Victoria Cross Recipients for Canada

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Victoria Cross Recipients for Canada

part of Canada Project's Managed Profiles Team

For Valour

The Victoria Cross (VC) was instituted by Queen Victoria during the Crimean War, in 1856. It became the highest military decoration awarded for valour 'in the face of the enemy' to all ranks of the armed forces of various British Empire and Commonwealth countries. It has been awarded to 99 Canadians under the Imperial system of awards. It was last awarded to a Canadian in 1945. Since 1993, this medal has been superseded by the Canadian Victoria Cross which has not been awarded since its inception.

The medal is a cross pattée in bronze. The obverse of the medal (shown here) bears a lion statant gardant on the royal crown, with the words 'FOR VALOUR' on a semi-circular scroll. The reverse bears a circular panel inside which is engraved the date of the act for which the decoration was awarded. The reverse of the suspender is engraved with the rank, name and ship, regiment or squadron of the recipient. A bronze clasp, or bar, ornamented with laurels may be issued to VC holders performing a further act of such bravery which would have merited award of the VC. When the ribbon alone is worn a further replica in miniature is added. The ribbon is plain crimson. Prior to 1918, a dark blue ribbon had been issued for the Royal Navy. When the ribbon alone is worn a replica of the cross in miniature is affixed to the centre of the ribbon.

The following list contains 100 names, the 99 Canadians and Timothy O'Hea who received the VC on Canadian soil.

Victoria Cross Honour Roll

1. Wallace Lloyd Algie VC (1891-1918)
2. William George Barker VC DSO MC (1894-1930)
3. Colin Barron VC (1893-1958)
4. Ian Willoughby Bazalgette VC, DFC (1918-1944)
5. Edward Donald Bellew VC (1882-1961)
6. Philip Eric Bent VC, DSO (1891-1917)
7. William Avery Bishop (1894-1956)
8. Rowland Richard Louis Bourke VC DSO (1885-1958)
9. Alexander Picton Brereton VC (1892-1976)
10. Jean Baptiste Arthur Brillant VC (1890-1918)
11. John Henry Brown VC (1898-1917)
12. Hugh Cairns (1896-1918)
13. Frederick William Campbell VC (1867-1915)
14. William Hew Clark-Kennedy VC CMG DSO (1879-1961)
15. Lionel Beaumaurice Clarke VC (1892-1916)
16. Hampden Zane Churchill Cockburn VC (1867-1913)
17. Robert Grierson Combe VC (1880-1917)
18. Frederick George Coppins VC (1889-1963)
19. Aubrey Cosens (1921-1945)
20. John Bernard Croak (1892-1918)
21. Robert Edward Cruickshank VC (1888-1961)
22. David Vivian Currie VC (1912-1986)
23. Raymond Harvey Lodge Joseph de Montmorency VC (1867-1900)
24. Edmund De Wind VC (1883-1918)
25. Thomas Dinesen VC (1892-1979)
26. Campbell Mellis Douglas VC (1840-1909)
27. Alexander Roberts Dunn VC (1833-1868)
28. Frederick Fisher VC (1894-1915)
29. Gordon Muriel Flowerdew VC (1885-1918)
30. John Weir Foote VC (1904-1988)
31. Benjamin Handley Geary VC (1891-1976)
32. Herman James Good VC (1887-1969)
33. Robert Hampton Gray VC, DSC (1917-1945)
34. Milton Fowler Gregg VC (1892-1978)
35. Frederick William Hall VC (1885-1915)
36. William Edward Hall VC (abt.1827-1904)
37. Robert Hill Hanna VC (1887-1967)
38. Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey (1888-1980)
39. Frederick Hobson VC (1873-1917)
40. Charles Ferguson Hoey VC, MC (1914-1944)
41. Edward James Gibson Holland VC (1878-1948)
42. Thomas William Holmes (1898-1950)
43. Samuel Lewis Honey VC MM DCM (1894-1918)
44. David Ernest Hornell RCAF VC (1910-1944)
45. Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson VC MC (1883-1954)
46. Joseph Thomas Keable VC MM (1892-1918)
47. George Fraser Kerr VC MC MM (1895-1929)
48. John Chipman Kerr (1887-1963)
49. Cecil John Kinross VC (1896-1957)
50. Arthur George Knight VC (1886-1918)
51. Filip Konowal VC (1887-1959)
52. Okill Massey Learmonth VC MC (1894-1917)
53. Graham Thomson Lyall VC (1892-1941)
54. Thain Wendell MacDowell VC DSO (1890-1960)
55. John MacGregor VC MC (1889-1952)
56. John Keefer Mahony VC (1911-1990)
57. George Burdon McKean VC MC MM (1888-1926)
58. Hugh McKenzie VC (1885-1917)
59. Alan Arnett McLeod VC (1899-1918)
60. William Merrifield VC MM (1890-1943)
61. Charles Merritt VC (1908-2000)
62. William Henry Metcalf VC (1894-1968)
63. William Johnstone Milne VC (1891-1917)
64. Harry Garnet Bedford Miner VC (1891-1918)
65. Coulson Norman Mitchell VC MC (1889-1978)
66. George Harry Mullin (1891-1963)
67. Andrew Charles Mynarski VC (1916-1944)
68. William Henry Snyder Nickerson VC CB CMG (1875-1954)
69. Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney VC DCM MM (1892-1918)
70. Timothy O'Hea VC (1843-1874)
71. Christopher Patrick John O'Kelly VC (1895-1922)
72. Michael John O'Leary VC (1890-1961)
73. Michael James O'Rourke VC MM (abt.1879-1957)
74. John Robert Osborn VC (1899-1941)
75. John George Pattison VC (1875-1917)
76. George Randolph Pearkes VC (1888-1984)
77. Cyrus Wesley Peck VC, DSO (1871-1956)
78. Frederick Thornton Peters VC DSO (1889-1942)
79. Walter Leigh Rayfield VC (1881-1949)
80. Herbert Taylor Reade VC CB (1828-1897)
81. Arthur Herbert Lindsay Richardson VC (1872-1932)
82. James Cleland Richardson VC (1895-abt.1916)
83. Thomas Ricketts (1901-1967)
84. James Peter Robertson VC (1883-1917)
85. Charles Smith Rutherford VC MC MM (1892-1989)
86. Francis Alexander Caron Scrimger VC (1880-1937)
87. Robert Shankland VC DCM (1887-1968)
88. Ellis Wellwood Sifton VC (1891-1917)
89. John Alexander Sinton VC OBE (1884-1956)
90. Ernest Alvia Smith VC CM (1914-2005)
91. Robert Spall VC (1890-1918)
92. Henry Mareus Strachan VC MC (1884-1982)
93. James Edward Tait VC MC (1886-1918)
94. Frederick Albert Tilston VC (1906-1992)
95. Frederick George Topham VC (1917-1974)
96. Paul Triquet VC (1910-1980)
97. Richard Ernest William Turner VC KCMG (1871-1961)
98. Thomas Orde Lawder Wilkinson VC (1894-1916)
99. John Francis Young VC (1893-1929)
100. Raphael Louis Zengel VC MM (1894-1977)

There are also 4 Victoria Cross recipients that lived and/or died in Canada that are not part of the category:

1. Harry Churchill Beet VC (1875-1946)
2. Robert Gordon McBeath (1898-1922)
3. Denis Dempsey VC (1826-1896)
4. George Charles Crutchley (1810-1898)