Joseph Kellaway

He returned for his fallen officer and fought to rescue him.

Joseph Kellaway was born in Dorset in 1824 and joined the Royal Navy in 1841. He served on the China station and rose from seaman to boatswain. In 1854 he joined HMS Wrangler, which took part in the Baltic and Crimean operations.

On 31 August 1855, Kellaway accompanied a small raiding party ashore near Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. Russian soldiers ambushed the party. He had escaped when the mate, Mr Odevaine, fell. Believing the officer wounded, Kellaway returned to lift him, resisted their attackers and was captured with him. They remained prisoners until the end of the war. Queen Victoria presented his Victoria Cross at Hyde Park on 26 June 1857.

Kellaway resumed naval service and became a chief boatswain. He later worked as foreman of riggers and chief boatswain at Chatham Dockyard before retiring through ill health in 1877. He had married Hannah Cleverly in 1853 and they had two daughters. He died at Chatham on 2 October 1880 and was buried in Maidstone Road Cemetery.

Official Victoria Cross citation

“Whilst Boatswain of the ‘Wrangler,’in the Sea of Azoff, was taken prisoner after a stout resistance, whilst endeavouring to rescue Mr. Odevaine, Mate.” This gallant service was performed on shore near Marionpol. A detachment, consisting of Mr. Odevaine, Mate; Mr. Kellaway, Boatswain; and three Seamen, had been dispatched from the “Wrangler” to endeavour to burn some boats, fishing stations, and hay-stacks, on the opposite side of a small lake. They had nearly reached the spot, when they were fired upon by a party of fifty Russian soldiers, who suddenly rushed from their ambush, and endeavoured to cut off their retreat. One man fell into the enemy’s hands, but Mr. Kellaway, and the two other seamen, had contrived to make good their escape, when Mr. Odevaine accidentally fell. Kellaway, apparently imagining him to be wounded, without a moment’s hesitation returned to his rescue, risking his own life to succour his Commanding Officer. Unfortunately, while lifting up Mr. Odevaine, they were surrounded by the enemy, and, notwithstanding a gallant but hopeless resistance by Mr. Kellaway,they were both made prisoners. Commander Burgoyne, who has furnished these particulars, observes, “I was myself an observer of the zeal, gallantry, and self-devotion that characterized Mr. Kellaway’s conduct.” (Despatches from Admiral Lord Lyons, of 8th September, 1855, No. 746; and of 22nd September, 1855, No. 796.)

Supplement to The London Gazette of 24 February 1857. 24 February 1857, Numb. 21971, p. 650