
BN_DaringThomasByrneVictoriaCross_02.jpg


BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833)
Pic: DavidLayAuctioneers/BNPS
(L-R) Replica Victoria Cross, Queen’s Sudan Medal, Queen's South Africa Medal with Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal clasps (this inscribed ‘V.C’ in gothic script), Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Edward VII), Khedive’s Sudan Medal 1896-1908, Khartoum Clasp, 1937 Coronation medal.
The medals of a hero soldier who carried out what Winston Churchill described as "the bravest act I ever saw performed" during the 'last charge' of the British cavalry have emerged for sale for £15,000.
Daring cavalryman Thomas 'Paddy' Byrne went to the rescue of Lieutenant Richard Molyneux when he was set upon by the enemy at the Batlle of Omdurman, one of the pivotal battles against the fanatical Mahdi in Sudan in 1898.
Plucky Private Byrne's gallant actions were later documented by 23-year-old Lieutenant Churchill, then a war correspondent for the Morning Post, and he was duly awarded the VC by Queen Victoria the following year.
The medal was stolen in 1949 and was rumoured to be the one Ugandan dictator Idi Amin awarded to himself. Queen Elizabeth II reissued the VC in 1976 but it was sold to a private collector two years later.
Pte Byrne's medal set, including a replica VC (not the reissued one), will go under the hammer at David Lay auctioneers in Penzance, Cornwall, on August 25 on behalf of a private collector from the county who bought them in the 1960s.
(L-R) Replica Victoria Cross, Queen’s Sudan Medal, Queen's South Africa Medal with Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal clasps (this inscribed ‘V.C’ in gothic script), Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Edward VII), Khedive’s Sudan Medal 1896-1908, Khartoum Clasp, 1937 Coronation medal.
The medals of a hero soldier who carried out what Winston Churchill described as "the bravest act I ever saw performed" during the 'last charge' of the British cavalry have emerged for sale for £15,000.
Daring cavalryman Thomas 'Paddy' Byrne went to the rescue of Lieutenant Richard Molyneux when he was set upon by the enemy at the Batlle of Omdurman, one of the pivotal battles against the fanatical Mahdi in Sudan in 1898.
Plucky Private Byrne's gallant actions were later documented by 23-year-old Lieutenant Churchill, then a war correspondent for the Morning Post, and he was duly awarded the VC by Queen Victoria the following year.
The medal was stolen in 1949 and was rumoured to be the one Ugandan dictator Idi Amin awarded to himself. Queen Elizabeth II reissued the VC in 1976 but it was sold to a private collector two years later.
Pte Byrne's medal set, including a replica VC (not the reissued one), will go under the hammer at David Lay auctioneers in Penzance, Cornwall, on August 25 on behalf of a private collector from the county who bought them in the 1960s.
David Lay Auctioneers 20 May 2015 2386x1369 / 1.4MB