Teignmouth Melvill

He carried the Colour from the camp into the flooded waters.

Teignmouth Melvill was born in London on 8 September 1842 and educated at Cheltenham, Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. Commissioned into the 24th Regiment in 1865, he served in the Mediterranean and southern Africa. He married Sarah Reed in 1876 and became the battalion's adjutant.

On 22 January 1879, as the Zulu army overwhelmed Isandlwana, he escaped carrying the Queen's Colour. Reaching the flooded Buffalo River with Lieutenant Coghill, he was swept from his horse and struggled to a rock. Coghill returned to help him, but the Colour was lost in the current. The men reached the Natal bank and were killed on the hillside beyond.

Both were buried near Fugitives' Drift. Their gallantry was formally recorded in 1879, and posthumous Victoria Crosses were approved in 1907. Melvill's decoration was sent to his widow that February.

Victoria Cross citation and delivery authorization

The King has been graciously pleased to approve of the Decoration of the Victoria Cross being delivered to the representatives of the undermentioned Officers and men who fell in the performance of acts of valour, and with reference to whom it was notified in the London Gazette that they would have been recommended to Her late Majesty for the Victoria Cross had they survived: - London Gazette, 2nd May, 1879. Lieutenant Teignmouth Melvill, 24th Foot. Lieutenant Nevill Josiah Aylmer Coghill, 24th Foot. “Lieutenant Melvill, of the 1st Battalion 24th Foot, on account of the gallant efforts made by him to save the Queen’s Colour of his Regiment after the disaster at Isandlwanha, and also Lieutenant Coghill, 1st Battalion 24th Foot, on account of his heroic conduct in endeavouring to save his brother officer’s life, would have been recommended to Her Majesty for the Victoria Cross had they survived.”