Surgeon General Sir Anthony Dickson Home VC KCB (30 November 1826 – 10 August 1914) was a Scottish 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 previousl ...

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

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

forces.

Biography

Grave of Sir Anthony Dickson Home in Highgate Cemetery

Home graduated from the University of St Andrews School of Medicine with an MD in 1848. Home was 30 years old, and a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

in the

90th Foot The 90th Perthshire Light Infantry was a Scottish light infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1794. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Foot to form the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in 18 ...

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 Gurkha ...

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 for ...

on 26 September 1857 at the Relief of Lucknow,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC: In the early 1860s, Home was stationed in New Zealand and fought in the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the M ...

. He was awarded a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

and achieved the rank of surgeon general.

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

worked with him a few times and stated that, "..he seemed a most disagreeable old man...and yet when I married shortly afterwards he sent me a most charming message wishing me good fortune..."from Memories and Adventures, autobiography of Arthur Conan Doyle Home died on 10 August 1914 and was buried on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

The medal

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the

Army Medical Services Museum The Museum of Military Medicine, formerly the Army Medical Services Museum (AMS Museum), is located in Keogh Barracks, on Mytchett Place Road, Mytchett, Surrey, England. History The museum is based on the "Mytchett Collection", a collection of ...

Mytchett Mytchett is a village in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. It is to the east of Farnborough (in Hampshire), the nearest town. Much of the village dates from the first half of the twenti ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

Works

''Service Memoirs''

References

*'' Monuments to Courage'' (David Harvey, 1999) *'' The Register of the Victoria Cross'' (This England, 1997) *''

Scotland's Forgotten Valour ''Scotland's Forgotten Valour'' is a 1995 book by Graham Ross, published by MacLean Press under . (The typography of the title on the book uses capitalisation Capitalization (American English) or capitalisation (British English) is writing a ...

'' (Graham Ross, 1995)

External links

Location of grave and VC medal
''(N. London)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Home, Anthony Dickson 1826 births 1914 deaths British recipients of the Victoria Cross Cameronians officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross British Army regimental surgeons People from Dunbar British Army personnel of the Crimean War British Army personnel of the Second Opium War British military personnel of the New Zealand Wars Burials at Highgate Cemetery West India Regiment officers 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars officers 13th Hussars officers 35th Regiment of Foot officers Seaforth Highlanders officers British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Ashanti War Alumni of the University of St Andrews British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross