Frederick Francis Maude

He held the captured work until hope of support disappeared.

Frederick Francis Maude was born at Lisnadill, County Armagh, on 20 December 1821. He joined the Buffs in 1840 and served as the regiment's adjutant during the Gwalior campaign. At Punniar on 29 December 1843 his horse was shot beneath him. A decade later he married Catherine Bisshopp before returning to active campaigning in the Crimea.

Maude reached the Crimean theatre in April 1855 and served during the siege of Sevastopol. In the final assault on the Redan that September he commanded the covering and ladder party supplied by the Buffs. After entering the defences, he held an exposed position with only nine or ten men. He remained until it was clear that supporting troops would not arrive and he himself had been dangerously wounded. The action brought the Victoria Cross, while his wider Crimean service brought promotion and appointment as a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

He received his VC in Corfu in July 1857. His subsequent career included service in Gibraltar and responsibility for the Irish militia. Advancing to major general, he held divisional command in India and led the 2nd Division of the Peshawar Valley Field Force in the Afghan campaign of 1878-1879. His work there brought further recognition and advancement in the Order of the Bath.

Maude retired as a general in 1885 and became a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath the following year. He died at Torquay on 20 June 1897 and was buried in Brompton Cemetery, London. His career linked the infantry campaigning of the 1840s with senior command on the northwest frontier more than thirty years after his VC action.