Victorians. eh? "It is a gallantry decoration with a rich and fascinating history behind it, quite apart from the incredible act of bravery for which it was awarded more than 130 years ago. I have just completed the private purchase of the Victoria Cross awarded to Gunner James Collis in 1881 for an act of courage the previous year during the Second Afghan War. Yet it is the events that took place after the medal was awarded that make it so rare – and that eventually led to the rules and regulations relating to the VC being amended and in my opinion very much for the better. For the Collis VC is one of just eight in existence that were forfeited for the subsequent criminal behaviour of their recipients. Yet a sense of injustice over this led to King George V seeking to revise the guidelines that were fi rst introduced when the medal was instituted by Queen Victoria in 1856. The extraordinary tale of this particular VC winner begins on July 28, 1880, when Collis, who was serving with the Royal Horse Artillery, and his comrades were making their way back to Kandahar after the disastrous British defeat at Maiwand, Afghanistan (then, as now, a desperately diffi cult country in which to fi ght a war against the local inhabitants). During the battle an estimated half of the 2,000-strong British force was lost against a vastly larger army. Cambridge-born Collis, who was then 24, was part of the British force that was attacked by the Afghans as it retreated. The offi cercommanding the battery was attempting to bring in a limber (a twowheeled cart designed to support the trail of an artillery piece) carrying already wounded men who were under a crossfire. Seeing the dangers and difficulties faced by his comrades, Collis raced forwards and in doing so drew the enemy’s fire on to himself, thereby taking the snipers’ attention away from the limber. Collis survived his daring act of bravery and his VC was announced “for conspicuous bravery” on May 16, 1881 – though rather carelessly his surname was misspelled as “Colliss” in his citation. After being discharged from the army, Collis joined the Bombay Police in India in 1881, rising to the rank of inspector. Furthermore in March 1882 Collis married Adela Grace Skuse, a widow, in Bombay. In 1884 Collis returned to the UK and in 1887 he re-enlisted in the army, this time joining the Suffolk Regiment. He returned to India in 1888 as part of his service but in 1891 was invalided home suffering from rheumatic fever, returning without his wife. At some point he met, and in 1893 married, Mary Goddard who was apparently unaware that he had a wife in India. In 1895 his deception was discovered and Collis was convicted of bigamy and sentenced to 18 months hard labour. Later that year his VC was declared forfeit for his crime under the original statutes of the Royal Warrant of 1856, which created Britain and the Commonwealth’s most prestigious gallantry decoration." http://www.express.co.uk/news/history/526592/War-veteran-stripped-Victoria-Cross-medal .
