Ashford Kent Victoria Cross Register

The Victoria Cross (VC) can only be awarded for "most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy". It has been awarded only 1,355 times since the Crimean War, the majority of the medals going to British and Commonwealth troops. The Victoria Cross is in the shape of a Maltese Cross. It measures 1.375 inches across, and with the suspender bar and link, weighs around 0.87 ounces. It's dull in colour, made from gunmetal from the cascabels of two cannon captured from the Russians at Sebastopol in the Crimea. During the Great War it is believed that a few medals were struck using metal derived from other sources. The cross itself is cast, then chased and finished by hand by the London Jewellers Messrs Hancocks (now Hancocks & Co Limited). The chunk of gunmetal they are made from is stored by the British Army in a secure vault at C.O.D Donnington (15th Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps Stores Depot).

David W Hughes : Neil R Clark : Kyle D Tallett