THE VICTORIA CROSS, ON ITS OWN WITHOUT THE CAMPAIGN MEDAL, AWARDED TO COLONEL WILLIAM WALLER, 25TH BOMBAY NATIVE INFANTRY, HAS BEEN SOLD AT AUCTION BY SPINK OF LONDON. |
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30 November 1999 |
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Medal entitlement of Colonel William Waller, 25th Bombay Native Infantry
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The Victoria Cross, on its own without the campaign medal, awarded to Colonel William Waller, 25th Bombay Native Infantry, has been sold at auction by Spink of London. The sale hammer price realised £23,000 and the VC was purchased by the Michael Ashcroft Trust the holding institution for the Lord Ashcroft VC Collection. The VC has gone on display in the Imperial War Museum's Lord Ashcroft Gallery.
For the award of the Victoria Cross [ London Gazette, 25 February 1862 ], Gwalior, Indian Mutiny, 20 June 1858, Lieutenant William Francis Frederick Waller, 25th Bombay Native Infantry.
For great gallantry at the capture by storm of the fortress of Gwalior, on the 20th June 1858. He and Lieutenant Rose, who was killed, were the only Europeans present, and, with a mere handful of men, they attacked the fortress, climbed on the roof of a house, shot the gunners opposed to them, carried all before them, and took the fort, killing every man in it.
William Waller was invested with his Victoria Cross by the GOC Bombay, Lieutenant General Sir William Mansfield, in 1862, in Bombay, India.
William Waller died in Bath on the 29th January 1885 and was buried in the city's Locksbrook Cemetery. |
Iain Stewart, 30 November 1999