64 AWARDED FOR VALOUR
to submit the names to her Majesty for this distinguished mark of her
Majesty’s favour for which they have been recommended in consideration
of the acts of gallantry described in the enclosures to your letter.^72
This prohibition would have remained in effect had Lord Panmure remained
in the War Office. In February 1858 the Palmerston Ministry fell and the
new government of Lord Derby pitched two new players into the India
question. Panmure was replaced as Secretary of State for War by Major
General Jonathan Peel, younger brother of Sir Robert Peel, and Edward Law,
First Earl Ellenborough, became the new President of the Board of Control.
Lord Ellenborough had long opposed the existing administration of British
India under John Company and advocated the transfer of the government
of India directly to the Crown.^73
The Kerr recommendation was again submitted on 23 March 1858 with
further endorsements, including that of Lord Ellenborough. These were
bundled up at the War Office and sent to Horse Guards for reconsideration:
I am directed by Secretary Major General Peel to transmit to you,
for the consideration of H.R.H. the General Commanding in Chief copies
of a further letter and of its enclosures from the President of the Board
of Control on the subject; & I am to request that, in laying these papers
before H.R.H. you will move H. R. H. to inform Major General Peel
whether H.R.H. sees any reason to alter the opinion which he has already
espoused with regard to this claim.^74
In addition to repeating the Kerr recommendation, Ellenborough sent a
second letter the next day, pressing the claims of a further ten individuals
previously denied out of hand as a result of Lord Panmure’s position on
Indian submissions. This was likewise forwarded for the consideration of
the Duke of Cambridge, with a strong hint as to what the Indian political
situation demanded:
I am directed by Secretary Major General Peel to transmit to you[a]
copy of a letter (with its enclosures in original) from the President of the
Board of Control, recommending for the distinction of Victoria Cross the
several officers, non commissioned officers, and soldiers whose names
are stated in the margin, who have distinguished themselves by acts of
bravery during the process of the present operations in IndiaMajor
General Peel proposes, in deference to the judgment of the Governor
General in Council, to waive on this occasion the rule laid down by Lord
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