   colonel sir edward talbot thackeray vc, kcb (19 october 1836 â 3 september 1927) was an english recipient of the victoria cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to british and commonwealth forces. the son of rev francis thackeray and mary anne shakespeare, he was the first cousin of the novelist, william makepeace thackeray. thackeray was 20 years old, and a second lieutenant in the bengal engineers, bengal army during the indian mutiny when the following deed took place on 16 september 1857 at delhi, british india for which he was awarded the victoria cross  he later achieved the rank of colonel. thackeray retired from the army in 1888 and in 1898 he went to live in italy where he spent the rest of his life. his medal is currently displayed at the national museum of military history in johannesburg, south africa. ==works== * biographical notices of officers of the royal (bengal) engineers; (1900) ==references==  *monuments to courage (david harvey, 1999) *the register of the victoria cross (this england, 1997) *the sapper vcs (gerald napier, 1998) ==external links== *  sappers vcs * find-a-grave biography  {{persondata | name = thackeray, edward talbot | alternative names = | short description = recipient of the victoria cross | date of birth = 19 october 1836 | place of birth = broxbourne, hertfordshire | date of death = 3 september 1927 | place of death = garessio, [[ita
1836_births 1927_deaths Bengal_Engineers_officers British_Indian_Army_officers British_military_personnel_of_the_Second_Anglo-Afghan_War British_recipients_of_the_Victoria_Cross Indian_Rebellion_of_1857_recipients_of_the_Victoria_Cross Knights_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_Bath People_educated_at_Marlborough_College People_from_Broxbourne Royal_Engineers_officers