Richard Fitzgerald (VC)

He kept his gun firing after its brave crew fell around him.

Richard Fitzgerald was born in the parish of St Finbar's, Cork, in December 1831. He enlisted in the Bengal Horse Artillery in December 1851 and was serving in India when the uprising of 1857 began.

At Bulandshahr on 28 September 1857, Fitzgerald and Sergeant Bernard Diamond remained with their gun under heavy enemy fire. Other members of the detachment had been killed or wounded, but the two artillerymen continued serving the piece and helped clear the enemy from the road. Both received the Victoria Cross, with their awards announced in April 1858.

Fitzgerald later transferred to the Royal Artillery for local service in India and retired on pension in 1872. Surviving pension evidence continues until 1884, after which his precise death date and burial place remain uncertain. His Victoria Cross and Indian Mutiny Medal passed to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, where they survived the destruction caused by wartime bombing.

Official Victoria Cross citation

“For an act of valour performed in action against the rebels and mutineers at Boolundshur, on the 28th September, 1857, when these two soldiers evinced the most determined bravery in working their gun under a very heavy fire of musketry, whereby they cleared the road of the enemy, after every other man belonging to it had been either killed or disabled by wounds.” (Despatch of Major Turner, Bengal Horse Artillery, dated Boolundshur, 2nd October, 1857.)

The London Gazette of 27 April 1858, Numb. 22131, p. 2051