Everard Aloysius Lisle Phillipps VC (28 May 1835 – 17 September 1857) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to

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and Commonwealth forces.

Details

After attending

St Edmund's College, Ware St Edmund's College is a coeducational independent day and boarding school in the British public school tradition, set in in Ware, Hertfordshire. Founded in 1568 as a seminary, then a boys' school, it is the oldest continuously operating and ...

, in 1854 Everard Phillipps sailed for India to join the 11th

Bengal Native Infantry The regiments of Bengal Native Infantry, alongside the regiments of Bengal European Infantry, were the regular infantry components of the East India Company's Bengal Army from the raising of the first Native battalion in 1757 to the passing int ...

. When the Indian Mutiny broke out in 1857, Phillipps' regiment was amongst the first to revolt. When the Queen's proclamation against the insurgents came, he had to read it out as he could speak the native tongue. Riding boldly forward while the bullets whistled round him, he began to read the proclamation, but before he got to the end of the first sentence his horse was shot from under him, and he fell to the ground, himself wounded by a stray bullet. Undeterred, he sprang to his feet and read through the whole proclamation from beginning to end before taking cover. On the desertion of the Bengal Infantry, he then joined the

60th Rifles The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United S ...

. He performed many gallant deeds, and in the months before his death he was wounded three times. At the

Siege of Delhi The siege of Delhi was one of the decisive conflicts of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The rebellion against the authority of the East India Company was widespread through much of Northern India, but essentially it was sparked by the mass up ...

, he captured the Water Bastion with a small party and was killed in the streets on 17 September 1857. His death was recorded in ''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...

'' on 18 September. Ensign Phillipps was awarded the Victoria Cross fifty years after his death. His citation reads: His VC is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum, London.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillipps, Everard Aloysius Lisle 1835 births 1857 deaths Military personnel from Leicestershire British East India Company Army officers British recipients of the Victoria Cross Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross People from Coleorton British military personnel killed in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 King's Royal Rifle Corps officers People educated at St Edmund's College, Ware English Roman Catholics