Richard Ridgeway

He stormed a barricade under fire and took a grievous wound.

Richard Kirby Ridgeway was born in County Meath, Ireland, on 18 August 1848. He entered the Army and joined the 44th Sylhet Light Infantry in 1874, a regiment subsequently incorporated into the Gurkha tradition.

During the Naga Hills expedition, British troops attacked the fortified village of Khonoma on 22 November 1879. Ridgeway repeatedly exposed himself during the assault. At the final barricade he rushed forward under heavy fire and attempted to tear away its planking to open an entrance. A rifle bullet severely wounded his left shoulder. His conduct earned the Victoria Cross, announced in May 1880; because his wounds prevented an investiture, the medal was sent to him.

Ridgeway recovered and continued serving in India. His later campaigns included the northeast frontier expedition of 1891 and the operations of 1897-98 on the Punjab frontier, at Samana and in Tirah. He became a colonel and Companion of the Order of the Bath. He died at Harrogate on 11 October 1924 and was cremated at Lawnswood, Leeds.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For conspicuous gallantry throughout the attack on Konoma, on the 22nd November, 1879, more especially in the final assault, when, under a heavy fire from the enemy, he rushed up to a barricade and attempted to tear down the planking surrounding it, to enable him to effect an entrance, in which act he received a very severe rifle shot wound in the left shoulder.

The London Gazette of 11 May 1880, Numb. 24843, p. 2968