Henry Edward Jerome

Rescued a wounded officer under heavy fire during an assault

Henry Edward Jerome was born on Antigua in February 1830 into a family with connections to the 86th Regiment of Foot. After training at Sandhurst, he entered that regiment as an ensign in January 1848. He became a lieutenant in 1852 and served during the campaigns in Central India following the uprising of 1857.

His Victoria Cross recognized conduct in three separate actions during 1858. At Chandairee on 17 March he distinguished himself during the assault. On 3 April at Jhansi, Lieutenant Sewell fell seriously wounded in an exposed part of the attack. Jerome and Private James Byrne went forward under heavy fire and carried him to safety. Byrne was also decorated for his part in the rescue.

On 28 May Jerome again displayed conspicuous courage during fighting on the Jumna. He suffered a severe head wound and survived injuries that might easily have killed him. These repeated actions established a record of personal courage extending beyond a single battlefield incident. Queen Victoria presented his Victoria Cross at Windsor Castle on 4 January 1860.

Jerome continued in the Army after recovering. He transferred to the 19th Regiment, served in the Hazara expedition of 1868, and later held appointments with the 62nd Regiment. He married Inez Temple Frances Cowper in London in 1863; their son Lucien subsequently entered the consular service.

His later duties included service as fort major of Guernsey and Alderney. He advanced through brevet and substantive ranks before retiring in September 1885 with the honorary rank of major general. He settled in Bath, where he died on 25 February 1901. He was buried in Lansdown Cemetery, having lived more than four decades after the wounds sustained in his Victoria Cross actions.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For conspicuous gallantry at Jhansi, on the 3rd of April, 1858, in having, with the assistance of Private Byrne, removed, under a very heavy fire, Lieutenant Sewell, of the 86th Regiment, who was severely wounded, at a very exposed point of the attack upon the Fort; also, for gallant conduct at the capture of the Fort of Chandairee, the storming of Jhansi, and in action with a superior Rebel Force on the Jumna, on the 28th of May, 1858, when he was severely wounded.

The London Gazette of 11 November 1859, Numb. 22324, p. 4032