William Olpherts General Sir William Olpherts VC GCB ( 8 March 1822 – 30 April 1902 ) was born in Dartrey , County Armagh , and was an Irish 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 . Early life . Olpherts was born on 8 March 1822 at Dartry near Armagh , son of William Olpherts of Dartry House , County Armagh . He was educated at Dungannon School , and in 1837 received a nomination to the East India Company ' s Military Seminary at Addiscombe . He passed out in the artillery , and joined the headquarters of the Bengal Artillery at Dum Dum in December 1839 . On the outbreak of disturbances in the Tenasserim province of Burma , Olpherts was detached to Moulmein in October 1841 with four guns . Returning at the end of nine months , he was again ordered on field service to quell an insurrection in the neighbourhood of Saugor , and was thanked in the despatch of the officer commanding the artillery for his conduct in action with the insurgents at Jhirna Ghaut on 12 November 1842 . Having passed as interpreter in the native languages , Olpherts was given the command of the 16th Bengal Light Field Battery , and joined Sir Hugh Gough ' s expedition against Gwalior . Olpherts ' s battery was posted on the wing of the army commanded by General Grey , Lieutenant ( Sir ) Henry Tombs , V . C . , being his subaltern . He was heavily engaged at Punniar on 29 December 1843 , and was mentioned in despatches . For his services in the Gwalior campaign Olpherts received the bronze decoration . Being specially selected by the governor - general , Lord Ellenborough , to raise and command a battery of horse artillery for the Bundelcund legion , he was at once detached with the newly raised battery to join Sir Charles Napier ' s army in Sindh . His march across India , a distance of 1260 miles , elicited Napier ' s highest praise . In 1846 Olpherts took part in the operations at Kot Kangra during the first Sikh war , when his conduct attracted the attention of ( Sir ) Henry Lawrence , and he was appointed to raise a battery of artillery from among the disbanded men of the Sikh army . He was then hurried off to the Deccan in command of a battery of artillery in the service of the Nizam of Hyderabad , but was soon recalled to a similar post in the Gwalior contingent . In 1851 Olpherts applied to be posted to a battery at Peshawur , where he was under the command of Sir Colin Campbell and took part in the expedition against the frontier tribes . For this service he afterwards received the India General Service Medal sanctioned in 1869 for frontier wars . In the following year ( 1852 ) Olpherts took furlough to England , and was appointed an orderly officer at the Military College of Addiscombe . Crimean War . On the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854 Olpherts volunteered for service , and was selected to join ( Sir ) William Fenwick Williams at Kars . On his way thither he visited the Crimea . Crossing the Black Sea , he rode over the Zigana mountains in the deep snow ; but soon after reaching Kars he was detached to command a Turkish force of 7000 men to guard against a possible advance of the Russians from Erivan by the Araxes river . Olpherts thus escaped being involved in the surrender of Kars . Recalled to the Crimea , he was nominated to the command of a brigade of bashi bazouks in the Turkish contingent . On the conclusion of peace in 1856 he returned to India , and received the command of a horse battery at Benares . Indian Mutiny . Olpherts served throughout the suppression of the Indian Mutiny ( 1857 – 59 ) . He was with Brigadier James Neill when he defeated the mutineers at Benares on 4 June 1857 , and accompanied Havelock during the relief of Lucknow . His conduct in the course of that operation was highly distinguished and was to earn him the Victoria Cross . Victoria Cross action . His citation for the action reads : For highly distinguished conduct on the 25th of September , 1857 when the troops penetrated into the city of Lucknow , in having charged on horseback , with Her Majesty ' s 90th Regiment , when gallantly headed by Colonel Campbell , it captured two guns in the face of a heavy fire of grape , and having afterwards returned , under a severe fire of musketry , to bring up limbers and horses to carry off the captured ordnance , which he accomplished , ( Extract from Field Force Orders of the late Major - General Havelock , dated 17 October 1857 . ) Later acts . Olpherts almost surpassed this piece of bravery by another two days later . When the main body of Havelock ' s force penetrated to the Residency , the rearguard consisting of the 90th with some guns and ammunition was entirely cut off . However , Olpherts , with Colonel Robert ( afterwards Lord ) Napier , sallied out with a small party , and by his cool determination brought in the wounded of the rearguard as well as the guns . Sir James Outram , then in command of the Residency at Lucknow , wrote : » My dear heroic Olpherts , bravery is a poor and insufficient epithet to apply to a valour such as yours . « Colonel Napier wrote in his despatch to the same effect . From the entry into Lucknow of Havelock ' s force until the relief by Sir Colin Campbell on 21 November Olpherts acted as brigadier of artillery , and after the evacuation of the Residency by Sir Colin Campbell he shared in the defence of the advanced position at the Alumbagh under Sir James Outram . He took part in the siege and capture of the city by Sir Colin Campbell in March 1858 , being again mentioned in despatches for conspicuous bravery . At the close of the campaign Olpherts received the brevets of major and lieutenant - colonel , as well as the Victoria Cross , the Indian Mutiny medal with two clasps , and the companionship of the Bath . Campaigns in India . In 1859 – 60 Olpherts served as a volunteer under Brigadier ( Sir ) Neville Chamberlain in an expedition against the Waziris on the north - west frontier of the Punjab , thus completing twenty years of continuous active service . Olpherts ' s dash and daring earned for him the sobriquet of » Hell - fire Jack « , but he modestly gave all the credit for any action of his to the men under him . From 1861 to 1868 he commanded the artillery in the frontier stations of Peshawur or Rawal Pindi , and in that year he returned home on furlough , when he was presented with a sword of honour by the city and county of Armagh . Returning to India in 1872 , he commanded successively the Gwalior , Ambala , and Lucknow brigades , but quit the country in 1875 on attaining the rank of major - general . He was promoted lieutenant - general on 1 October 1877 , general on 31 March 1883 , and in 1888 became colonel commandant of the Royal Artillery . Olpherts was raised to the dignity of K . C . B . in 1886 and of G . C . B . in 1900 . Retirement . He died at his residence , Wood House , Norwood , on 30 April 1902 , and was buried at Richmond , Surrey . Olpherts married in 1861 Alice , daughter of Major - general George Cautley of the Bengal cavalry , by whom he had one son , Major Olpherts , late of the Royal Scots , and three daughters . His Victoria Cross is displayed at the National Army Museum " ( Chelsea , England ) " . References . Listed in order of publication year