Victoria Cross noticeboard.

David Harvey, 1946-2004: historian of the Victoria Cross,

David Harvey, author of Monuments to Courage died 4 March 2004 aged 58. David's main concern was to find the final resting place of all VC recipients. His research took him to 50 countries and resulted in 1999 in the publication of the authoritative two volume Monuments to Courage. The UK does not have a body such as the Office of Australian War Graves which looks after all VC graves. So it was left to David and others to properly commemorate many VC recipients in unmarked or paupers' graves.

In 1969 David joined the Metropolitan Mounted Police. In 1980, after his marrage was dissolved he moved to the United States, spending the next 10 years designing cross-country jumping courses and instructing in the art of jumping, culminating in teaching the US junior Olympic team. On his return to London he rejoined the police force, but in 1992 an accident cut short his career. While visiting the Somme, he was struck by a drunken driver in an accident which left him paraplegic. He bore his circumstances with great courage. He is survived by his son and two daughters.

Longest time between VC action and gazettal

Just five VC awards, since the institution of the award in 1856, have been gazetted more than five years after the action being commended. The longest time between the VC action and gazettal was the posthumous award to the Hon Christopher Furness, 1st Bn, Welsh Guards, who was killed in action in France on 24 May 1940. This award was gazetted 5 years and 259 days later on 7 February 1946. It was only after captured members of his unit were released, when the war ended, that details of his gallantry became officially known. For the 91 VCs to the Australian Defence Force just 5 of the awards were gazetted more than six months after the action being commended. The longest wait for an Australian VC was 13 months, for the Vietnam award to WO2 Kevin Wheatley. See the Jul-Sep 1997 Sabretache article Blaming Buckingham Palace.

Campaigners for late VC awards often point to six awards in 1907 as examples of belated awards. Two of these awards were for the Indian Mutiny fifty years earlier, two for the Zulu War thirty years earlier and one each for Matabeleland and the North West Frontier ten years earlier. However, the 1904 edition of The History of Victoria Cross by Philip A Wilkens prints the citations for all six and photos of four of the recipients because their names had been gazetted in 1859, 1879 and 1897. What had happened was that the next of kin had not received the actual medal since the six recipients had been killed in the action for which they were commended.

Six posthumous VC awards were granted for the South African War in 1902. This was an exception to policy since the next of kin of the six whose names had been gazetted between 1859 and 1897 had not received the actual medal. The anomaly was resolved in 1907 when the widow of one of the six made a personal representation to the King. The King's personal secretary, Sir Arthur Davidson, informed the War Office that having regard to all the circumstances, His Majesty directed that the decoration of the VC should be handed to the nearest representative of the six recipients in question on the strict understanding that no other cases were involved in this decision.

I appreciate why the 1907 decision is irresistible to campaigners for late VC awards but the fact remains that the 1907 decision was a precedent for posthumous awards not belated awards.

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