kc
22-08-2007, 12:04
ANDREW HENRY VC
(Sergeant Major, afterwards Captain, Land Transport Corps)
Royal Artillery
At the battle of Inkerman on November 5th 1854, sergeant-Major Henry displayed great bravery in defending the guns of his battery against overwhelming numbers of the enemy, during which he was terribly wounded. His undaunted courage is thus referred to in Kinglake’s Crimea-
“When the foremost of the enemy’s troops had so closely surrounded Henry’s guns as to be already but a few paces off, they charged in with loud shouts, undertaking to bayonet the gunners; but by Henry himself, and one at least of his people, they were encountered with desperate valour. Henry called upon the men to defend the gun. He and a valiant gunner named James Taylor drew their swords and stood firm. The throng of the Russians came closing in, very many of them for some reason bareheaded, and numbers of them, in the words of a victim, ‘howling like mad dogs.’ Henry with his left wrested a bayonet from one of the Russians and found means to throw the man down, fighting hard all the time with his sword arm against some of his other assailants. Soon both Henry and Taylor were closed in upon from all sides and bayoneted again and again, Taylor then receiving his death wounds. Henry received in his chest the up-thrust of a bayonet, delivered with such power as to lift him almost from the ground, and at the same time he was stabbed in the back and stabbed in the arms. Then, from loss of blood, he became unconscious, but the raging soldiery, inflamed by religion, did not cease from stabbing his heretic body. He received twelve wounds, yet survived.”
Andrew Henry “rose from the ranks” to Lieutenant in the Artillery, May 15th 1855. Becoming Captain six months later. Possessed four clasps for the Crimea in addition to the Sultan’s medal.
(Sergeant Major, afterwards Captain, Land Transport Corps)
Royal Artillery
At the battle of Inkerman on November 5th 1854, sergeant-Major Henry displayed great bravery in defending the guns of his battery against overwhelming numbers of the enemy, during which he was terribly wounded. His undaunted courage is thus referred to in Kinglake’s Crimea-
“When the foremost of the enemy’s troops had so closely surrounded Henry’s guns as to be already but a few paces off, they charged in with loud shouts, undertaking to bayonet the gunners; but by Henry himself, and one at least of his people, they were encountered with desperate valour. Henry called upon the men to defend the gun. He and a valiant gunner named James Taylor drew their swords and stood firm. The throng of the Russians came closing in, very many of them for some reason bareheaded, and numbers of them, in the words of a victim, ‘howling like mad dogs.’ Henry with his left wrested a bayonet from one of the Russians and found means to throw the man down, fighting hard all the time with his sword arm against some of his other assailants. Soon both Henry and Taylor were closed in upon from all sides and bayoneted again and again, Taylor then receiving his death wounds. Henry received in his chest the up-thrust of a bayonet, delivered with such power as to lift him almost from the ground, and at the same time he was stabbed in the back and stabbed in the arms. Then, from loss of blood, he became unconscious, but the raging soldiery, inflamed by religion, did not cease from stabbing his heretic body. He received twelve wounds, yet survived.”
Andrew Henry “rose from the ranks” to Lieutenant in the Artillery, May 15th 1855. Becoming Captain six months later. Possessed four clasps for the Crimea in addition to the Sultan’s medal.