John Alexander

On June 18, 1855, allied artillery opened fire along the Crimean peninsula as British and French forces launched an assault against Russian fortifications surrounding Sevastopol. The British objective centred on the Great Redan, a formidable earthen fortification commanding the southern defences. Advancing across four hundred yards of open ground, British assault columns encountered heavy crossfire and spiked obstacles before being forced to retreat. Dozens of wounded soldiers remained trapped in front of the Russian lines. From the British forward trenches, Private John Alexander of the 90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers) (Light Infantry) climbed into the open under continuous musketry and artillery fire. He made repeated ventures into no-man's-land, pulling injured men back to the trench line.

Defensive operations at Sevastopol dragged on into late summer. On September 6, 1855, while assigned to a working party in the most advanced sap facing the Redan, Alexander faced another crisis when Captain Cecil Buckley of the Scots Fusilier Guards fell severely wounded in an exposed position beyond the parapet. Alexander went out into open ground under heavy fire alongside Ensign James Craig and a small team of volunteers to retrieve the officer. This action earned him recognition across regimental boundaries; Major-General Sir Henry Bentinck awarded him the Bentinck Medal, making him the sole soldier outside the Guards Brigade to receive the honour.

Prior to his service in the Crimea, Alexander had worked as a tailor in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland, where he was born in 1835. On February 26, 1852, at seventeen years of age, he enlisted in the 90th Regiment of Foot. After garrison duties in Ireland, the regiment was dispatched to the Crimea in late 1854 as siege operations intensified.

The Royal Warrant establishing the Victoria Cross was signed by Queen Victoria on January 29, 1856, creating a decoration awarded to military personnel of any rank for acts of valour in the presence of the enemy. Alexander's conduct in the Crimea was published in the London Gazette on February 24, 1857. The official gazetted citation recorded his actions:

"After the attack on the Redan, 18th June, 1855, went out of the trenches under a very heavy fire, and brought in several wounded men. Also, when with a working party in the most advanced trench, on 6th September, 1855, went out in front of the trenches, under a very heavy fire, and assisted in bringing in Captain Buckley, Scots Fusilier Guards, lying dangerously wounded."

At the first formal investiture of the decoration held at Hyde Park on June 26, 1857, Alexander was absent. The 90th Regiment had embarked two months prior for service in China, prompting war officials to ship his medal ahead to Hong Kong for presentation upon his arrival. Events in Asia altered these plans. While the troopships were at sea, the outbreak of rebellion across northern India forced military commanders to re-route the 90th Foot to Bengal. Joined to the force marching to relieve the besieged garrison at Lucknow, the regiment entered sustained combat during the autumn campaign.

Near the Alam Bagh on the outskirts of Lucknow, Alexander was killed in action on September 24, 1857, and was buried close to the battlefield. The Victoria Cross originally sent to Hong Kong was subsequently returned to the War Office and forwarded to his widow, Mary Ann Alexander, in Ireland on August 18, 1858. The medal group was later acquired by the National War Museum of Scotland, where it is preserved at Edinburgh Castle.