Thomas Grady

Thomas “Tom” Grady VC, DCM was an Irish-born soldier of the 4th (King’s Own) Regiment of Foot whose extraordinary courage during the Crimean War placed him among the earliest recipients of the Victoria Cross. During the Siege of Sevastopol in 1854, he performed two separate acts of conspicuous gallantry that today would almost certainly have earned him the Victoria Cross and Bar.

On 18 October 1854, Grady volunteered to repair the damaged embrasures of the Sailors’ Battery while under intense Russian fire. Working with only one other volunteer, he successfully restored the position despite the heavy bombardment. Just over a month later, on 22 November, he was severely wounded while helping repel a determined Russian assault on the advanced trenches. Refusing to leave the front line, he remained with his comrades, encouraging the defenders by his example until the attack was beaten back.

Both recommendations reached the War Office together after the Victoria Cross had been instituted. Because the original Royal Warrant did not permit the award of a Bar for a second act of gallantry committed before the first award had been approved, Grady received the Victoria Cross for his combined gallantry and the Distinguished Conduct Medal in recognition of his second deed. He was personally invested with the Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria at the first ever VC ceremony in Hyde Park on 26 June 1857.

After leaving the Army in 1856, Grady emigrated to Australia, where he settled in Victoria. He died near Melbourne on 18 May 1891 and was buried in Melbourne General Cemetery. In 1986, his family donated his Victoria Cross to the Australian War Memorial, where it remains on public display as a testament to one of the most remarkable stories of bravery from the Crimean War.

The recommendation for the Victoria Cross, submitted by Captain Lushington, Royal Navy, was published in The London Gazette on 23 June 1857: "For having, on the 18th October 1854, volunteered to repair the Embrazures of the Sailor's Battery on the left Attack, and effected the same, with the assistance of one other Volunteer, under a very heavy fire from a line of batteries."

The corresponding War Office entry for his second deed recorded: "For gallant conduct on the 22nd November 1854, in the repulse of the Russian attack on the advanced Trench on the Left Attack, when on being severely wounded, he refused to quit the front, encouraging, by such determined bearing, the weak force engaged with the Enemy to maintain its position."