The Victoria Cross (VC) is the
highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of
the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth
countries, and previous British Empire territories. But are they
really struck from Russian cannon captured during the Crimean War?
The VC was introduced on 29 January 1856
by Queen Victoria to honour acts of valour during the Crimean
War.
Since then, the medal has been awarded
1,356 times to 1,353 individual recipients. Only 13 medals, nine to members of
the British Army, and four to the Australian Army, have been awarded since the
Second World War.
The traditional explanation of the source
of the gunmetal from which the medals are struck is that it derives
from the bronze cascabels of two cannon that were
captured from the Russians at the siege of Sevastopol. The barrels of the
cannon in question are on display at Firepower - The Royal Artillery
Museum at Woolwich.
The remaining portion of the only remaining
cascabel, weighing 358 oz (10 kg), is stored in a vault maintained by 15
Regiment Royal Logistic Corps at Donnington, Telford. It is
estimated that approximately 80 to 85 more VCs could be cast from this source.
A single company of jewellers, Hancocks of London, has been
responsible for the production of every VC awarded since its inception.
However, recent research has suggested that
a varying times, other sources of metal have been used to make VCs.
The historian John Glanfield has claimed,
with the use of x-rays, that the metal used in many of the older Victoria
Crosses is in fact from antique Chinese guns and not of Russian origin. A
possible explanation for this is that the Russians used guns which they had
captured from the Chinese.
It was also thought that some medals made
during the First World War were composed of metal captured by the British from
different Chinese guns during the Boxer Rebellion.
It is also believed that another source of
metal was used between 1942 and 1945 to create five Second World War VCs when
the Sevastopol metal went missing.
Whatever its origin, the VC is still one of
the most prestigious medals in the world today, and takes precedence over all
other orders, decorations and medals. It may be awarded to a person of
any rank in any service and to civilians under military command.
The VC is usually presented to the
recipient or to their next of kin by the British monarch at an
investiture held at Buckingham Palace.
Due to its rarity, the VC is highly prized
and rare examples have reached up to £400,000 at auction.
A number of public and private collections
are devoted to the Victoria Cross. The private collection of Lord
Ashcroft, amassed since 1986, contains over one-tenth of all VCs awarded.
Following a 2008 donation to the Imperial War Museum, the Ashcroft
collection went on public display alongside the museum's Victoria and George
Cross collection in November 2010.
Since 1990, three Commonwealth countries
that retain the Queen as head of state have instituted their own versions
of the VC. As a result, the original Victoria Cross is sometimes referred to as
the "Commonwealth Victoria Cross" or the "Imperial Victoria
Cross", to distinguish it from the newer awards.
