Cecil D'Arcy

He stopped under pursuit to rescue a fallen cavalry comrade.

Henry Cecil Dudgeon D'Arcy was born at Wanganui, New Zealand, on 11 August 1850. His father served in the Cape Mounted Riflemen, and D'Arcy followed a military career in southern Africa. During the Anglo-Zulu War he served as a captain in the Frontier Light Horse.

On 3 July 1879, during the reconnaissance before Ulundi, D'Arcy stopped while the force was retiring to help Trooper Raubenheim, who had lost his horse. Enemy warriors were closing in. D'Arcy tried to bring him away on his own mount, but the horse threw both men. Injured and exhausted, he continued trying to assist the trooper. His conduct earned the Victoria Cross, as did related rescue efforts by Edmund O'Toole and Lord William Beresford.

Sir Garnet Wolseley presented D'Arcy's VC in Pretoria in December 1879. D'Arcy subsequently held command in the Cape Mounted Rifles. In 1881, while ill, he disappeared into the Amatola Forest. Remains identified as his were later recovered and buried at King William's Town. The circumstances and exact date of his death have remained subjects of conflicting accounts.