THE VICTORIA CROSS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 3 September 1915, Page 6

THE VICTORIA CROSS.

MADE FROM CAPTURE!) CANNON

This coveted decoration was first sug- T gested by the Prince Consort, - and Queen Victoria being desirous of tak- i ing into hex' royal consideration a * means of adequately rewarding the individual gallant services, either of officers of the lower grades in the naval and military service, or of warrant and j petty ovficers, seamen and marines, or- ' dained by lluyal \V arrant on June 29, 1856, that "the cross shall only be awarded to these officers or men who have served us in the presence of the enemy, and shall have performed some signal act of valor or devotion to their country." With the cross an annuity of £10 is awarded to warrant officers, seamen and marines, non-com-, missioned officers and privates, and for"' each additional bar £5 per annum is added to the annuity. In July, 1898, owing to the iirifortunate condition to which a recipient .had been reduced, and so induced to sell his cross, it was decided that the Home Secretary might, in his discretion, increase the annuity to £50. On April 23, 1881, the warrant w^as revised to enable officers of any grade to receive the medal, and on August 8,1902, King Edward sr.rvciioned the posthumous award of ,the cross, and' of its issue to relatives1, of deceased men who had earned it; prior to this the brave Wlpws' names hftd been gazetted only. The new regulation was retrospective, so that the surviving representatives of men who had earned the cross as long ago as the Indian Mutiny received the bronze token of their relatives' [ valor. The cross carries with it the ' right to append V.C. after the re- ! cipient's name. The- cross is made from captured ! cannon, and is not, as generally • and wrongly described, a Maltese cross, but a cross pate. It bears in the centre of the obverse the royal crest of a lion passant giirdant upon the BritisTi | Crown, with a ribbon inscribed "For j Valor'; in a semi-circle beneath it, the I ends tucked under the raised edge. The cross has a pierced semi-circle lug, through which a simple link is run to attach the cross to the laureated suspender by a V. The obverse has raised edges like the front, but the centre is circular. The name, rank, regiment, or ship to which the recipient was attached, is engraved upon the back of the suspender, and the decoration inside the circle on the back of the cross. The cross is suspended by a dark-eyed ribbon, l£in wide, by j military recipients, and by a dark-blue ribbon^ by naval recipients. .• . The only Victoria Cross awarded for gallant i services not in "the presence of the enemy" was given to Private Timothy O'Hea for extinguishing a fire in an ammunition van during the Fenian raid in Canada, 1866 It sold in August, 1900, for £50—From • WaiMedals and Their History. by W. Stewart.