Brave British soldiers and the Victoria Cross a general account of the regiments and men of the British Army, and stories of the brave deeds which won the prize "for valour"

The coffin is made (and paid for by means of the effects of the man, which are sold by auction in the garrison after his funeral), and this, with a few trifling fees, is the onl...

The Highlanders possessed naturally a great aptitude for war. It has been said that hunting is the nearest approach to war in times of peace; and the Highlander, when not engage...

It is a remarkable fact that Private Henry Ward and Sir H. M. Havelock, Bart., the officer whose life he saved, have both been decorated with the Cross of Valour. The career of...

Our sketch of the Highland Regiments would be incomplete without some allusion to the men whose martial music inspired them with courage, and often rose loud and triumphant amid...

The health of the British army both at home and abroad has improved very much of late years. The British soldier is better fed, better clothed, and better lodged now than he eve...

Gibraltar is well named the Key of the Mediterranean. In peace it protects our commerce and our fleets, in war it affords equal facility for harassing our foes; by its position...

The Siege of Lucknow forms one of the most interesting episodes in the history of the Indian Mutiny. No event connected with the war excited a deeper interest in this country, a...

All our readers are more or less familiar with the distinguished part which the 78th Highlanders acted in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny. In our last chapter we showed how...

The town of Arrah, near which Mr. Mangles earned the Cross of Valour, is about twenty-four miles from Dinapoor, from which it is separated by the river Sone. It is the chief pla...

When the intelligence of the Gate Pa disaster reached England from New Zealand, the news was received with feelings of sorrow and surprise. The public at home were not prepared...

Little is known in England of the war which has been carried on in New Zealand. Despatches are occasionally published, and the names of those who have distinguished themselves i...

The Highland regiments have always been distinguished for their attachment to their native land. This feeling prevails more or less among the inhabitants of all mountainous coun...

No less than six Victoria Crosses were awarded to the 78th Highlanders, for distinguished conduct in the field during their heroic march to relieve the beleaguered garrison at L...

It has been our lot in life to live very much among soldiers, and we like to write and talk about them. We hope that our readers will not be averse from hearing something of a c...

England possesses many regiments that have a traditional as well as an individual existence. The memory of deeds of valour wrought by their predecessors is transmitted from gene...

A review of the armies of Europe, Austrian, Prussian, French, Russian, British, Italian, Turkish—is only to be achieved on paper. According to a recent calculation it appears th...

No young officer in the service has had greater opportunities of distinguishing himself than Captain Wood, or earned a better title to the distinction of the Victoria Cross. He...

When the gallant Havelock effected his entrance into Lucknow on the 25th of September, 1857, a considerable number of our wounded men who were being conveyed in “doolies,” or ho...

While a few of our sailors have forced their way into Mr. Desanges’ Gallery, and made good their title to the Cross of Valour, it must be evident to the most casual spectator th...

We have already described some of these heroes, and the gallant deeds by which they earned the Cross of Valour. We have shown how Sergeant Lucas, of the 40th, defended two of hi...

The civilian is often wofully puzzled when trying to make out the rank of a military man in uniform. He sees a venerable, soldier-like man, in scarlet or blue, marching beside a...

In a previous chapter we traced the history of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (23rd Regiment). We showed how they won their laurels in Egypt, in Spain, in the West Indies, in the Pyr...

About a century ago the Highlanders were regarded as little better than a race of savages. Their dress, their language, and their manners were the subject of ridicule among thei...

From the earliest times, when standing armies were needless, inasmuch as every human unit that made part of a nation’s total was more or less a soldier, and was ready and willin...

The Macraes, as we have already said, had never attained to the dignity of a clan; they were a sort of _caterans_ or pilfering tinkers, who had found it convenient to place them...

Our sailors do not occupy a very prominent place in Mr. Desanges’ Victoria Cross Gallery. We find that only four of his paintings have been devoted to the gallant deeds of our n...

Who among our readers has not been interested about Persia—that mysterious land in which such wonders have been said to exist? So many of the tales in the “Thousand and One Nigh...

We had the pleasure, a few weeks ago, of seeing Lieutenant-General Sir Duncan A. Cameron, K.C.B., the officer commanding the forces in New Zealand, attach with his own hands the...

On the evening of the 8th of July, 1857, a party of officers belonging to different regiments in the Indian service were seated round the mess-room table in the barracks of Satt...

During several years previous to the Indian mutiny the kingdom of Oude had been a source of much anxiety to the Governors of India. It was formerly an independent province, in w...