FIFTY YEARS ON: A HALF-CENTURY OF HEROISM 105
it would be tempting to link these disservices to ‘ring politics,’ it appears
that in this case it was entirely personal dislike between two officers. There
is no evidence other than this series of events to support the idea that the
Cross had become a pawn between factions within the Army.
Among the enlisted men the distribution was far more equitable. Privates
and their equivalent obviously formed the bulk of the other ranks, and it was
to them the majority of the enlisted VCs came. Overall privates accounted
for almost 55 percent of all enlisted awards and 29 percent of all pre-First
World War VCs.
Only nine of the Victorian-era winners held a local, provisional or brevet
rank at the time they won the award. There were four brevet majors, three
brevet lieutenant colonels, one local lieutenant colonel and one provisional
lance corporal. These nine Crosses represent 1.7 percent of the total pre-
1904 awards. This ratio changed dramatically during the First World War.
Only ten nineteenth-century VC winners were members of the nobility
at the time the award was won. This includes six with the designation
‘the honourable,’ two lords, one ‘sir,’ and one viscount. They represent
1.9 percent of the Victorian era winners. An additional 52 winners were
later knighted. Three VC winners rose to the rank of earl after winning the
Cross. In total 64 pre-1904 Cross winners were either connected with the
nobility at the time they won the VC or were subsequently ennobled. This
represents 12 percent of the total nineteenth-century VCs and indicates some
influence by an ‘old-boy’ system, but not as much as might be thought,
due to the high ratio of aristocratic officers in the forces. It must be pointed
out that the Victoria Cross was not given out as a party favor by the Crown.
Unlike the Order of the Bath, which had been conferred so frequently as to
greatly dilute the distinction of the award, the Cross remained an exclusive
fraternity. Proof of this can be seen in the coronation gala of Edward VII
in 1901; of all the notables listed with minor alphabets appended to their
names, only two bore the gothic initials ‘V.C.’ to indicate possession of the
award.^27
Clause XV of the warrant provided for the degradation of Cross winners
(and in the case of enlisted men, the suspension of the £10 annual pension)
in cases where the winner had been ‘convicted of Treason, Cowardice,
Felony or of any infamous Crime, or if he be accused of any such offence
and doth not after a reasonable time surrender himself to be tried for the
same.’^28 The Crown invoked this clause seven times during the reign of
Victoria and once in the reign of Edward VII.
Private William Stanlake nearly ran foul of Clause XV in 1857. A
sharpshooter, he volunteered to undertake a night reconnaissance of the
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