78 AWARDED FOR VALOUR
the extension of the VC or the creation of an analogous award for colonial
troops.
The Duke of Cambridge endorsed the extension of the VC to colonial
troops but was wary of the idea, as it would mean possibly extending the
award to militia and volunteer units, measures to which he was decidedly
opposed. Pennington also pointed out that there was a definite danger of
losing control of the award if colonial governors were allowed to make
recommendations. Civilian authorities might not be able to distinguish
between simple duty and outright valour. It is interesting to note that
Pennington concluded that there were no set guidelines for valour, no
official rules to determine if an act was truly heroic.^18
Pennington’s position reveals a basic belief among the military that civil-
ians did not possess the necessary discrimination to determine the valour
of an act. Horse Guards had developed its own esoteric criteria for the
evaluation of an act, an arcana that the civilian mind could not fathom, and
that, as Pennington himself had to confess, defied definition. This unwritten
code became a standard feature in the debates surrounding the development
of the VC as an institution. Though the officer corps was unable precisely to
define the true nature of heroism, they were resolutely opposed to civilians
defining it for them.
Horse Guards thus took the lead in formulating the final draft of the
amended warrant, imposing some strict conditions on extending the award
to colonial formations. There was no provision for election, nor for self-
recommendation. It was undertaken with a firm delineation of proper chan-
nels. All recommendations had to be submitted through the Theatre Officer
Commanding to Horse Guards, not through the Colonial Office, not through
the War Office.^19
The warrant dated 1 January 1867 not only approved the extension of the
award to colonial irregulars, but also added the suppression of rebellion as a
legitimate class of operations eligible for VC awards. Unlike the Walsh case,
Heaphy got his Cross even though he was not covered by the warrant at the
time of his act, perhaps the greatest indicator of the influence commanded
by the Colonial Office.
Thereafter there were numerous decorations granted to personnel of colo-
nial or irregular forces attached to the British Army with little controversy.
What did cause a stir was the question as to whether or not a British officer
could receive a VC for gallantry performed under the flag of an allied nation.
Captain John Robert Beech, formerly of the 20th Hussars but ‘at the time
lent for service to H.H. the Khedive,’ was recommended for the VC by the
Sirdar of the Egyptian Army. On 19 February 1891 at Tokar, Bimbushi^20
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