John Perie VC (1831 – 17 September 1874) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

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forces.

Details

Memorial to Sapper John Perie VC, Aberdeen

Perie was born in

Gartly Gartly ( sco, Gairtlie, gd, Gartaidh) is an inland hamlet in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is several miles south of the town of Huntly, and sits on the River Bogie, a tributary of the River Deveron. The parish in which it is located also takes ...

, north-west of

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on 7 April 1821. Perie was approximately 25 years old, and a

sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing fie ...

in the

Royal Sappers and Miners The British Army during the Victorian era served through a period of great technological and social change. Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, and died in 1901. Her long reign was marked by the steady expansion and consolidation of the Br ...

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 18 June 1855 during the Siege of Sevastopol, Sapper Perie showed conspicuous gallantry, with a lieutenant (

Gerald Graham Lieutenant General Sir Gerald Graham, (27 June 1831 – 17 December 1899) was a senior British Army commander in the late 19th century and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that ...

) in leading a ladder party at the assault on the Redan. He also volunteered to go with the lieutenant to help bring in a wounded sailor lying in the open, even though he was himself suffering from a musket wound in the side. He died at 69 East North Street in Aberdeen on 17 September 1874 and was buried in the "Strangers Land" (communal paupers grave) of St Peter's Cemetery in north Aberdeen.

The medal

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the

Royal Engineers Museum The Royal Engineers Museum, Library and Archive is a military engineering museum and library in Gillingham, Kent. It tells the story of the Corps of Royal Engineers and British military engineering in general. History The 'Ravelin Building', ...

in Chatham,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the ...

Family

He was married to Isabella Howie (1834-1901) and had four children, most of whom began spelling their name as "Pirie".

References

Monuments to Courage David Charles Harvey (29 July 1946 – 4 March 2004) was a historian and author. He is notable for his seminal work, ''Monuments To Courage'', which documents the graves of almost all recipients of the Victoria Cross, a task that took him over 36 ...

(David Harvey, 1999) * The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997) *

The Sapper VCs The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

(Gerald Napier, 1998) *

Scotland's Forgotten Valour ''Scotland's Forgotten Valour'' is a 1995 book by Graham Ross, published by MacLean Press under . (The typography of the title on the book uses capitalisation Capitalization (American English) or capitalisation (British English) is writing a ...

(Graham Ross, 1995)

External links

Royal Engineers Museum
Sappers VCs

''(Grampian)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Perie, John British recipients of the Victoria Cross Crimean War recipients of the Victoria Cross British Army personnel of the Crimean War British Army personnel of the Second Opium War Royal Engineers soldiers 1831 births 1874 deaths People from Huntly British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross