VC and sword thefts could have been plot against general
A DECORATED general who was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy, in 1857 for his bravery during the Indian Rebellion may have been the victim of a plot to steal his most treasured wartime relics.
After it was revealed in The Sunday Telegraph this week how the descendants of Gen Sir Harry Prendergast believe his VC was stolen from the National Army Museum and replaced with a fake, Sir Harry’s family now understands that his ceremonial sword, which used to hang at his old school, Brighton College, was also stolen at around the same time. Abby Wharfe, archivist at Brighton College, where Sir Harry was a pupil from 1849-1850, said the sword used to hang in the chapel above a bronze plaque commemorating him, but that it had been reported stolen in the Sixties. She said: “The college would dearly like to know what happened to both medal and sword.”
Neither Brighton College nor Sir Harry’s descendants know if there is a link between the two lost legacies. But Kay Gladstone, Sir Harry’s great-grandson, told The Daily Telegraph: “It may not be the same person, but it seems likely given they both went missing in the same era.”
Mr Gladstone believes his greatgrandfather’s VC was stolen in 1968, six years after it was passed on loan to the National Army Museum by his grandmother, Sir Harry’s daughter-in-law.