Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Charles Davis Lucas (19 February 1834 – 7 August 1914) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer whose gallantry in 1854 was the earliest action that led to the award of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

, the highest British award, which is for gallantry in the face of the enemy. He reached the rank of

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

during his time in the navy.

Details

Escadre franco-anglaise devant Bomarsund

Lucas was born in Druminargal House, County Armagh, on 19 February 1834. He enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1848 at age 13, served aboard , and saw action in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852–53 aboard the frigate ''Fox'' at

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

Pegu Bago (formerly spelled Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

, and Dalla. By age 20, he had become a mate. For his gallantry during the Battle of Bomarsund of the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, he was awarded the Victoria Cross for the following deed: On 21 June 1854 in the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

, , with two other ships, was bombarding Bomarsund, a fort in

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

off

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The fire was returned from the fort, and at the height of the action a live shell landed on ''Hecla'' upper deck, with its fuse still hissing. All hands were ordered to fling themselves flat on the deck, but Lucas with great presence of mind ran forward and hurled the shell into the sea, where it exploded with a tremendous roar before it hit the water. Thanks to Lucas's action no one on board was killed or seriously wounded by the shell, and accordingly he was immediately promoted to lieutenant by his commanding officer. Lucas was personally presented with the Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria at the first VC investiture held at Hyde Park, London, on 26 June 1857.

Later life

His act of bravery in ''Hecla'' was the first to be rewarded with the Victoria Cross. His later career included service on , , , , and . He was promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

in 1862 and commanded the experimental armoured gunboat in 1867. He was promoted to captain in 1867, before retiring on 1 October 1873. He was later promoted to

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

on the retired list in 1885. During his career he received the India General Service Medal with the bar

1852, the Baltic Medal 1854–55, and the Royal Humane Society Lifesaving Medal. In 1879 he married Frances Russell Hall, daughter of Admiral William Hutcheon Hall, who had been captain of ''Hecla'' in 1854. The couple had three daughters together. Lucas served for a time as Justice of the Peace for both

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and

Argyllshire Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area now forms part of ...

, and died in Great Culverden, Kent on 7 August 1914. He is buried at St Lawrence's Church

Mereworth Mereworth ( ) is a village and civil parish near the town of Maidstone in Kent, England. The Wateringbury Stream flows through the village and powered a watermill, the site of which now lies within the grounds of Mereworth Castle. History In the ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

, Kent.

Medals

Lucas's campaign medals, including his Victoria Cross, are displayed at the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

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. They are not the original medals, which were left on a train and never recovered. Replacement copies were made, though the reverse of the Victoria Cross copy is uninscribed.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

Listed in order of publication year *''

The Register of the Victoria Cross ''The Register of the Victoria Cross'' is a reference work that provides brief information on every Victoria Cross awarded until the publication date. Each entry provides a summary of the deed, along with a photograph of the recipient and the f ...

'' (1981, 1988 and 1997) *Clarke, Brian (1986). ''The Irish Sword'' *Ross, Graham (1995). ''Scotland's Forgotten Valour'' * *

External links

Location of grave and VC medal
''(Kent)''
The Bomarsund memorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Charles Davis 1834 births 1914 deaths Crimean War recipients of the Victoria Cross British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Burmese War Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross Royal Navy rear admirals Royal Navy recipients of the Victoria Cross Military personnel from County Armagh Burials in Kent Irish officers in the Royal Navy