Thomas Flynn (VC)

He fought off attackers despite a wound during close combat.

Thomas Flynn was born at Athlone on 22 December 1839. He joined the boys’ establishment of the 64th Regiment in 1854 and sailed for India that September. Appointed drummer in July 1857, he served during the rebellion.

At Cawnpore on 28 November 1857, Flynn was wounded but continued fighting at close quarters against two attackers. His gallantry earned the Victoria Cross, although the recommendation rendered his surname as Flinn. He received the decoration at a parade in Karachi in March 1860.

His subsequent service included repeated imprisonment and reduction to private. He left the Army in 1869 and returned to Athlone. Married in 1880, he later experienced severe poverty and entered the workhouse with his wife. He died there on 10 August 1892 and was buried at Cornamagh. The evidence does not establish a retrospective psychiatric diagnosis.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For conspicuous gallantry, in the charge on the Enemy’s guns on the 28th November, 1857, when, being himself wounded, he engaged in a hand to hand encounter two of the Rebel Artillerymen.

The London Gazette of 12 April 1859, Numb. 22248, p. 1483