Major John Buckley
VC (24 May 1813 – 14 July 1876) was an English 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 ...
. He was the 115th recipient of the award and the first of 182 awarded during the
Indian Mutiny
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
(1358 have been awarded in total).
Early life
Buckley was born in a cottage on Cocker Hill in
Stalybridge
Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census.
Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and no ...
, Cheshire on 24 May 1813 and was baptised in Old St George's Church. He was destined to have a tragic family life though he himself thwarted death many times. His early employment was in the textile industry, working locally at Harrison's Mill and then Bayley's Mill. Recognising that his ambitions went beyond mill work, Buckley left home at Christmas 1831 to travel to Manchester, where he enlisted at the Recruiting Office into the
Bengal Artillery. He joined the Regiment as a Gunner at Chatham and on 20 June 1832 he embarked on HMS Layton at Gravesend to join his unit in India.
He married fourteen year old Mary Ann Broadway on 28 July 1835 at Chunar, India. He was then stationed at Fort William, Calcutta. By 1845 his wife and two of his three children had died of tropical disease. He then married Esther Hunter at Allahabad, India on 17 August 1846. In 1852 the surviving daughter from his first marriage died, and in the following year two sons by his second marriage also died.
He was promoted Corporal on 31 August 1840, Sergeant on 1 September 1853, and being able to speak several Indian dialects he gained a position with the Bengal Veterans' Establishment as a Sub-Conductor on 21 April 1854. He was appointed Staff Conductor on 26 May 1856, and in 1857 he took his wife and three surviving children to Delhi, where he became Assistant Commissary of Ordnance and was employed at the Great Magazine, a storehouse for guns and ammunition.
Defence of the Magazine at Delhi
Buckley was 43 years old, and a Deputy Assistant
Commissary
A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop.
In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...
of Ordnance in the Commissariat Department (
Bengal Establishment) of the British
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
during the
Indian Mutiny
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
when the following took place on 11 May 1857 at
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
for which he was awarded the VC. Deputy Assistant Commissary Buckley was one of nine men who defended the ammunition storehouse for more than five hours against large numbers of mutineers. When the wall was being scaled and hope of outside help was gone, they blew up the ammunition, killing many of the mutineers. Of the defenders, five died in the explosion and one shortly afterwards, while Buckley,
George Forrest, and
William Raynor survived. His citation in the London Gazette reads:
Remaining life
He was captured by the enemy and soon learnt that his entire family had been ruthlessly murdered by the rebels. He had now lost two wives and eight children in total and wanted to live no longer. He begged for death from his captors but they refused to kill him on account of his bravery at the magazine.
On escaping to the British lines he volunteered for every dangerous mission he could in order to vent his anger and seek revenge. He was present at the
Battle of Badli-ki-Serai
The Battle of Badli-ki-Serai was fought early in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or ''First War of Indian Independence'' as it has since been termed in Indian histories of the events. A British and Gurkha force defeated a force of sepoys who had ...
on 8 June 1857, and three attacks of sunstroke left him weak and ill, but he survived. He was then appointed
Provost Marshal
Provost marshal is a title given to a person in charge of a group of Military Police (MP). The title originated with an older term for MPs, '' provosts'', from the Old French ''prévost'' (Modern French ''prévôt''). While a provost marshal i ...
at
Meerut
Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...
, where one of his duties was to superintend the execution of 150 rebels. He devised their punishment of being strapped to the muzzle of a cannon and blown apart. Buckley was promoted to Lieutenant on 18 October 1858. He became ill again and the Medical Board at Fort William, Calcutta, granted him two years leave. He departed for Britain on 21 May 1858 and arrived home on 6 July.
John Buckley was invested with his Victoria Cross by
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
on 2 August 1858 during a parade of the garrison on
Southsea Common, Portsmouth.
He returned to Stalybridge in September 1858, but soon left again for India. Buckley retired as a Major on 1 October 1861, returned to England and lived for may years with his final wife, Sara, at 213 East India Dock Road,
Poplar until his death on 14 July 1876, aged 63. He was laid to rest at
Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park
Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is a local nature reserve and historic cemetery in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets within the East End of London. It is regarded as one of the seven great cemeteries of the Victorian era, the " Magnificent Sev ...
, Mile End in common ground.
The medal
Buckley has no direct descendants but a great-niece survived until 1955, at which time his VC was purchased by the
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equip ...
for £11,000. His Victoria Cross is displayed at
The Royal Logistic Corps Museum
The Royal Logistic Corps Museum is based at Worthy Down near Winchester. It tells story of logistic support to the British Army from Agincourt to the modern day. The museum holds the collection of the Royal Logistic Corps RLC and the collectio ...
at
Camberley
Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...
, Surrey, England.
Commemorations
A blue plaque to commemorate Buckley's life is sited at the Travellers Call
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
in
Stalybridge
Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census.
Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and no ...
.
Buckley Barracks
Buckley Barracks is a British Army barracks in Wiltshire, England, about north of Chippenham and west of Swindon.
History
The barracks are located on the technical site of the former RAF Hullavington which closed on 31 March 1992. On handove ...
, home of 9 Regiment
Royal Logistic Corps
The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army.
History
The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was formed on 5 April 1993, by the union of five British Army corps:
* Royal Engine ...
(formed from the amalgamation of the RAOC/RCT) at
Hullavington
Hullavington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, just to the north of the M4 motorway. The village lies about southwest of Malmesbury and north of Chippenham.
The Fosse Way, a Roman road, forms the western boundary of the par ...
, Wiltshire is named for him.
Buckley House, the official residence of the commander of the
Defence Storage and Distribution Centre at
Bicester
Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cherwell (district), Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an Eco-towns, eco town at North Wes ...
is also named after Buckley.
His grave was left unmarked for 136 years until it was found by Doreen Kendall in 2012. Two years later the grave was marked with a headstone in a ceremony on 14 July 2014, which was attended by
Jim Fitzpatrick MP, soldiers from 9 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps and the Victoria Cross Trust.
References
*''
Monuments to Courage
David Charles Harvey (29 July 1946 – 4 March 2004) was a historian and author. He is notable for his seminal work, ''Monuments To Courage'', which documents the graves of almost all recipients of the Victoria Cross, a task that took him over 36 ...
'' (David Harvey, 1999)
*''
The Register of the Victoria Cross
''The Register of the Victoria Cross'' is a reference work that provides brief information on every Victoria Cross awarded until the publication date. Each entry provides a summary of the deed, along with a photograph of the recipient and the fol ...
'' (This England, 1997)
External links
Location of grave and VC medal''(E. London)''
– extract from RAOC Gazette, February 1988, pp386–388 at www.rlc-conductor.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, John
1813 births
1876 deaths
People from Stalybridge
British Indian Army officers
British East India Company Army officers
British recipients of the Victoria Cross
Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross
Burials in Tower Hamlets Cemetery