George Richardson earned the Victoria Cross during the Indian Mutiny and later lived and served Canada for 60 years but is missing from the official VC list.
A number of Canadians who earned the Victoria Cross have been forgotten. The "official" list of Canadian VC recipients is incomplete as it neglects those Canadians who, though they were not Canadian when they earned their award, became Canadians later, served their adopted country and often spent more of their lives in Canada than not. This is the story of one of those men.
Early Life
George was the youngest son of John Richardson, a linen weaver, and his wife Anne, born in Derrylane, Killeshandra, County Cavan, Ireland on August 1, 1831.He served in the Cavan militia before he enlisted in the 34th (the Cumberland) Regiment of Foot in 1855. Two years later, on June 23, 1857, while his Regiment was stationed in Edinburgh, for reasons unknown, George deserted. He returned three months later, in September and was sentenced to an equivalent period in Colchester Prison for his efforts.
The Indian Mutiny
Reinstated in his regiment, George was shipped off to India with the 34th. In November 1857 he took part in the indecisive 2nd Battle of Cawnpore where the rebels were put to flight but the British were forced back to their position with the threat of another 20,000 Indian troops approaching.
Apparently, George served in an exemplary fashion during the Indian Mutiny turning down a field commission and being recommended for a Victoria Cross no less than four times. He was turned down for all but the last, which was awarded for an incident at Kewarie Trans-Gorga near Cawnpore on April 27, 1859 near the end of the rebellion.
The exact circumstances of the event are sketchy but it appears that six Indians attacked a certain Lieutenant Laurie. Sergeant George Richardson, despite having his arm broken by a rifle bullet and his leg slashed by a sword, went to his assistance. Within a short time five of the assailants were dead and the sixth in hasty retreat. For this action he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
VC from Queen Victoria
The badly wounded Richardson was invalided back to Britain on SS Startled Fawn and on August 11, 1860 received his Victoria Cross from Queen Victoria at a Hyde Park ceremony. After his discharge he returned to Ireland, probably to Killeshandra where he joined the Orange Order in 1861.
The next year he left his home country and sailed to Montreal, Quebec where he worked as a coachman. The Army was in his blood, however, and in 1865 he enlisted in the Prince of Wales Royal Rifles to help fight the Fenians and was quickly promoted to sergeant due to his former service.
Still a Hero at 85
For his services the Ontario Government granted him a homestead and here he lived with his wife, Elizabeth. In 1916, when George was 85-years-old, a fire broke out in his home and elderly gent picked up his unconscious wife and carried her out of the burning building. Sadly, she died of shock and he partially lost sight in one eye.
In 1921 he journeyed to Washington DC to lay a wreath on the American Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Two years later he died of pneumonia in Westminster Hospital, London, Ontario and was buried with full military honours in the Prospect Cemetery in Toronto. For many years his grave was marked with a plain headstone but in 1933 the Royal Canadian Legion erected a more suitable memorial.
For more on Canada's Victoria Cross. and Corp. Harry Beet another forgottten Canadian VC.
Bibliography
Ontario Provincial Archives
Michael Edwardes - Battles of the Indian Mutiny – Pan Books – 1970
Max Arthur - Symbol of Courage - Sidgwick & Jackson - 2004
