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Source: Reuters
Breaking News
April 20, 2007

Crimean War VC, only second awarded, sold for $312,000

LONDON -- An early Victoria Cross awarded for a daring raid on Russian enemy couriers during the Crimean War was sold for $312,000 (155,350 pounds) at auction in London on Thursday...

The buyer was...the Conservative Party's millionaire chairman Lord Ashcroft. He owns the world's largest collection of Victoria Crosses.

The medal sold on Thursday was awarded to Lieutenant John Bythesea who volunteered with William Johnstone in 1854 to intercept a crucial dispatch from the Tsar to the Baltic fortress Bomarsund, which was a Russian military stronghold.

In 1857, both men received the Cross in a special ceremony from Queen Victoria. Johnstone's medal is on display [at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County].

Related Links

  • Price of heroism: the rise and fall of first VC hero (Independent)
    • Read entire article at Reuters