Thomas Esmonde (VC)

He saved wounded men and put out a flare under Russian fire.

Thomas Esmonde was born at Pembrokestown, County Waterford, on 25 May 1829. His father James was a Royal Navy captain, and his brother John later became a baronet and Member of Parliament. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College between 1840 and 1846, then entered the 18th Royal Irish Regiment as an ensign in November 1851.

His first overseas campaigning took place in Burma during 1852–53, including operations associated with Pegu. He became a lieutenant in June 1853. The regiment subsequently went to the Crimea, where Esmonde served from December 1854 until July 1855. He received promotion to captain in April 1855, while the siege of Sebastopol was still in progress.

During the assault on the Redan on 18 June 1855 he repeatedly helped bring wounded officers and soldiers away from exposed ground. Russian artillery continued sweeping the approaches with grape and shell. Esmonde's work required him to remain in danger while men unable to withdraw by themselves were carried to safety.

Two nights later he was serving with a covering party when a Russian fireball landed near a British working party. Its light threatened to reveal the soldiers and their position to the defenders. Esmonde went forward and extinguished it under fire. The Russian batteries then concentrated on the place where the light had been. His official Victoria Cross citation recognizes both these acts, rather than the rescue work alone (London Gazette, 25 September 1857, citation transcribed at https://victoriacross.org.uk/bbesmont.htm).

Esmonde received the Victoria Cross from Queen Victoria at Portsmouth on 2 August 1858. His other campaign medals reflected his earlier Burmese service and the siege of Sebastopol. In November 1858 he married Matilda O'Kelly in Dublin, and they had five children. His subsequent military career included a brevet majority and appointment as aide-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with lieutenant-colonel's rank, in December 1868.

After selling his commission he entered a different form of public service as Deputy Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary. His life ended while travelling in Belgium: during a riding accident near Bruges a branch injured his eye, and the resulting infection proved fatal. He died on 14 January 1872 and was buried at Bruges. His medals eventually passed into the Lord Ashcroft collection, preserving together the evidence of his service in Burma and the Crimea.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For having, after being engaged in the attack on the Redan, repeatedly assisted, at great personal risk under a heavy fire of shell and grape, in rescuing wounded men from exposed situations; and also, while in command of a covering party, two days after, for having rushed with the most prompt and daring gallantry to a spot where a fire-ball from the enemy had just been lodged, which he effectually extinguished, before it had betrayed the position of the working party under his protection,–thus saving it from a murderous fire of shell and grape, which was immediately opened upon the spot where the fire-ball had fallen.

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