‘Lost’ VC Discovered
Across the many decades that Victoria Crosses have been awarded, many have simply been lost or all trace of their location mislaid. Sometimes they have turned up in the most unexpected locations.
Since the first VC was awarded, some have simply vanished. Whilst some have literally been lost in unknown locations, some have been buried with their recipient while others have just been mislaid. Others have been stolen (see page 115), although their value to any thief is negligible. First, the award is easily traceable to its recipient and, second, there is no value in the metal of the medal itself - as we have already seen. However, one might reasonably assume that any Victoria Cross deposited with a museum would be carefully safeguarded. That is not necessarily so, and a Victoria Cross awarded posthumously to an officer killed in the First World War was, in quite recent years, re-discovered during a search at a museum, in Brighton, East Sussex.
The medal in question was that awarded to Major George Godfrey Massy Wheeler of the 7th Hariana Lancers, Indian Army. An extract from the The London Gazette of 31 August 1915, records that the award was made for:
‘…most conspicuous bravery at Shaiba, Mesopotamia”. The citation states: “On the 12th April, 1915, Major Wheeler asked permission to take out his Squadron and attempt to capture a flag, which was the centre point of a group of the enemy who were firing on one of our picquets. He advanced and attacked the enemy’s infantry with the Lance, doing considerable execution among them. He then retired while the enemy swarmed out of hidden ground and formed an excellent target to our Royal Horse Artillery guns. On the 13th April, 1915, Major Wheeler led his Squadron to the attack of the ‘North Mound’. He was seen far ahead of his men riding single-handed straight for the enemy’s standards. This gallant Officer was killed on the Mound.’
A contemporary account added the following detail to the events of 13 April 1915:
‘Major Wheeler and his squadron were entrusted with the task of carrying the Turkish position on the North Mound. The project was a desperate one, for the Turks were well entrenched. Major Wheeler decided to charge straight for the section where two Turkish standards were waving, rightly surmising that the loss of their flag would demoralize the enemy. The Turks, however, fought with extreme courage and steadiness and opened a devastating fire on the advancing cavalry. The Lancers began to waver. Then it was that Major Wheeler showed the spirit that was in him. Bit by bit he drew ahead of his men, and when last seen he was making straight for the standards, one man against many. He reached the Mound, but only to suffer a hero’s death and to gain a hero’s reward – the Victoria Cross.’
Major Wheeler, who was buried in Basra War Cemetery, lived at Gwydyr Mansions, Hove, East Sussex. In the years after his death, his VC was donated to what is now the Royal Pavilion and Museums by his widow.
The curator at the Royal Pavilion and Museums later explained that the museum was preparing for exhibitions relating to the centenaries of World War One and were searching their database for objects that would illustrate those displays. When doing so, the museum came across a record of a VC in the collection having previously been unaware of its existence. Knowledge that it was there had been lost over time, and although the museum held some of his other medals, they had continued to be unaware of the VC’s existence with their collection. As such, the whereabouts of Wheeler’s VC had been unknown for many years until museum staff searched the reserve collection and discovered it.
Major Wheeler’s Victoria Cross medal group is also accompanied by a letter from the King addressed to his widow, in which the King states:
“It is a matter of sincere regret to me that the death of Major George Godfrey Massy Wheeler deprived me of the pride of personally conferring upon him the Victoria Cross, the greatest of Military Distinctions.”
Sometimes, not even museums are the most reliable of repositories. In this instance, however, there was a good ending to the story of a previously misplaced Victoria Cross which is now carefully recorded and curated.