Henry Curtis VC (21 December 1822 – 23 November 1896) was an

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recipient 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 ...

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

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and

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forces.

Details

Curtis was 32 years old and a Boatswain's Mate in the

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 ...

( Naval Brigade) during 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 ...

when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 18 June 1855, in the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, immediately after the assault on Sebastopol, a soldier of the 57th Regiment, who had been wounded in both legs, was observed sitting up and calling for help. At once the second-in-command of the scaling party ( Henry James Raby), another seaman (

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar is the name of: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 * John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) ...

) and Boatswain's Mate Curtis left the shelter of their battery works and ran forward a distance of 70 yards, across open ground, through heavy gunfire and succeeded in carrying the wounded man to safety.

Medal location

The VC is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the

Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...

, London.

References

External links

Location of grave and VC medal
''(Hampshire)''

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Henry 1822 births 1896 deaths People from Romsey Royal Navy sailors British recipients of the Victoria Cross Crimean War recipients of the Victoria Cross Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War Royal Navy recipients of the Victoria Cross Military personnel from Hampshire Burials in Hampshire