Charles Anderson (VC)

He charged through dense cane to save his wounded commander.

Charles Anderson was born in Liverpool about 1826. A coal miner before joining the Army, he enlisted in the 2nd Dragoon Guards at Dublin on 11 December 1845. His regiment later served in India during the rebellion.

Charles Anderson was a private in the 2nd Dragoon Guards when he earned the Victoria Cross during the Indian Rebellion. On 8 October 1858, after fighting near Sundeela in Oudh, Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Seymour and his party were surprised at close range by 30 to 40 mutineers concealed in a dense sugar-cane jungle. The attackers fired and then rushed in with swords. Seymour shot one assailant, fought on with his revolver and was cut down by two sword blows. Anderson and Trumpeter Thomas Monaghan charged to his aid. Monaghan shot a man as he prepared to strike, while both soldiers drove at the attackers with their swords. Their intervention gave Seymour time to rise and defend himself; the enemy were then killed or driven off. The account of the rescue recognizes the two men acting together, rather than a solitary feat, and records how their prompt action saved their commanding officer in a close and confused fight.

Anderson later became a corporal. His Victoria Cross was gazetted on 11 November 1862. He left the Army at Colchester on 28 June 1870 and returned to mining. He died at Seaham Harbour on 19 April 1899.

### Victoria Cross citation

“For saving the life of Lieutenant Colonel Seymour CB, commanding the regiment, in an attack made on him on the 8th of October 1858, by mutinous sepoys, in a dense jungle of sugar canes, from which an attempt was made to dislodge them. The mutineers were between 30 and 40 in number. They suddenly opened fire on Lieutenant Colonel Seymour and his party at a few yards distance, and immediately afterwards rushed in upon them with drawn (native) swords. Pistolling a man, cutting at him, and emptying with deadly effect at arm’s length every barrel of his revolver, Lieutenant Colonel Seymour was cut down by two sword cuts, when the two men above recommended, rushed to his rescue, and the trumpeter shooting a man with his pistol in the act of cutting at him, and both Trumpeter and Dragoon driving at the enemy with their swords, enabled him to arise, and assist in defending himself again, when the whole of the enemy were dispatched. The occurrence took place soon after the action fought near Sundeela, Oudh, on the date above-mentioned.”

### Sources

- The London Gazette, no. 22680, 11 November 1862, Victoria Cross announcement for Trumpeter Thomas Monaghan and Private Charles Anderson. - 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards Regimental Comrades Association, “Medals From 1815,” account of the action near Sundeela, Oudh, and Anderson’s service and death. - Victoria Cross and George Cross Association, “Charles Anderson,” biographical record.