This, the most honourable and coveted Order that can distinguish a British soldier, was instituted by Her Majesty the Queen by Royal Warrant, dated January 29, 1856, for the purpose of rewarding Officers and men of the naval and military services, who, while serving their Sovereign in the presence of the enemy, perform “some signal act of valour or devotion to their country.” The decoration, conferred upon those whose deeds of bravery, during naval operations or on the field, entitle them to belong to this highly prized Order, is called the Victoria Cross, and consists of a Maltese Cross of bronze, bearing the motto “For Valour,” which is suspended—on the wearer’s breast to the right of every other medal,—by a blue riband in the Navy, and by a red riband in the Army. The Order is open to every soldier and sailor, entirely irrespective of rank, of long service, or of wounds received in battle; it is bestowed only where “the merit of conspicuous bravery shall be held to establish a sufficient claim to the honour.” Should a man obtain the Victoria Cross, and again be adjudged worthy of the same distinction, a bar is added (like a clasp) to the riband, and so on for every other act of bravery. Warrant and Petty officers and seamen of the Navy, and Non-commissioned officers and men of the Army receive an annuity of £10 for the Victoria Cross, and £5 additional a year for every bar they may obtain.^[489]

No. 1. Brevet-Major Gerald Littlehales Goodlake.

For distinguished gallantry whilst in command of the sharpshooters furnished by the Coldstream Guards on October 26, 1854, on the occasion of the “powerful sortie on the Second Division,” when he held the Windmill [Careenage] Ravine below the Piquet-house, against a much larger force of the enemy. The party of sharpshooters then under his command killed thirty-eight (one an Officer), and took three prisoners of the enemy (of the latter, one an Officer), Major Goodlake being the sole Officer in command. Also for distinguished gallantry on the occasion of the surprise of a piquet of the enemy, in November, 1854, at the bottom of the Windmill Ravine, by the sharpshooters, under his sole leading and command, when the knapsacks and rifles of the enemy’s party fell into his hands.

For having volunteered, when employed as one of the sharpshooters in October, 1854, for reconnoitering purposes, to crawl up within six yards of a Russian sentry, and so enabled the Officer in command to effect a surprise; Private Stanlock having been warned beforehand of the imminent risk which he would run in the adventure.

For having, when on duty in the trenches, in the month of September, 1855, removed a live shell from the place where it had fallen.

In the attack by the Russians against the position held by the Second Division, October 26, 1854, Major Conolly, then a Lieutenant in the 49th Regiment, while in command of a company of that regiment, on outlying piquet, made himself conspicuous by the gallantry of his behaviour. He came particularly under the observation of the late Field-Marshal Lord Raglan, while in personal encounter with several Russians, in defence of his post. He ultimately fell, dangerously wounded. Lieutenant Conolly was highly praised in General Orders, and promoted into the Coldstream Guards as a reward for his exemplary behaviour on this occasion.

Note.—Captain Hon. R. Campbell would have been fifth on this list, had he survived his act of bravery. The following gives the circumstances under which Lieut. Lysons and Private Fowler (90th Regiment), who gallantly followed Captain Campbell, obtained the Victoria Cross: “On the 28th March, 1879, during the assault of the Inhlobane Mountain, Sir Evelyn Wood ordered the dislodgement of certain Zulus (who were causing the troops much loss) from strong natural caves commanding the position in which some of the wounded were lying. Some delay occurring in the execution of the orders issued, Captain Hon. Ronald Campbell, Coldstream Guards, followed by Lieut. Lysons, A.D.C., and Private Fowler, ran forward in the most determined manner, and advanced over a mass of fallen boulders, and between walls of rock, which led to a cave in which the enemy lay hidden. It being impossible for two men to walk abreast, the assailants were consequently obliged to keep in single file, and, as Captain Campbell was leading, he arrived first at the mouth of the cave, from which the Zulus were firing, and there met his death. Lieut. Lysons and Private Fowler, who were following close behind him, immediately dashed at the cave, from which led several subterranean passages, and firing into the chasm below, succeeded in forcing the occupants to forsake their stronghold. Lieut. Lysons remained at the cave’s mouth for some minutes after the attack, during which time Captain Campbell’s body was carried down the slopes.”^[490]