THE IMPERIAL VISION OF HEROISM 79
Beech rescued an Egyptian officer under attack by a trio of Dervishes. He
killed one outright but got manhandled by the other two until he managed
to stab the one strangling him from behind; the third Dervish retreated and
Beech helped the Egyptian, Millrezim Awal Ali eff Kamil, back to safety.^21
The Duke of Cambridge was very impressed by Beech’s actions and threw
his full weight behind the recommendation, as did Military Secretary Sir
George Harman. His actions fit in nicely with the Victorian idea that it
was always good to show courage in front of the ‘lesser breeds without
the law.’^22 The recommendation was forwarded to the Permanent Under-
Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, who promptly washed his hands of
the matter by bouncing the packet to the War Office and the consideration
of Secretary for War Edward Stanhope.
The War Office gave the matter serious contemplation, holding the
packet for almost a month before rejecting it. Stanhope himself penned
the reply:
After much consideration with my colleagues I have reluctantly come to
the conclusion that this cannot be granted. I am very sorry to have to
refuse it after the warm terms in which it is recommended by H.R.H. but
I cannot distinguish it from the other decorations sufficiently to say that
it might be given to a service performed with the Egyptian Army in an
operation in which British Troops were not engaged.^23
The task of informing Beech of the bad news was delegated to the Military
Secretary, who attributed the denial to simple bad luck.^24
The initial announcement of the Victoria Cross had generated a torrent
of recommendations both from the Crimea and the Mutiny with just under
300 Crosses awarded in the 1850s. That torrent dropped to a trickle in the
1860s, with only 39 awards gazetted in that decade. A slight rise in the
number conferred, 47, occurred in the 1870s, due to the scale of the Zulu
and Afghan Wars. This statistical aberration raised some concerns at Horse
Guards that the award might be in danger of losing its distinction if too
many were granted.
The incident that provoked the reaction was the number of recommend-
ations generated by the famous defense of Rorke’s Drift, 22–23 January
- Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, 24th Regiment of Foot, made the
initial recommendations for Private John Williams, Private Henry Hook,
Private William Jones, Private Robert Jones, Corporal William Allan, and
Private Fred Hitch to his regimental commanding officer. Lieutenants Brom-
head and John Rouse Merriott Chard, RE, were recommended by their