Clement Walker Heneage, VC (6 March 1831 – 9 December 1901) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer and a recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. In later life he was a justice of the peace and

High Sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the Sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) High Sheriffs of Wiltshire. Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held ''ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Go ...

Early life

Heneage was born in 1831, the eldest son of George Heneage Walker Heneage, the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between ...

from 1838 to 1857.

Army career

In August 1851, by purchase, Heneage was commissioned as a Cornet into the

8th Light Dragoons The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1693. It saw service for three centuries including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces ...

and on 3 September 1854 was promoted to Lieutenant. He was soon serving in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

and was present at many engagements of that campaign, including the battles of

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...

, Balaclava,

Inkerman Inkerman ( uk, Інкерман, russian: Инкерман, crh, İnkerman) is a city in the Crimean peninsula. It is '' de facto'' within the federal city of Sevastopol within the Russian Federation, but '' de jure'' within Ukraine. It li ...

, Tchernaïa, and the Siege of Sevastopol. He rode in the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. In May 1857, he was promoted to Captain. At the end of the Crimean War, Heneage proceeded to India with his regiment, which took part in suppressing the Indian Mutiny (1857–1858) in Rajputana and Central India. He was present at the capture of Kotah, the reoccupation of Chundaree, the battle of Kotah ke Serai, the capture of Gwalior and of Powree, the battle of Sindwaho, and the action of Koorwye and Naharghur

Victoria Cross

Heneage was 27 years old, and a captain in the 8th Hussars, during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. On 17 June 1858 at

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, Captain Heneage took part in a charge by a squadron of the 8th Hussars. Four men in this action, Heneage,

Joseph Ward Sir Joseph George Ward, 1st Baronet, (26 April 1856 – 8 July 1930) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 17th prime minister of New Zealand from 1906 to 1912 and from 1928 to 1930. He was a dominant figure in the Liberal and Unit ...

, George Hollis and John Pearson were awarded the

, the joint citation reading as follows:

Later life

Heneage retired from the army in 1868. He succeeded to the family estates on his father's death in 1875, and "devoted himself to the life and duties of a country gentleman" in Wiltshire. He was appointed

for 1887. He lived at Compton House,

Compton Bassett Compton Bassett is a village and rural Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of approximately 250. The village lies about north of Cherhill and east of the town of Calne. Parish church The Church ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, and in the

1901 United Kingdom census The United Kingdom Census 1901 was the 11th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and was done on 31st March 1901 "relating to the persons returned as living at midnight on Sunday, March 31st". The total p ...

his occupation was stated as justice of the peace. At that time he had thirteen servants, including a butler, a cook, a coachman, a groom, and two footmen. Clement Walker Heneage died suddenly at Compton House on 9 December 1901, and is buried in St Swithin's churchyard, Compton Bassett.

Family

In 1865, Heneage married Henrietta Vivian, daughter of John Henry Vivian, of

Singleton Singleton may refer to: Sciences, technology Mathematics * Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element * Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing * Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...

, Glamorgan, with whom he had one daughter and four sons. Their son Algernon became a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

admiral.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker-Heneage, Clement 1831 births 1901 deaths People from Wiltshire People educated at Eton College 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars officers British Army personnel of the Crimean War British recipients of the Victoria Cross Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross Deputy Lieutenants of Wiltshire Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford High Sheriffs of Wiltshire British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross