William Henry Harrison Seeley

Wounded in action he stayed at the front of the naval fight.

William Henry Harrison Seeley was an American who won the Victoria Cross in British naval service. Born at Topsham, Maine, in 1840, his naval service took him to the China Station. Published research by John Winton places his first recorded service aboard HMS Imperieuse on 17 July 1860, before his later service as an ordinary seaman in HMS Euryalus. His opportunity for distinction came far from both Maine and Britain, during the international expedition against the coastal batteries controlling Japan's Shimonoseki Strait.

On 6 September 1864 naval landing parties went ashore to attack the positions. Before the advance, Seeley reconnoitred the Japanese defences and brought back information about their location. This was practical, exposed work: the attacking sailors needed to know where the opposition stood before committing themselves to the assault.

He remained at the front when the landing force advanced. A shot wounded him in the arm, but he continued to hold his position instead of leaving the action. His Victoria Cross citation recognised both parts of his conduct, the intelligence gathered before the attack and his persistence after being hit. It praised the “intelligence and daring” displayed in locating the enemy and his remaining forward despite his wound (London Gazette, 21 April 1865).

Seeley received the Cross at Portsmouth on 22 September 1865. Two other naval recipients from the expedition, Duncan Boyes and Thomas Pride, were invested on the same occasion. The ceremony marked the public recognition of an ordinary seaman whose reconnaissance had helped the attacking force and whose wound had not immediately ended his participation.

Seeley later returned to the United States. He died on 1 October 1914 at his son's home in Dedham, Massachusetts, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Stoughton. His grave originally lacked an adequate marker identifying his achievement. A later commemorative effort restored recognition of the sailor and his Victoria Cross. The Cross itself remained with descendants into the twentieth century, although its later whereabouts have not been established.