Sir William Nathan Wrighte Hewett

He turned the gun as Russian troops closed upon the battery.

Sir William Nathan Wrighte Hewett, VC, KCB, KCSI, was born at Brighton on 12 August 1834, the son of a physician who had attended William IV. He entered the Royal Navy in 1847, served in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852–53, including Pegu, and was acting mate of the gun-vessel Beagle when the Crimean campaign brought him ashore with the Naval Brigade.

On 26 October 1854 he commanded a Lancaster gun before Sebastopol. Russian troops advancing against the British position threatened the battery's flank. Their riflemen came within about 300 yards, and an order reached Hewett to disable the gun and retreat. He challenged its authority, refusing to act unless it came from Captain Stephen Lushington, the brigade commander.

Instead he broke down the battery's side parapet. With soldiers helping, he swung the gun around and fired into the advancing troops. His decision preserved a weapon that would otherwise have been abandoned and brought effective fire onto the threatened approach. At Inkerman on 5 November, Lushington again reported his conspicuous conduct.

Both actions appear in the official Victoria Cross citation, published on 24 February 1857. Its account records his refusal to spike the gun and the subsequent turn and fire against the Russian column. Lushington's second report praised Hewett's “gallant conduct” at Inkerman (citation transcription https://www.victoriacross.org.uk/bbhewett.htm). Promoted lieutenant for the October action, he received his Cross from Queen Victoria at the first Hyde Park investiture on 26 June 1857.

As lieutenant commanding HMS Beagle, Hewett served at Kerch and in the Sea of Azov in 1855. His subsequent career ranged across several naval stations. He commanded vessels off West Africa, in North American waters and on the China station. As commodore during the Ashanti campaign of 1873–74 he directed naval operations, was present at Amoaful, and accompanied the advance to Coomassie. These services brought appointment as a Knight Commander of the Bath in 1874.

Appointed commander-in-chief in the East Indies in April 1882, Hewett directed Red Sea operations during the Egyptian war, securing Suez in August. He was also appointed a Knight Commander of the Star of India. In February 1884 he landed seamen and Royal Marines to defend Suakin and was appointed governor. The contemporary Dictionary of National Biography records his presence at the second battle of El Teb on 29 February, apparently unofficially; it does not establish a formal battlefield command.

In April 1884 he undertook a diplomatic mission to King Yohannes IV of Abyssinia concerning relief of Egyptian garrisons. The Dictionary of National Biography records his receipt of the Order of Solomon. This mission was distinct from combat in Sudan and from the British Abyssinian expedition of 1868. He became vice-admiral in 1884 and commanded the Channel Squadron from 1886 to April 1888.

He married Jane Emily Wood in 1857 and had five children, including two sons who entered the Navy. Ill health ended his last command in 1888. He died at the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar, on 13 May 1888 and was buried in Portsmouth's Highland Road Cemetery. His surviving medals record service extending from Burma and Crimea to West Africa and Egypt.