Lost on a train

Charles Lucas was the first man ever to receive a Victoria Cross.

It was presented to him by Queen Victoria in Hyde Park on June 26, 1857.

Lucas was born in Ulster and joined the Royal Navy as a cadet aged 13. He had already seen action in Burma before the outbreak of the Crimean War, by which time he was serving as the mate (senior midshipman) onboard HMS Hecla which was part of a force charged with keeping the Russian fleet bottled up in the port of Kronstadt.

His commander, Captain William Hutcheon Hall, seemingly bored with blockade duties, took it upon himself to bombard the island of Bomarsund. It was a completely pointless action, because the ship’s small shells simply bounced off the fort’s stone walls.

The Russians however managed to land a shell in return on the deck of the Hecla, with its fuse still burning. While others dived for cover, 20-year-old Mate Lucas calmly picked it up and threw it overboard, where it exploded but without causing any great damage. While the captain received a reprimand for wasting ammunition, Lucas was given the VC.

Lucas retired from the Navy in 1873, aged 39, at the rank of captain, but was later promoted to rear admiral on the retired list. He married Frances Hall, the daughter of his old captain, now Admiral Hall. Frances was the granddaughter of Viscount Byng, whose family seat was at Yotes Court in Mereworth.

Lucas and his wife settled at Great Culverden, Tunbridge Wells, where they had three daughters.

Lucas became a JP and was prominent on the town’s Conservative Association.

He died, aged 80, in 1914 and his remains are interred in St Lawrence Churchyard, Mereworth. His Victoria Cross, however, is lost. Lucas used to carry it with him and left it on a train while journeying to Scotland to visit relatives.