In a letter written by his Private Secretary, Lord Stamfordham, on 26 July 1920, it was stated: ‘The King feels so strongly that, no matter the crime committed by anyone on whom the VC has been conferred, the decoration should not be forfeited. However, King George V felt strongly that the decoration should never be forfeited. Private George Ravenhill's VC was forfeited after he was imprisoned for theft, having proved unable to pay a ten shilling fine. Private Frederick Corbett forfeited his VC after being found guilty at a court martial of being absent without leave, embezzlement, and theft from an officer. Between 18, eight cases of forfeiture took place, for a variety of criminal offences including theft and bigamy. Under the terms of the original Royal Warrant, there was a clause that allowed for a recipient's name to be erased from the official list of holders in certain circumstances. Roberts' case established the precedent that the VC recommendation could still be processed if a soldier subsequently died before publication in 'The London Gazette'.ĭuring the remainder of the Boer War, several more posthumous VCs were granted and in 1907 it was announced that the six posthumous instances between 18 would also be retrospectively awarded.ĭespite the fact that posthumous VCs continued to be granted during the First World War (1914-18), it was not until 1920 that specific provision for posthumous awards was finally made by Royal Warrant.
This was the first award that included after the recipient's name ‘since deceased’. He died 24 hours after being recommended for the VC. The son of Field Marshal Lord Roberts, Frederick was mortally wounded attempting to save the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, at Colenso on 15 December 1899. In 1900, during the Boer War (1899-1902), a posthumous VC was awarded to Lieutenant Frederick Roberts of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. This eligibility was further extended to all colonial and auxiliary troops in 1881. In 1867, in recognition of the services performed by local auxiliary units during the Maori uprisings in New Zealand (1863-66), eligibility for the VC was extended to local forces serving with Imperial troops. The latter two recipients were posthumously commissioned into the Royal Naval Reserve to make them eligible for the VC. Seven civilians have been awarded the VC: Thomas Kavanagh (1857) William Fraser McDonell (1857) Ross Lowis Mangles of the Bengal Civil Service (1857) George Bell Chicken, a civilian volunteer with the Indian Naval Brigade (1858) the Reverend James Adams of the Bengal Ecclesiastical Department (1879) and Captains Frederick Parslow and Archibald Smith of the Mercantile Marine (1915-17). Recognising the bravery of civilian volunteers during the Indian Mutiny (1857-59), an 1858 warrant extended the eligibility of the VC to ‘non-military persons’ serving with the forces. Since the inception of the VC, there have been 14 further Royal Warrants that have changed the original terms and conditions set out for awards. When the ribbon is worn alone, a miniature of the cross is pinned on it. Shortly before the Royal Air Force was formed in 1918, King George V approved the recommendation that the crimson ribbon should be adopted by all three services. Originally, the VC ribbon was dark blue for the Royal Navy and crimson for the Army. But it was changed on the recommendation of Queen Victoria, who thought that some might mistakenly assume that only the recipients of the VC were brave in battle. This was originally to have been ‘FOR BRAVERY’. The decoration takes the form of a cross pattée, 1.375 inches (35mm) wide, bearing a crown surmounted by a lion, with the inscription ‘FOR VALOUR’.
The prototype Victoria Cross was made by the London jewellers Hancocks & Co, who still make VCs for presentation today.Īccording to legend, the prototype, along with the first 111 crosses awarded, were cast from the bronze of guns captured from the Russians in the Crimea. There is, however, a possibility that the bronze cannon used was in fact Chinese, having been captured during the First China War (1839-42) and then stored at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.