Awarded for Valour
A History of the Victoria Cross and the Evolution of British Heroism
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Melvin Charles Smith
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Book
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Introduction: The Forgotten Hero
Just under two years after the end of the First World War former Colour Sergeant Harry Hampton wrote to the private secretary of King George V, requesting an increase in the pension attached to the Victoria Cr...
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‘Courage isn’t what it used to be’: Heroism Emerges from the Great War, 1917–1918
The British Army survived the dubious victories of the Somme campaign. The Asquith Coalition did not. From its ashes rose the new coalition of David Lloyd George, with the lean and streamlined War Cabinet of f...
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The Institutionalization of Heroism in Britain
A rather obvious question in dealing with the creation of a new thing is ‘why?’ In the case of the Victoria Cross the obvious answer is that it was created in recognition of the sacrifices made by the soldiers...
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The Hero Comes Home from the War: The Institutionalization of Modern Heroism
The Great War was a watershed for society, politics, and the military, and in many ways set the pattern for the rest of the twentieth century. And the modern concept of heroism in its institutional form was cr...
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Big Implications from Small Wars: The Imperial Vision of Heroism, 1860–1911
Large-scale operations of the Crimean and Indian variety were not the normal employment of the British military in the nineteenth century. The Army, and to a lesser extent, the Royal Navy were employed more of...
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1914: The Last Stand of the Thin Red Line
The ideals of Victorian heroism had been refined facing crazed Ghazis, fanatical Dervishes, and most recently obstinate Boers. Only the last had come close to technological parity, and even they could not hope...
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‘I’ve broken my arm, Dick, but never mind me now’: The Hero in Victorian Popular Mythology
These lines from H.M.S. Pinafore, first performed in 1878, capture the exuberant essence of Victorian heroism: self-righteous, self-confident, and, thrusting a manly, square jaw forward, it offered a sound thrash...
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Teething Problems, 1856–1867
The Royal Warrant of 29 January 1856 created the award, but it was up to the War Office and Horse Guards to decide exactly how to implement the medal and select the individuals to be recommended to the Crown f...
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Conclusion: The New Hero in Action, 1940–2006
The Great War killed the Victorian ideal of heroism along with the Victorian Army. Four years of total war created a heroic concept that was lean and merciless. The nature of warfare had changed, and continued...
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Fifty Years On: A Half-Century of Heroism
The last pre-First World War Victoria Cross was granted in 1904. Thus it is a convenient point, 50 years after the first decoration was won, to examine the statistical trends that evolved in that half-century....
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The Middle Parts of Fortune: Heroism in Evolution, 1915–1916
The campaign of 1914 was a brutal awakening for the BEF. Virtually every pre-war assumption held by even the most dour military savant proved wrong. The manpower needs, material expenditures, and the number of...
