The Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military honor, is established
On this day · 29 January 1856
Queen Victoria signed a warrant creating an award for valor that ignored rank entirely, open to any soldier or sailor.
On 29 January 1856, Queen Victoria signed a royal warrant instituting the Victoria Cross, a decoration for “conspicuous bravery” in the face of the enemy. The order was gazetted on 5 February and backdated to honor acts of valor during the Crimean War of 1854 to 1856.
What made the new medal radical was its reach. Earlier honors largely rewarded officers and the well-born; the Victoria Cross could go to any rank of the Army or Navy, judged purely on courage. It remains Britain’s highest military decoration.
A plain bronze cross, deliberately worth more for what it meant than what it cost.
According to long-standing tradition, the crosses were cast from bronze taken from cannon captured in the Crimea, giving the simple, austere medal a battlefield origin. The first investiture came in 1857, when Victoria pinned crosses on 62 recipients in London’s Hyde Park. Since then the award has been granted sparingly, reserved for the rarest acts of valor.
Sources & references
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