This Day In History

  • 1707 War of the Spanish Succession. After two months of siege, to avoid further pointless bloodshed,  the garrison of the fortress of Lerida (now Lleida) in Spain beats the chamade as the French are about to make their final assault. 600 emaciated survivors of the original garrison of 1800, who had been reduced to living on oatmeal, rice and water, march out under arms and with the full honours of war. They are followed by a similar number of sick and wounded in carts supplied by the victors. Amongst them are several much-reduced companies of Wills' Marines (later 30th Foot, and then 1st East Lancashires), led by the by-then Major General Wills. All are complimented by the enemy commander, the Duc d'Orleans, on their gallant defence
  • 1857 Indian Mutiny. Relief of Lucknow. 82nd Regiment (later 2nd South Lancashires) engage in desperate fighting in the advance to the Martiniere College. The silver-chased "Rajah's Bed Post" staff which is now one of the Museum's most treasured exhibits was captured on this day.
  • 1945 Battleship HMS Nelson reaches Portsmouth carrying 2nd Loyals colours, colour belts and some mess plate. They had been found 2 months earlier in bank vaults in Singapore, where they had remained undiscovered by the Japanese since the capitulation in 1942. They are carried to Preston, where one month later they are ceremonially paraded through the town
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For Valour – The Victoria Cross

 

 

The Victoria Cross.

The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest award which the nation can bestow. It is awarded for “most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy,” and takes precedence over all other orders, decorations and medals.

The Victoria Cross was instituted by Royal Warrant on 29 January 1856, made retrospective to the autumn of 1854 to cover the Crimean War. Since then, the medal has been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individual recipients.

A total of 19 were serving with antecedent regiments of The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment when they won their award. It is a measure of the ultimate, self-denying, sacrificial  bravery required that over a quarter of them (five, plus a sixth who later succumbed to his wounds), did not survive the action for which they were awarded their Cross.

The Museum owns and cares for five Victoria Cross medals, of which four  (marked below with * ) are on display. In accordance with his wish that it should always be displayed in East Lancashire, the medal of Captain Marcus Ervine-Andrews is on loan to the Blackburn Museum.

This specially-commissioned composition shows 17 of the Regiment’s 19 Victoria Cross winners symbollically posed on the parade square of the Regiment’s traditional home at Fulwood Barracks, Preston. The painting hangs in the Museum. From left to right: Captain Marcus Ervine-Andrews 1940, 2nd Lieutenant Basil Horsfall 1918, Private William Ratcliffe 1917, Private William Young 1915, Private John McDermond 1854, Lieutenant Richard Jones 1916, Drummer Spencer John Bent 1914, Captain Euston Sartorious 1879, Colour Serjeant John Lucas 1861, 2nd Lieutenant Alfred Smith 1915, Private Henry Kenny 1915, Captain Mark Walker 1854, Lieutenant Thomas Wilkinson 1916, Private John Davies 1918, Private John Readitt 1917, 2nd Lieutenant Gabriel Coury 1916, Lieutenant Willward Sandys-Clarke 1943.

 

Name

Regiment

Place

Date
Pte John McDERMOND 47th Foot Inkerman,   Crimea 5 Nov   1854
Lt & Adjt Mark WALKER 30th Foot Inkerman, Crimea 5 Nov 1854
Colour Sjt John LUCAS * 40th Foot Huirangi Bush,   New Zealand 18 Mar 1861
Capt Euston Henry SARTORIOUS 59th Foot Shahjui 24 0ct 1879
Dmr Spencer John BENT 1 E Lan R Le Gheer,   Belgium 1/2 Nov 1914
Pte Henry KENNY 1 Loyals Nr Loos, France 25 Sep 1915
Pte William YOUNG* 8 E Lan R Nr Fonque – Villers, France 22 Dec 1915
2Lt Alfred Victor SMITH 1/5 E Lan R Helles,   Gallipoli 23 Dec 1915
Rev William Robert Fountaine ADDISON R A Ch   D (att 6 Loyals) Sannaiyat,   Mesopotamia 9 Apr 1916
Lt   Richard Basil JONES 8 Loyals Vimy Ridge,   France 21 May 1916
Lt   Thomas Orde Lawder WILKINSON 7 Loyals La Boisselle,   Somme, France 5 Jul 1916
2Lt Gabriel COURY * 3 S Lan   R(att1/4thBn) Nr Arrow Head   Copse, France 8 Aug 1916
Pte John READITT 6 S Lan R Shumran Bend,   Mesopotamia 25 Feb1917
Capt Oswald Austin REID 4 Kings   (att 6 Loyals) Diyala Crossing, Mesopotamia 9 Mar 1917
Pte William RATCLIFFE MM 2 S Lan R Messines,   Belgium 14 Jun 1917
Cpl John Thomas DAVIES 11 S Lan R Nr Eppeville,   France 24 Mar 1918
2Lt Basil Arthur HORSFALL * 3 E Lan   R (att 11th Bn) Ervillers,   France 27 Mar   1918
Capt Harold Marcus ERVINE-ANDREWS 1 E Lan R Dunkirk, France 31 May –1 Jun   1940
Lt Willward A SANDYS- CLARKE 1 Loyals Gueriat-el-Atach   Tunisia 23 Apr1943

 

 

 

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