Duncan Home

He blew open Delhi’s gate while enemy bullets swept the way.

Duncan Charles Home was a Bengal Engineer officer in the storming of Delhi during the Indian uprising of 1857. Born on 10 June 1828, he pursued a military engineering career and served in the Punjab campaign before the fighting at Delhi.

On 14 September 1857 Home and Lieutenant Philip Salkeld led the party ordered to demolish the Kashmir Gate so that an assault column could enter the city. The work had to be done in daylight, immediately beneath the defenders and under close musketry fire. The party carried powder bags to the gate, placed its charges and ignited them despite casualties. The explosion opened the way for the attacking troops. Home, Salkeld, Sergeant John Smith and Bugler Robert Hawthorne received the Victoria Cross for their parts in the operation.

Home survived the gate attack but was killed on 1 October 1857 while laying a mine at Malagarh. His Victoria Cross was formally announced in June 1858 and sent to his father the following month. The award recognized an act provisionally rewarded in the field before his death.

His two campaign medals, separated from the Victoria Cross, were auctioned in 2016. His earlier service was commemorated by the Punjab Medal, and his final campaign by the Indian Mutiny Medal.

Official Victoria Cross citation

Lieutenants Duncan Charles Home and Philip Salkeld, Bengal Engineers, upon whom the Victoria Cross was provisionally conferred by Major-General Sir Archdale Wilson, Bart., K.C.B., for their conspicuous bravery in the performance of the desperate duty of blowing in the Cashmere Gate of the Fortress of Delhi, in broad daylight, under a heavy fire of musketry, on the morning of the 14th September, 1857, preparatory to the assault, would have been recommended to Her Majesty for confirmation in that distinction, had they survived.

The London Gazette of 18 June 1858, Numb. 22154, p. 2961