Victoria Cross

Description: Cross pattée with the Royal crown in the centre upon which stands a proud lion while the legend 'FOR VOLOUR' hangs on a scroll below. The reverse is somewhat plain with a circular panel containg the date for the action for which the award is granted. The cross is suspended by a metal loop which passes through a 'V' on the bottom of suspender bar. The suspender bar itself is decorated with laurel wreaths on the obverse but plain on the reverse except for the name of the recipient.

Ribbon:		Royal Navy 1856 - 1918

		Army 1856 - Present

	With the formation of the Royal Air Force on 1st April 1918 the crimson ribbon used by the Army was adopted by all three services. Naval recipients with the dark blue ribbon were allowed to exchange them for crimson ribbons.

Naming: The name of the recipient is engraved on the reverse of the suspender bar while the circular centre on the reverse of the cross has the date of the action for which the cross is awarded.

Comments: The Victoria Cross is Great Britian's highest award that can be bestowed on an individual and thus takes precedent over all other awards. However it should be noted that this has not always been the case and until 1881 there were no set regulations as to where the VC ought to be worn with many recipients wearing it after the corresponding campaign medal. By 1881 regulations stated it should be worn directly after the Royal Victorian Order but in 1902 King Edward VII made it the highest of all awards and it remains so to this day.

Posthumous awards of the VC were not made until 1902 when the decision was made to give the cross to the next of kin of those killed during the Boer War for acts of extreme gallantry. By 1907 this was made retrospective and the next of kin of all those who were killed in action, but would have been awarded the VC had they survived, received the award.

The coss is made by the well known jewellers Messrs. Hancocks & Co. who do not make any other awards. It has been long believed that the metal used to make the cross comes from Russian guns captured during the Crimean War. However recent research has shown that metal from captured guns of other conflicts such as the China wars have also been used.

Unlike other medals the VC is cast and not struck. This means that each VC is of a slightly different colour and size to every other due to the way the metal cools and contracts despite being made from the same cast. This itself could make spotting fakes more difficult but since the whereabouts of the vast majority of VC's are known it doesn't present much of a problem.

A total of 1355 awards of the VC have been made since 1856 including 833 to the Army, 107 to the Royal Navy, 31 to the RAF, 10 to the Royal Marines and 4 to civilians. In addition to this second award bars have been granted a total of 3 times. The remainder were awarded to non-British personnel (i.e. Commonwealth).

A notable and interesting recipient of the Victoria Cross is Lieutenant John Rouse Merriott Chard who won his VC at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu War in 1879. During the battle Chard commanded a small British garrison of just over 100 men who fought off repeated attacks from over 4000 Zulu warriors. Some 11 VCs were awarded for the battle which remains one of the highest numbers of VCs awarded for a single action. Chard became a firm favourite of Queen Victoria who was said to be extremely fond of him but he sadly died of cancer of the tongue on 1st November 1897 aged only 49.

After his death the whereabouts of his VC became unknown and a number of rumours developed. One such rumour, according to the Telegraph newspaper, was that the actor Stanley Baker who played Chard in the film Zulu obtained what he thought to be a cast copy of Chard’s VC but it actually turned out to be Chard’s real VC. After the death of Baker the VC again disappeared and was thought to have ended up in the hands of a private collector in Canada who had many VCs within his collection which he kept a secret. However this collection has now been sold off and Chard’s VC is now believed to be owned by Lord Ashcroft who is said to have the world’s largest private collection of VCs numbering 142 having cost Ashcroft over £14 million to assemble. Pressure is now on Lord Ashcroft to put his private collection on view after he has angered many military museums, including the RAF Museum, who he has outbid to buy many VCs at auction. The museums argue that the VCs are part of Britain’s national heritage and should therefore be on display for the public to see. However Chard’s original VC and South Africa Medal were recently put on display at the museum in Brecon for a short period of time along with many of the other Rorke’s Drift VCs. Visitors can still visit the museum but the VCs are now locked safely away with replicas taking their place on display

With the 150th Anniversary of the VC it is believed that the Lord may bend to pressure by placing his collection on display once suitable premises have been found to house them. Despite this criticism Lord Ashcroft has at least saved many VCs from being taken out of the UK by foreign collectors and if John Chard’s VC ever came up for auction it may very well break the current sale record of £405,000 for a VC?