Walter Richard Pollock Hamilton VC (18 August 1856 – 3 September 1879) was born in

Inistioge Inistioge (; ) is a small village in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Historically, its name has been spelt as Ennistioge, Ennisteage, and in other ways. The village is situated on the River Nore, southeast of Kilkenny. Inistioge ...

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the City status in Ir ...

and was an Irish 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 ...

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

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

forces. He is featured in M. M. Kaye's epic novel ''

The Far Pavilions ''The Far Pavilions'' is an epic novel of British-Indian history by M. M. Kaye, published in 1978, which tells the story of a British officer during the British Raj. There are many parallels between this novel and Rudyard Kipling's '' Kim'' t ...

''.

Details

Hamilton was a great nephew of General Sir

George Pollock Field Marshal Sir George Pollock, 1st Baronet, (4 June 1786 – 6 October 1872) was a British Indian Army officer. He first saw action at the Battle of Deeg and at the Siege of Bhurtpore during the Second Anglo-Maratha War before taking part ...

who led the Army of Retribution in the

First Afghan War The First Anglo-Afghan War () was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession dispute between emir Dost Mohammad Khan ( Bara ...

. He was educated at

Felsted Felsted (sometimes spelt Felstead) is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Bannister Green, Bartholomew Green, Causeway End, Coblers Green, Cock Green, Frenches Gre ...

. Hamilton was 22 years old, and a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in the Staff Corps and Corps of Guides,

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

during the

Second Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the latter was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai ...

when the following deed took place on 2 April 1879 at Futtehabad, Afghanistan, for which he was awarded the VC: The scene of Hamilton's death was the Bala Hissar, an enclosure within the city of

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

. He commanded a small force of 20 Cavalry and 50 Infantry, all from the Corps of Guides, which formed an escort for Sir

Louis Cavagnari Sir Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari (4 July 1841 – 3 September 1879) was a British soldier and military administrator. Cavagnari was the son of Count Louis Adolphus Cavagnari, of an old family from Parma in the service of the Bonaparte family ...

the Envoy who was to set up the Residency in Kabul following the

Treaty of Gandamak The Treaty of Gandamak (Dari: معاهده گندمک, Pashto: د گندمک تړون) officially ended the first phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The Afghan emir Mohammad Yaqub Khan ceded various frontier areas as well as Afghanistan's con ...

. After a riot by mutinous Afghan troops, who were demanding arrears of pay, the Residency was attacked on 3 September 1879. Fierce fighting took place between the Guides and the attackers, during which Cavagnari and all the Guides were killed.''Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross'' (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000), p. 70, On 15 May 1879, six weeks after the action at Futtehabad, the Government in India forwarded a Victoria Cross recommendation for Hamilton to London which on 6 August determined that his act was not covered by the Victoria Cross regulations. There was a change of heart when the Secretary of State for India, Lord Cranbrook, noted that Hamilton's actions were similar to those of Captain John Cook and Lieutenant

Reginald Hart General Sir Reginald Clare Hart, (11 June 1848 – 18 October 1931), was an Irish British Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to Br ...

who had both been awarded the Victoria Cross two months earlier. By this stage Hamilton had been killed at Kabul on 3 September and in order to avoid the precedent of seeming to approve a posthumous award the submission to the Queen on 28 September was backdated to 1 September 1879. The award was gazetted on 7 October 1879, the 12th Victoria Cross recommendation approved after the death of the recipient.M J Crook, ''The evolution of the Victoria Cross'', Midas books, 1975, pp. 73-74.

Memorials

Walter Richard Pollock Hamilton statue - Project Gutenberg eText 16808

A slightly over-life-size statue of Hamilton striding over an Afghan threatening him with a knife was produced in bronze-painted plaster by

Charles Bell Birch Charles Bell Birch (28 September 1832 – 16 October 1893) was a British sculptor. Biography Birch was born at Brixton in south London, the son of the author and translator Jonathan Birch (translator), Jonathan Birch (1783–1847) and his wif ...

in Dublin in around 1880. It is now on display in the

National Army Museum The National Army Museum is the British Army's central museum. It is located in the Chelsea district of central London, adjacent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of the " Chelsea Pensioners". The museum is a non-departmental public bod ...

, Chelsea, as is a plaque to him (set up in the Punjab Frontier Force Chapel, then in the sanctum crypt of St. Lukes Chapel, Chelsea).

In the media

Walter Hamilton is a character in the novel "

", in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

-miniseries adaption he was portrayed by

Benedict Taylor Benedict Sean Taylor (born 18 April 1960) is a British actor. Taylor was born in Hampstead, London, the eldest of six children of Richard, a documentary film maker, and Allegra, a writer. Taylor lived in Nigeria until 1965 and then was brought ...

References

National Army Museum Walter Richard Pocock Hamilton statue

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) * *''Ireland's VCs'' (Dept of Economic Development, 1995) *''

Monuments to Courage David Charles Harvey (29 July 1946 – 4 March 2004) was a British 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 ...

'' (David Harvey, 1999) * ''History of Felsted School (1864–1947)'', (Michael Craze, pp. 198–201; Cowell, 1955))

External links

VC medal auction details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Walter Richard Pollock 1856 births 1879 deaths 19th-century Irish military personnel Irish soldiers in the British Army People from Inistioge People educated at Felsted School Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross British Indian Army personnel killed in action East Surrey Regiment officers Second Anglo-Afghan War recipients of the Victoria Cross Corps of Guides (India) officers Bengal Staff Corps officers Military personnel from County Kilkenny