John Sullivan

William Gardner’s long road from rural Lanarkshire to the Victoria Cross began on 3 March 1821 at Nemphlar, Scotland. He entered the British Army on 9 February 1841, joining the 42nd Regiment of Foot, the Royal Highland Regiment later famous as The Black Watch. His advancement was rapid. He was promoted corporal on 1 March 1842 and sergeant on 15 May that year, establishing the career of a professional soldier that would eventually take him through two major imperial campaigns.

Gardner served with the 42nd during the Crimean War of 1854 to 1856 and received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his service during that conflict. On 25 July 1855 he was promoted Colour Sergeant. The 42nd fought at the Alma and subsequently endured the siege of Sevastopol, but Gardner’s individual medal entitlement must be distinguished from the regiment’s collective battle history. His recorded Crimea Medal bears the Sebastopol clasp only, and no Alma clasp is recorded in the surviving medal group. His biography should therefore not state that he personally fought at the Alma unless his individual medal roll or another primary record establishes it.

After the Crimean War, the 42nd was sent to India during the uprising of 1857 to 1859. Gardner served in the campaign and was present at Lucknow, an entitlement reflected by his Indian Mutiny Medal with the Lucknow clasp. After the capture of Lucknow in March 1858, the regiment took part in the operations into Rohilkhand that brought Gardner to Bareilly and the action for which he would receive the Victoria Cross.

On 5 May 1858, Sir Colin Campbell’s forces approached Bareilly from the south. During the fighting, a body of Ghazi warriors launched a fierce close-range assault against the British position. Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan Cameron, commanding the 42nd, was knocked from his horse and was in immediate danger when three attackers rushed upon him. Gardner, then a Colour Sergeant, left the ranks and went directly to his commanding officer’s assistance. He bayoneted two of the attackers and was engaging the third when he was himself shot down by another soldier of the regiment. The Victoria Cross and George Cross Association records that Gardner was wounded in the hand during the action.

His conduct was formally recognised with the Victoria Cross. The London Gazette, issue 22176 of 24 August 1858, recorded the award for his gallantry at Bareilly and reproduced the report from Captain Macpherson of the 42nd Regiment. The citation described how Gardner saved Cameron after the officer had been knocked from his horse and attacked by three men, bayoneting two before Gardner himself was shot down. The 24 August publication date is supported by the VC and GC Association and by later medal-catalogue research citing the same Gazette issue.

Gardner received his Victoria Cross in India in February 1859. The identity of the person who formally presented the decoration has not been established in the surviving specialist records. He was promoted Quartermaster Sergeant on 2 December 1859 and remained with the 42nd until his discharge at Stirling Castle on 4 March 1862, after twenty-one years of service. He later held the rank of Sergeant-Major.

Gardner returned to Lanarkshire and became associated with the local volunteer movement at Bothwell, serving as a drill instructor with the Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers. He retired from that work in 1885. He died at Anchorage Lodge, Bothwell, on 24 October 1897, aged seventy-six, and was buried in Bothwell Park Cemetery, Section A, Lair 1532/3, with full military honours.

Gardner’s surviving medal entitlement provides an important check on the details of his campaigns. The group recorded in connection with the 2008 sale comprised his Victoria Cross, Distinguished Conduct Medal, Crimea Medal with Sebastopol clasp, Indian Mutiny Medal with Lucknow clasp, Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, and Turkish Crimea Medal. This surviving group is particularly important because it confirms that his Crimea Medal carried only the Sebastopol clasp and therefore does not support an individual claim to the Alma clasp.

In January 2008, Gardner’s great-grandson, Dr David Gardner, sold the Victoria Cross and associated medals for £135,000, with the proceeds donated to charitable causes including support for former servicemen. The Victoria Cross was acquired for the Lord Ashcroft Collection.

Gardner’s Victoria Cross should no longer be described as being on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at Imperial War Museum London. That gallery closed at the end of September 2025 after fifteen years. In March 2026 it was announced that Lord Ashcroft’s Victoria Cross and George Cross collection would have a new home at the National Army Museum in London, and the first decorations from the collection began appearing there in 2026. I have not found evidence confirming that Gardner’s particular Victoria Cross is currently on public display, so the safest present wording is that it remains part of the Lord Ashcroft Collection.