The Victoria Cross was instituted during the Crimean War by Royal Warrant on 29th January 1856 to honour extreme acts of valour carried out in the face of the enemy.
All persons considered for the award were to be on a perfectly even footing "neither rank, nor long service, nor wounds, nor any other circumstance or condition whatsoever, save the merit of conspicuous bravery . . ."

The first investiture was held in Hyde Park on 26th June 1857. Queen Victoria decorated sixty-two men, twelve were Naval personnel and two were Royal Marines.

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