Walter Richard Pollock Hamilton
Lieutenant, Bengal Staff Corps/Corps of Guides, Indian Army
- Register No.
- 520 (Alf's numbering, from The Register of the Victoria Cross, 1997)
- Rank
- Lieutenant all Lieutenants →
- Unit
- Bengal Staff Corps/Corps of Guides, Indian Army all Corps of Guides VCs →
- Date of action
- 2 April 1879 on this day → all of 1879 →
- Conflict / campaign
- Second Afghan War
- London Gazette
- 1st September 1879 on this day → all of 1879 →
- Born
- 18th August 1856 at Inistioge, Kilkenny, Ireland
- Died
- 3rd September 1879 at Kabul in Afghanistan
- Award
- Posthumous all posthumous VCs →
- Memorial / grave
- at the Horse Show Hall, Ballsbridge, Dublin and the sanctum crypt of St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, London and his statue stands in the Kildare Street Library^ in Dublin. (^Recorded 1920)
Digest of citation
On 2 April 1879 at Futtehabad,* Lieutenant Hamilton led a charge of the Guide Cavalry against very superior numbers of the enemy. When his commanding officer fell, the lieutenant, the only officer left with the regiment, assumed command and cheered his men on to avenge the death of the commanding officer. In this charge, seeing that a sowar+ was down, entangled with his dead horse and being attacked by three of the enemy, Lieutenant Hamilton rushed to the rescue, cutting down all three and saving the life of the sowar
From Alf Askin's research notes
Reproduced as Alf wrote it, c. 2000–2005. Spelling and abbreviations are his own.
HAMILTON, Walter Richard Pollock. (Reg. No.520)
Lieutenant Bengal Staff Corps/Corps of Guides, Indian Army.
Gazetted on 1st September 1879.
Born on 18th August 1856 at Inistioge, Kilkenny, Ireland.
Died on 3rd September 1879 at Kabul in Afghanistan.
Memorials are at the Horse Show Hall, Ballsbridge, Dublin and the sanctum crypt of St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, London and his statue stands in the Kildare Street Library^ in Dublin. (^Recorded 1920)
Digest of Citation reads: On 2 April 1879 at Futtehabad,* Lieutenant Hamilton led a charge of the Guide Cavalry against very superior numbers of the enemy. When his commanding officer fell, the lieutenant, the only officer left with the regiment, assumed command and cheered his men on to avenge the death of the commanding officer. In this charge, seeing that a sowar+ was down, entangled with his dead horse and being attacked by three of the enemy, Lieutenant Hamilton rushed to the rescue, cutting down all three and saving the life of the sowar.
*Afghan War + Private, Indian Army.
Additional information: He was the son of Alexander Hamilton JP., and his wife Emma (Daughter of Rt. Hon. Sir Frederick Pollock. Bart. Hamilton was educated at Eagle House in Wimbledon, also at Felstead School, Essex. In an open examination for the Army he gained 21st place and joined the 70th Regiment In October 1874 he sent to India at HQ., Rawalpindi. After accepting a commission in the Corps of Guides he took an examination in languages and passed. He was transferred to the Cavalry Section. His career was as follows. 1877-78 he served throughout the Itwaki-Afrida Expedition --- Became ADC to General Keyes ----14th March 1878 in operations against the village of Ranitzai,Skhakat. --- In October 1878 took Guides to Jamrud and reconnoitred the area of the Khyber Pass,.for six weeks, in the expectation of hostilities with Afghanistan --- In the fisrt campaign he served with the Cavalry on which much of the burden fell.--- He was at the occasion of the capture of Ali Musjid. --- March 1879 he was in command of an escort of a party of surveyors under Lt.Leech of the Royal Engineers. When attacked by Ghinwari tribesmen, his escort beat them off. --- Later in March he advanced with General Gough and his brigade to Futtebahad. It was in the action of the 2nd April 1879 that he lost his best friend, Major Wigram Battye. When he was first recommended for the VC the War Office refused to award the medal. He was chosen as a Political Assistant to Sir Louis Cavagnari who was to be Minister and Diplomat at an Embassy to Kabul. On the 3rd of September 1879 the Embassy was attacked and the entire staff, with the exception of a few Corps of Guides, were murdered. Amongst the killed, was Lieutenant Hamilton, but not before he had killed three men with his pistol and using his sword felled two more before being killed himself. Eight days before he Died on he wrote home sending verses on the disaster at Kabul in 1841. How England's shame shone brighter as she fought, And wrenched lost laurels from their funeral pile, And rose at last from out misfortune's tide, Supreme, for God and right were on her side.. Lieutenant Hamilton Died on before receiving the news that his VC had been Gazetted on the 3rd September 1879.
Additional information
He was the son of Alexander Hamilton JP., and his wife Emma (Daughter of Rt. Hon. Sir Frederick Pollock. Bart. Hamilton was educated at Eagle House in Wimbledon, also at Felstead School, Essex. In an open examination for the Army he gained 21st place and joined the 70th Regiment In October 1874 he sent to India at HQ., Rawalpindi. After accepting a commission in the Corps of Guides he took an examination in languages and passed. He was transferred to the Cavalry Section. His career was as follows. 1877-78 he served throughout the Itwaki-Afrida Expedition --- Became ADC to General Keyes ----14th March 1878 in operations against the village of Ranitzai,Skhakat. --- In October 1878 took Guides to Jamrud and reconnoitred the area of the Khyber Pass,.for six weeks, in the expectation of hostilities with Afghanistan --- In the fisrt campaign he served with the Cavalry on which much of the burden fell.--- He was at the occasion of the capture of Ali Musjid. --- March 1879 he was in command of an escort of a party of surveyors under Lt.Leech of the Royal Engineers. When attacked by Ghinwari tribesmen, his escort beat them off. --- Later in March he advanced with General Gough and his brigade to Futtebahad. It was in the action of the 2nd April 1879 that he lost his best friend, Major Wigram Battye. When he was first recommended for the VC the War Office refused to award the medal. He was chosen as a Political Assistant to Sir Louis Cavagnari who was to be Minister and Diplomat at an Embassy to Kabul. On the 3rd of September 1879 the Embassy was attacked and the entire staff, with the exception of a few Corps of Guides, were murdered. Amongst the killed, was Lieutenant Hamilton, but not before he had killed three men with his pistol and using his sword felled two more before being killed himself. Eight days before he Died on he wrote home sending verses on the disaster at Kabul in 1841. How England's shame shone brighter as she fought, And wrenched lost laurels from their funeral pile, And rose at last from out misfortune's tide, Supreme, for God and right were on her side.. Lieutenant Hamilton Died on before receiving the news that his VC had been Gazetted on the 3rd September 1879.
*Afghan War + Private, Indian Army.
Visit the grave or memorial
Alf recorded the memorial as: at the Horse Show Hall, Ballsbridge, Dublin and the sanctum crypt of St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, London and his statue stands in the Kildare Street Library^ in Dublin. (^Recorded 1920)
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