NAM.1980-04-37-47

Statue of Captain Sir William Peel, Victoria Cross, Calcutta, 1870 (c) Photograph, Calcutta, 1870 (c). Showing a statue of Capt Sir William Peel, VC, KCB in military uniform, set within park-like grounds. A man in a turban and local clothing is sitting on a large square concrete platform on which the statue sits. In the background a number of ships can be seen, nd. Signed on the photograph in manuscript ‘Sache 8’. From a photograph album of 74 photographs compiled by Maj William Davis (1825-1873), 31st Bengal Native Infantry, Calcutta Infantry Volunteer Guards and the Jhansi Police. Most photographs in the album were taken by John Edward Saché, nd. Associated with Indian Mutiny (1857-1859). Captain Peel was awarded the Victoria Cross for three separate acts of gallantry during the Crimea War. He was present at the siege of Sevastopol commanding a Brigade when a live Russian shell landed among the Brigade's ammunition wagon. Peel picked up the shell with the fuse still burning and threw it over the parapet - the shell burst as it left his hands. He was also present at the battle of Inkerman, 5 November 1854 where he helped some officers of the Grenadier Guards retreat by warning them of a Russian advance and finally on 18 June 1855 he led the first scaling party to attack the fortress of the Redan at Sebastopol where he was severely wounded. William Peel was born on 2 November 1824, the third son of the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel. He entered the Navy in 1838 as a First Class Volunteer and died in 1858 from smallpox having been wounded at the Second Relief of Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny. He had been awarded a CB in 1855 and was created a KCB in 1858.

Indian Mutiny (1857-1859)

Inkerman, Battle of, 1854 (Crimean War 1854-1856), Sevastopol, Siege of, 1854-55 (Crimean War 1854-1856)