Henry James Raby

He braved open ground under fire to rescue a wounded soldier

Henry James Raby was born at Boulogne, France, on 26 September 1827 and educated at Sherborne School. He entered the Royal Navy as a first-class volunteer in HMS Monarch in March 1842, advanced through midshipman and mate, and became a lieutenant in January 1850. Service in HMS Wasp took him to West Africa and then the Black Sea.

Landing with the Naval Brigade in October 1854, he served for eleven months in the trenches before Sevastopol. On 18 June 1855 he was second-in-command of a ladder party during the unsuccessful assault on the Redan. After the attackers withdrew, a soldier of the 57th Regiment lay in the open with wounds to both legs. Raby, John Taylor and Henry Curtis left cover, crossed more than seventy yards under fire and carried him to safety. All three received the Victoria Cross.

Promoted commander in September 1855, Raby received his VC from Queen Victoria at Hyde Park on 26 June 1857. As the senior naval officer present, he was the first recipient physically decorated at that inaugural investiture. He subsequently commanded Medusa, Weser and Alecto off West Africa. He was wounded during the capture of Porto Novo in April 1861 and also helped negotiate a treaty with chiefs of the Old Calabar River.

He became captain in November 1862 and married Judith Forster in 1863. Later command of HMS Adventure took him to China from 1868 to 1871. Appointed Companion of the Bath in 1875, he retired from active service in 1877 and advanced to rear admiral on the retired list in March 1878.

Raby settled in Southsea and supported the Royal Seamen and Marines' Orphanage, Royal Sailors' Home and other local charities. He died there on 13 February 1907 and was buried in Highland Road Cemetery, Portsmouth.

The official citation appeared in The London Gazette on 24 February 1857:

"On the 18th June, 1855, immediately after the assault on Sebastopol, a soldier of the 57th Regiment, who had been shot through both legs, was observed sitting up, and calling for assistance. Climbing over the breastwork of the advanced sap, Commander Raby and two seamen proceeded upwards of seventy yards across the open space towards the salient angle of the Redan, and in spite of the heavy fire which was still continuing, succeeded in carrying the wounded soldier to a place of safety, at the imminent risk of their own lives."