Joseph Malone (VC)

He stopped under hostile fire to save a gravely wounded man.

Joseph Malone was born at Eccles, Lancashire, on 11 January 1833. A farrier before enlistment, he joined the 13th Light Dragoons in 1851 and served in the Crimea.

Returning on foot from the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava on 25 October 1854, after his horse had been shot, Malone stopped under heavy fire to take charge of Captain Webb of the 17th Lancers. He remained with the mortally wounded officer until help arrived to remove him. This act brought the Victoria Cross.

After the war he served at cavalry riding establishments and transferred to the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons as a commissioned riding master in 1858. He served in India, married Eliza Weir in 1860 and raised a family. Later postings took him to Britain and South Africa. He died at Pinetown, Natal, on 28 June 1883 and was buried there the following day.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For having stopped under a very heavy fire to take charge of Captain Webb, 17th Lancers, until others arrived to assist him in removing that Officer, who was (as it afterwards proved) mortally wounded. Serjeant Malone performed thisact of bravery while returning on foot from the charge at the Battle of Balaklava, in which his horse had been shot.

The London Gazette of 25 September 1857, Numb. 22043, p. 3194