William Gardner

William Gardner was born on 3 March 1821 at Nemphlar in Lanarkshire, Scotland, and would spend more than two decades in the ranks of one of the British Army's most celebrated Highland regiments. He enlisted on 9 February 1841 in the 42nd Regiment of Foot, the Royal Highland Regiment, widely known as the Black Watch. He advanced rapidly through the non-commissioned ranks, becoming a corporal on 1 March 1842 and a sergeant on 15 May of the same year.

Gardner served with the regiment during the Crimean War of 1854 to 1856. His surviving medal entitlement records the Crimea Medal with the Sebastopol clasp, together with the Turkish Crimea Medal, and he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his service during the campaign. On 25 July 1855 he was promoted to Colour Sergeant. Although the 42nd Regiment fought at the Battle of the Alma, Gardner's presently documented Crimea Medal carries only the Sebastopol clasp, so individual participation at Alma should not be claimed without confirmation from the medal roll.

After the Crimean War, Gardner served with the 42nd during the Indian Mutiny. He was present at Lucknow, an entitlement reflected by the Lucknow clasp on his Indian Mutiny Medal, and subsequently took part in the campaign in Rohilkhand. By May 1858 he was serving as a Colour Sergeant when the regiment advanced against Bareilly.

On 5 May 1858, during the fighting at Bareilly, Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan Cameron, Gardner's commanding officer, was knocked from his horse as three attackers rushed upon him. Gardner immediately ran to Cameron's assistance and bayoneted two of the men. As he moved against the third, Gardner was himself shot down by another soldier of the regiment. The Victoria Cross and George Cross Association records that Gardner was wounded in the hand during the action. His intervention saved Cameron's life and became the act for which Gardner received Britain's highest decoration for valour.

Captain Macpherson of the 42nd Regiment reported Gardner's conduct, and the award of the Victoria Cross was published in The London Gazette on 24 August 1858, Issue No. 22176. The citation praised Gardner "for his conspicuous and gallant conduct" in saving his commanding officer at Bareilly. The official Gazette's own Indian Rebellion index confirms that Issue 22176, containing Victoria Cross awards, was published on 24 August 1858.

Gardner was invested with the Victoria Cross in India in February 1859. On 2 December 1859 he was promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant, and he eventually held the rank of Sergeant-Major. He was discharged at Stirling Castle on 4 March 1862 after more than twenty-one years of military service.

Returning to Lanarkshire, Gardner became a drill instructor with the local volunteer movement at Bothwell and remained associated with it until his retirement in 1885. He died at Anchorage Lodge, Bothwell, on 24 October 1897, aged seventy-six, and was buried with full military honours in Bothwell Park Cemetery.

Gardner's documented medal group comprised the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Conduct Medal, Crimea Medal with Sebastopol clasp, Indian Mutiny Medal with Lucknow clasp, Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, and Turkish Crimea Medal. In 2008 his great-grandson, Dr David Gardner, sold the Victoria Cross and five accompanying medals for £135,000, with the proceeds donated to charitable causes. The Victoria Cross was purchased on behalf of the Michael Ashcroft Trust for the Lord Ashcroft Collection.

Gardner's Victoria Cross was formerly exhibited with the Lord Ashcroft Collection at the Imperial War Museum in London. That dedicated gallery closed in September 2025, so it should no longer be described as currently displayed there. In March 2026, the National Army Museum announced that the Lord Ashcroft collection of Victoria Crosses and George Crosses would have a new long-term home at the museum, with selected medals beginning to go on display from summer 2026 and a larger permanent presentation planned within the following two years. The sources presently available do not establish that Gardner's individual medal is currently among the examples on public display.