84 AWARDED FOR VALOUR
was the message that provisional conferral of the VC was a thing of
the past.
Originally the bestowal of Crosses by the commander on the spot reflected
the nature of communications available at the time. The far-flung posts of
empire were often weeks, if not months, from contact with the authorities
in London. It was therefore thought proper to award the medal in a timely
fashion for two reasons. Praise deferred might seem begrudging a hero of
his laurels, and thus the award should be given while the deed was still
fresh in the minds of the hero’s comrades. In addition, a seriously wounded
candidate could (and on occasion did) die before the recommendation could
be confirmed and the medal awarded.^41 In the initial years of the Cross
it was widely assumed that bestowal in the field would become the rule
rather than the exception.^42 The experiences of the Mutiny injected a note
of caution into the provisional question, but there were still instances in
which the clause was cited to justify an award questioned in London.
The Korn Spruit incident, however, put an end to provisional bestowal.
While the warrant retained the clause permitting it, no other commander
had the temerity to chance granting a Cross in the field after Roberts’s
experience. When the warrant was redrawn in the wake of the First World
War the provisional bestowal clause was quietly omitted, and thereafter
only recommendations coming through proper channels were eligible for
the award.^43
Korn Spruit created a further controversy. Late in 1901 Colonel Edward
Owen Hay, Assistant Adjutant General for the Royal Horse Artillery, made
an astounding request. He argued that as the VCs granted to ‘Q’ battery for
its action at Sanna’s Post had been elected by the battery, it was in effect
an award to the battery bestowed on individuals. Therefore, the battery
itself, an immortal corporate entity, collectively had won the VC and should
be allowed to let all of its current and future members wear some form
of permanent badge on their uniform to represent this accomplishment.
Whether intentional or not, it is interesting that Hay never referred to the
action as Korn Spruit, but only as Sanna’s Post.^44
After reviewing all of the cases in which a unit had elected winners
under Clause XIII, dating all the way back to the Mutiny, the Adjutant
General’s Office determined that there was no precedent for a unit citation
interpretation of the regulations. ‘The V.C. if possible should be a purely
personal distinction. I think it would not be anything but misleading to
allow staff segts to wear V.C. as a badge.’^45
Why had Roberts suffered such a severe lapse of judgement concerning
the Cross as to provoke such intense criticism from the War Office and
lily
(lily)
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