Edward St John Daniel (Deserter)

Edward St John Daniel was born on 17 January 1837 at 1 Windsor Terrace, Clifton, Bristol, the first child of Edward Daniel, a local attorney, and Barbara Bedford. On 7 January 1851, ten days prior to his fourteenth birthday, he entered the Royal Navy as a naval cadet aboard HMS Victory before transferring to HMS Dauntless and later joining the flagship HMS Winchester under Captain Granville Loch. Operational deployment followed in Southeast Asia, where the young cadet saw active service in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852–1853, taking part in riverine and shore operations during the capture of Pegu and Prome. During his time in Burma, he contracted severe leg ulcers, an ailment that caused him recurring physical distress throughout his remaining service years.

In September 1853, Daniel was appointed to the frigate HMS Diamond under Captain William Peel, third son of former Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. Daniel was promoted to Midshipman the day following his arrival. When the Crimean War began in 1854, the crew of HMS Diamond was landed to form part of the Royal Naval Brigade under Captain Stephen Lushington, serving heavy guns in the siege batteries erected against Sevastopol. Captain Peel appointed Daniel as his personal Aide-de-Camp alongside Midshipman Henry Evelyn Wood.

While serving in the trenches before Sevastopol, Daniel performed three distinct acts of bravery before reaching his eighteenth birthday. On 18 October 1854, enemy artillery fire struck an ammunition wagon transporting powder to the Diamond Battery, killing the draft horses and leaving the wagon exposed to direct bombardment. Recognizing the danger of an explosion, Daniel responded to a call for volunteers, carrying powder boxes manually across open ground under heavy fire until the battery was resupplied.

At the Battle of Inkerman on 5 November 1854, Daniel rode his pony across the field while attending Captain Peel. He remained beside Peel throughout seven separate charges against Russian infantry positions and assisted surrounded elements of the Grenadier Guards in defending their colours.

Seven months later, during the assault on the Great Redan on 18 June 1855, Peel led the primary ladder party across open ground and was struck through the left arm by grape shot. Daniel reached his wounded commander on the glacis under direct canister fire, applied a tourniquet to stop the heavy bleeding, and dragged Peel back across the field to safety. Although bullet holes pierced Daniel's clothing during the rescue, he escaped without physical injury.

His Victoria Cross was announced in the inaugural list of citations published in The London Gazette on 24 February 1857. The official recommendation submitted by Sir Stephen Lushington reads:

"Sir Stephen Lushington recommends this Officer: 1st. For answering a call for volunteers to bring in powder to the Battery, from a waggon in a very exposed position under a destructive fire, a shot having disabled the horses. (This was reported by Captain Peel, commanding the Battery at the time.) 2nd. For accompanying Captain Peel at the Battle of Inkermann as Aide de camp. 3rd. For devotion to his leader, Captain Peel, on the 18th June, 1855, in tying a tourniquet on his arm on the glacis of the Redan, whilst exposed to a very heavy fire."

Daniel was unable to attend the first investiture of the Victoria Cross at Hyde Park on 26 June 1857, as HMS Shannon had departed for China. Diverted to India upon the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny, Captain Peel formed the Shannon Naval Brigade, in which Daniel commanded an artillery section. His naval guns supported infantry operations during the siege and relief of Lucknow. When Captain Peel contracted smallpox and died at Cawnpore on 27 April 1858, Daniel suffered a profound loss that altered the trajectory of his naval career. Captain Francis Marten, who succeeded Peel in command of the brigade, presented the Victoria Cross to Daniel during a parade at Gyah, Bengal, on 13 July 1858.

Promoted to Lieutenant in 1859, Daniel served aboard HMS Mars and attended a royal audience at St James's Palace in 1860. Early in 1861, he joined HMS Victor Emmanuel in the Mediterranean. In June 1861, he was placed under arrest for misconduct. He deserted before his court-martial convened, evading naval authorities. On 4 September 1861, Queen Victoria ordered his Victoria Cross forfeited, making him the first of eight recipients stripped of the award under nineteenth-century regulations.

Daniel travelled to Australia and later enlivened his military career in New Zealand, enlisting at Melbourne in January 1864 as a private in No. 5 Company of the Taranaki Military Settlers. In November 1867, he joined the New Zealand Armed Constabulary Field Force as a lance corporal, serving in South Taranaki and deploying to Hokitika on the South Island. Falling ill in mid-May 1868, he was admitted to Hokitika Hospital, where he died on 20 May 1868 at thirty-one years of age. He was interred in Hokitika Municipal Cemetery. Under a policy directive issued by King George V in the 1920s, all recipients whose decorations were forfeited remain officially recorded on the register of Victoria Cross holders.