The Victoria Cross.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12516, 26 March 1904, Page 3

The Victoria Cross.

Seiar-A'dmiral CD. Ifupafe, whose name has , been mentionec! in connection with the foitthcomitog 48th anniversary of the institnitian of the Vite-; toriaa Cross, enjoys the distinction of Jiaving been the first recipient of "that mueik-'eovetad honour. The act of don 4 Bpiaaomß bravery, on Jlune 21st, 1854, | ,by waitoih he scoured it, consfeteld in i tbxowftig overboard during the campaign in the Baltic, a live, shell, wMoh' j had fallen on board ihe Hecla. I The! V.C. had its origin fluxing the Cri- j mean war- It is said that .the . design for ihe first Cross was made by j no lees a person iihan the late Prince j Consort. It may not be gehfeifally, j klnown that at one time the award j was not confined to service in action j An instance oocfuited in 1866, < when a j private in the -Rifle Brigade was grant- j e^i^the 'Cuo'sa lor .heroic conduct • at y a fire, in Canada, while a London police- 1 man was among the first batch of recipients deborateid toy 1 ,, the late C^ueen in tffyfde Park in 1857. By a change .made in lihe warrant in 1885, however, ■^he Victoria Cross can now be earned dnly by senvice in tHe field. Anotherfact not known to all is that" when it Was firßt instituted ,fhe decoration was Adewed wilji anything but favour by many solldiers, who held it to be superfluous and uncalled for. "As well decpraie a woman for her virtue as a stoldier for beinp bravp," was one famoug offip^a blunt way of^mtiing it.