Mark Scholefield

At Inkerman, five sailors held a battery under Russian fire.

Born in London around 1828, Mark Scholefield entered the Royal Navy as a boy and later served aboard HMS Albion. During the Crimean War, he joined the Naval Brigade operating ashore at Sevastopol.

On 5 November 1854, Scholefield, James Gorman, Thomas Reeves, Thomas Geoghegan and John Woods defended the Right Lancaster Battery against advancing Russian troops. Standing on the banquette, the sailors used muskets passed up and reloaded by wounded defenders sheltering below the parapet. Their determined fire helped repel the attack, although Geoghegan and Woods were killed.

Scholefield, Gorman and Reeves received the Victoria Cross for their gallantry. Their collective action was published in the London Gazette on 24 February 1857, issue 21971.

Scholefield subsequently served as a quartermaster and petty officer aboard HMS Acorn during the Second Opium War. He participated in operations culminating in the capture of Canton in December 1857.

His decorations and campaign entitlements included the Victoria Cross, the Crimea Medal with Inkermann and Sebastopol clasps, the Turkish Crimea Medal, and the later-authorised China Medal 1857–1860 with the Canton 1857 clasp.

Scholefield died at sea on 15 February 1858 and was buried at sea. His Victoria Cross, sent to Hong Kong for presentation, was subsequently forwarded to his mother. The original decoration is held in the Lord Ashcroft Collection at the Imperial War Museum, London.