William George Hawtry Bankes

He charged three times to defend their guns outside Lucknow.

William George Hawtry Bankes was born on 11 September 1836 at Kingston Lacy, Dorset. A son of George Bankes and Georgina Charlotte Nugent, he was educated at Westminster School and attended Trinity College, Cambridge. His university attendance should not be confused with a completed degree. On 3 March 1857 he was commissioned as a Cornet in the 7th (Queen's Own) Hussars, beginning a brief military career that lasted until 1858.

Bankes sailed to India with his regiment during the Indian Rebellion. He served in the Alambagh operations on 25 February 1858 and in the operations against Lucknow during March. His cavalry service culminated in the fighting near Moosa-Bagh on 19 March 1858.

That day, British guns were shelling a small mud fort near Lucknow when armed men rushed the artillery. Bankes charged the attackers three times. In the close fighting he suffered devastating wounds, ending his active service. He was taken for treatment, but died at Lucknow on 6 April 1858.

His Victoria Cross recognition followed an unusual course. The Commander-in-Chief in India reported that the decoration had been provisionally conferred during Bankes's lifetime. The notice published after his death did not describe a personal investiture. Instead, the London Gazette of 24 December 1858, issue 22212, page 5519, explained that his gallantry in the three charges would have led to a recommendation for royal confirmation had he survived. This distinction between provisional conferral and later publication is central to the history of his award.

Bankes is remembered for the Moosa-Bagh action, in which a young cavalry officer repeatedly intervened to defend the guns and received the wounds that ended his life. His exact burial location remains unestablished.