‘Dark secret’ of the missing Victoria Cross
Kay Gladstone tells of his personal battle with authorities to locate a treasured family heirloom
FOR a century it had been a treasured heirloom, passed down through generations, peeked at through the glass of a gloomy medals case.
Gen Sir Harry Prendergast’s Victoria Cross – the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy – was, for his family, a symbol of his astonishing bravery during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
But now, 55 years after it was loaned to the National Army Museum (NAM), his descendants fear they will never see the original again.
In the years after its loan in 1962, the VC was, his family believe, stolen and replaced with a copy – something they say two of the UK’s most respected institutions are failing to acknowledge.
It’s a mystery Kay Gladstone, Sir Harry’s great grandson, and his family has been trying to solve since 1983, when William Reid, then director of NAM, first wrote to tell them an expert at Hancocks (who hold the monopoly on producing VCs) realised it was a copy.
In a letter, Mr Reid enclosed a note from David Callaghan, director of Hancocks who had made the discovery, explaining that he had “formed the opinion that the medal in your collection is not the authentic Victoria Cross”.
Mr Reid also appeared to imply that the medal originally loaned to them must have been a copy. “I find myself pondering the circumstances under which the reproduction came to be in your grandmother’s hands,” he wrote.
So began what Mr Gladstone describes as unravelling a “dark secret”. He believes the copy may have been discovered years before and has fought to uncover what happened, but also to clear what he describes as the “vile calumny” against his grandmother.
“The idea that the VC accessioned in 1962 was not the original rests on the premise that Colonel Appleby, NAM’s then director, accepted that the Prendergast VC was genuine, even though the forgery differs entirely from a genuine VC,” says Mr Gladstone, pointing out that a man with his experience would surely “exercise extreme care”.
Mr Gladstone, 68, a former senior curator at the Imperial War Museum for 40 years, had been investigating in private, but as communication between with NAM and Hancocks began to fracture over the past year, he worried he would never get to the truth. He told The Sunday Telegraph it is not only what the family (including Sir Harry’s only surviving grandchild) believe is the theft and subsequent forgery of the VC which has caused such pain, but rather the failure, as he sees it, by NAM and Hancocks properly to investigate.
Though NAM initially cooperated, it has now shut down communication, threatened legal action and blocked him from accessing public records.
Mr Gladstone says he was prevented from conducting research in March 2016, after discovering an exchange
He believes the copy may have been discovered years earlier and has fought to uncover what happened
from 1968 between Field Marshall Sir Gerald Templer, the founder of NAM, and John Paris, then director, discussing a nameless VC group which “shocked” them and a report detailing Paris’s discoveries.
Mr Gladstone believes this report may hold information about the possible discovery of the VC copy in 1968 – 15 years before his family was informed of its existence.
Hancocks told The Sunday Telegraph that they had cooperated with Mr Gladstone, but said they were “not an authentication service”, and that while Mr Callaghan had expressed the opinion that the medal was not the original, “given the lapse of time involved, he did not remember precise details”.
When approached for comment, NAM declined, referring The Telegraph to Thames Valley Police and the Information Commissioner’s Office, both of which dealt with complaints from Mr Gladstone.
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: “We would urge anyone with any information to contact the force.”