship does not think that this Department is in a position to assign
any limit at present to the number of recipients of the decoration of the
Victoria Cross.
Lord Panmure is further of opinion that it would be better that H.R.H. in
giving the warrant instituting the decoration in question direct respective
effect as regards the late war, should be very strict in requiring the rigid
compliance with its directions.
His Lordship considers that there should be a personal act of valour
in each case so signal as to make evident the propriety of awarding the
decoration.^12
Rather than set a specific number per year or devise a formula to award
Crosses on some ratio system, the limiting factor was the valour itself. There
was also no definition of heroism, only the admonition that the act be
self-evidently worthy of recognition.
Also during this interim period London firmly established that the VC
was for persons serving in the British military only. Thus, when a Colonel
O’Connor of the 1st West Indian Regiment wrote the War Office recom-
mending a French Captain of Marines, Ducrest de Villeneuve, for valour in
the fighting against Muslim rebels in Combo in July and August of 1855, his
request was denied. It may very well be that the War Office did not want the
Cross to become a diplomatic award granted to make allied officers happy.^13
The regimental returns to the War Office circular varied widely. Some
units did not recommend anyone, officer or enlisted, for the award. Other
regiments returned modest numbers of nominees, in some cases artificially
limiting the returns to officers only. Still other regiments sent in impressive
lists of heroes, some of which were obviously manufactured. The character
of the regiment in question or of the recommending officer often shone
through the recommendations that arrived at Horse Guards.
The units that reported no recommendations either sent back blank
submission forms or curt letters noting the receipt of the circular and that
the regiment would not be submitting any heroes. Some of these nil returns
can be explained by the resistance felt by some of the older officers to the
establishment of a gallantry award. There was an undercurrent of almost
puritanical conservatism among the old guard of the officer corps who were
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