BOOK REVIEW: VICTORIA’S CROSS

Victoria’s Cross: the Untold Story of Britain’s Highest Award for Bravery by Gary Mead 352pp, Atlantic, Telegraph offer price: £20 (RRP £25, ebook £15.19). Call 0844 871 1515 or see books.telegraph.co.uk

This book is not simply another collection of heroic VC stories. It is, rather, a critique of the criteria by which the medal is awarded, and its conclusions about the arbitrary nature of many VC awards are quite disturbing.

The VC began life in 1856 during the Crimean War because of a widespread feeling that deeds of incredible courage, such as the Charge of the Light Brigade, were insufficiently recognised. Like many good Victorian ideas, the medal’s name was thought up by the queen’s clever German husband, Prince Albert, who viewed it as a way of polishing the monarchy’s prestige.

Mead makes much of the random nature of the award, and the absence of any women VC winners, although there is nothing in the rules that precludes women from winning it. He cites some women who were actively involved in combat who he feels ought to have won the medal, but were denied for reasons of old-fashioned sexist chauvinism.

But Mead does not set out to devalue the VC by questioning its criteria. His hope is that the number of hoops VC winners have to jump through before grasping the legendary award – which often means that their medals are posthumous – should be knocked down, making the lustre of the little cross inscribed simply “For Valour” shine more brightly than ever.

To read the complete article, see:
Victoria’s Cross: the Untold Story of Britain’s Highest Award for Bravery by Gary Mead, review: 'disturbing conclusions' (www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11573322/Victorias-Cross-the-Untold-Story-of-Britains-Highest-Award-for-Bravery-by-Gary-Mead.html)

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