“Throughout the Indian Mutiny of 1857-1858, a total of 182 Victoria Crosses were awarded; more than one third of those were awarded for actions in in the city of Lucknow. It is a place with which anyone who studies the history of military bravery should be intimately familiar. One of the most remarkable actions during that part of the conflict was the relief of Lucknow on November 16th, 1857. Many modern accounts of the actions which took place on that day state that 24 Victoria Crosses were awarded on a single day. Whilst the actions which occurred on that day are indeed remarkable, full of bravery of the highest order, the number of Victoria Crosses awarded is actually somewhat less, at only 17.
There were, however, a group of Victoria Crosses awarded for bravery during the entire period of the relief, November 14th until November 22nd, which may be included. This makes the Relief of Lucknow the single most awarded action in British military history. The defence of Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu Wars in January 1879 ranks second with eleven Victoria Crosses awarded for actions undertaken there although that is equal to the number of Victoria Crosses awarded for events at Lucknow on September 25th, 1857, during the first relief of the city. The number of Victoria Crosses awarded for actions at Lucknow during 1857 is enormous, however, with a total of 66 of the medals received during the Indian Mutiny, awarded for actions performed there.”
This episode was written by Murray Dahm,
Murray is an ancient and medieval military historian from New Zealand, living in Australia. He has written more than 100 articles on various aspects of ancient and medieval military history, as well as other historical topics from all periods (ranging from the history of opera to the runic alphabet and recipients of the Victoria Cross). He is the author of Macedonian Phalangite vs Persian Warrior, Athenian Hoplite vs Spartan Hoplite and Leuctra 371 BC all from Osprey publishing. He is a regular on the Ancient Warfare Podcast.
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