Sale of Irish war hero’s medal

One of the first Victoria Crosses won by an Irishman will be auctioned in London by medals auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb next Friday, September 19th. The British Army's highest honour for gallantry was awarded to the Cashel, Co Tipperary, born Stephen Garvin in 1857 during the Indian Mutiny – a 19th-century rebellion against British rule in India. A Colour-Sergeant in the 60th Rifles, he also won the Distinguished Conduct Medal and was the most highly decorated non-commissioned soldier to emerge from the conflict.

Garvin was personally presented with the VC by Queen Victoria at a ceremony in Windsor when he returned to England in 1860. He left the army in 1865 and was later appointed a Yeoman of the Guard. He moved to Cambridge, where he died in 1874 aged 48, just months after the deaths of his second wife Mary and baby daughter Sophia. The three of them are buried together in St Andrew's Churchyard, Chesterton, Cambridge. Stephen Garvin is regarded as one of the great heroes of Victorian Britain. The auctioneers said a private collector was selling the set of medals estimated at £120,000-£140,000.