Hector Lachlan Stewart MacLean

Tried rescuing an officer surrounded by swordsmen under fire

Hector Lachlan Stewart MacLean was born on India's North-West Frontier on 13 September 1870. His father was an Indian Army officer. Educated in Scotland at St Salvador's and Fettes, he entered the Northumberland Fusiliers in 1889 before transferring to the Indian Staff Corps and the Corps of Guides.

He served in the Hazara expedition of 1891 and the Chitral operations of 1895. By 1896 he was adjutant of the Guides cavalry. During the frontier rising of 1897 he accompanied operations in the Malakand and Upper Swat region.

On 17 August 1897, near Nawa Kili, Lieutenant Greaves lay wounded with enemy swordsmen around him. MacLean went forward with Lieutenant Colonel Robert Adams, Viscount Fincastle and men of the Guides to recover him. The rescuers faced close rifle fire. Greaves was hit again and killed during the attempt, and MacLean received a mortal wound. Several horses were also shot.

Adams and Fincastle received the Victoria Cross. The announcement concerning MacLean initially stated that he would have been recommended had he survived, reflecting the contemporary restriction on posthumous awards. The policy later changed, and in 1907 he too received a posthumous Victoria Cross. His father was sent the decoration that February. MacLean was buried in the Guides cemetery at Mardan. His medals record his earlier frontier service as well as the fatal rescue attempt.