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The Victoria Cross Registers

The Victoria Cross was instituted by Royal Warrant on 29 January 1856 for award to both officers and non-commissioned ranks of the Royal Navy and the Army who, in the presence of the enemy 'shall have performed some signal act of valour...'. You can search and download the entries of all those listed.

Simple in design, the cross was to be made from the bronze cannon captured during the Crimean War (1854 - 1856). Subsequently it has been awarded to members of the other armed forces.

The Victoria Cross is still Britain's premier award for gallantry in face of the enemy and is worn before all other orders, decorations and medals.

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What information can I find?

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The series WO 98 holds correspondence and papers concerning the Victoria Cross. This includes the original Royal Warrant signed by Queen Victoria (Catalogue reference WO 98/1). You can download the warrant free of charge.

WO 98 also holds Volumes 1 - 3 of the registers of awards which cover the period 1856 to 1944. The War Office produced these registers, consisting of London Gazette entries. The digitised registers are:

Victoria Cross Register, Volume 1, 20 February 1856 - 6 August 1864 (WO 98/3)

Victoria Cross Register, Volume 2, 16 August 1864 - 31 January 1900 (WO 98/4)

Victoria Cross Register, Volume 3, 2 February 1900 - 1 September 1944 (WO 98/8)

You can search these files on any or all of the following:

The Victoria Cross registers may also contain information about when the award was made, by whom and to whom, if it was a posthumous award. The registers are heavily annotated - they were used when organising the 100th anniversary celebrations of the creation of the Victoria Cross, when many more recipients were still alive.

In addition this online collection also includes images from a Cabinet file (Catalogue reference CAB 106/320). These records form a list of the recipients of the Victoria Cross from 1856 up to 1946. As this list was produced in 1953 it also lists two awards made during the Korean War (1950 - 1953) and so provides a more complete picture. The images in CAB 106/320 can be downloaded free of charge.

Why can't I find an entry?

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Of the 1355 awards made, including 3 bars, 1236 individuals have been recorded in the registers. Researchers have compiled this list of those who have also been awarded the Victoria Cross but are not listed in the registers.

 

Further research

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CAB 106/320 also contains some 'General Notes' pages about the VCs awarded. Click on these images to read more.

If you are interested in researching the records of Gallantry medals click on the links to see these free National Archives research guides:

You might also be interested in Medals: The Researcher's Guide, William Spencer (The National Archives, 2006), available from The National Archives bookshop.

You can read about the first Private to be awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War, Sidney Godley VC, in Famous names in the First World War.

The Art of War is a National Archives online exhibition. The section on Valour and Gallantry illustrates individual acts of heroism and includes 41 Victoria Cross winners.