Gronow Davis

Crossed open ground repeatedly to rescue men in hostile fire

Gronow Davis was born at Clifton, Bristol, on 16 May 1828, the son of a doctor. Educated at Bishop's College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he entered the Royal Artillery in December 1847. By February 1855 he held the rank of second captain and was serving in the Crimean War.

On 8 September 1855, during the final assault on the Redan at Sevastopol, Davis accompanied a party sent to disable Russian guns. The assault exposed small groups to intense fire, and numerous men were wounded in the open. Davis helped a wounded officer, Lieutenant Sanders, and twice crossed exposed ground to assist other casualties, including a soldier with a broken leg. He continued these attempts despite the danger of being hit himself.

He received the Victoria Cross at the first great public investiture in Hyde Park on 26 June 1857. His Crimean awards also included the Crimea Medal with Sebastopol clasp, the Turkish Crimea Medal and the fifth class of the Ottoman Order of the Medjidie.

Davis remained in the Royal Artillery and developed a substantial peacetime career. He became a brevet major in 1857, captain in 1860 and lieutenant colonel in 1868. He later served as inspector of auxiliary forces in the Western District, overseeing the organization and training of forces that supplemented the regular Army. He retired in October 1881 with the honorary rank of major general.

He married Anna Wilhelmina Mary Reade in 1866, and they had six children. In Bristol he participated in civic and commercial life, including the Primrose League and directorships connected with insurance and the Grand Hotel. Davis died at Clifton on 18 October 1891 and was buried at Arnos Vale Cemetery.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For great coolness and gallantry in the attack on the Redan, 8th September, 1855, on which occasion he commanded the spiking party, and after which he saved the life of Lieutenant Sanders, 30th Regiment, by jumping over the parapet of a sap, and proceeding twice some distance across the open, under a “murderous” fire, to assist in conveying that officer, whose leg was broken, and who was otherwise severely wounded, under cover; and repeated this act in the conveyance of other wounded soldiers from the same exposed position.

The London Gazette of 23 June 1857, Numb. 22014, p. 2165