Howard Craufurd Elphinstone Major - General Sir Howard Craufurd Elphinstone VC KCB CMG ( 12 December 1829 – 8 March 1890 ) was a 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 career and the Crimean War . Born in Livonia Elphinstone joined the Corps of Royal Engineers as a gentleman cadet at the Royal Military Academy , Woolwich and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in December 1847 . With the outbreak of the Crimean War , Elphinstone was posted to the Crimea and it was during the Siege of Sebastopol that he won the Victoria Cross . Victoria Cross . On 18 June 1855 , he was 25 years old , and a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers , when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC . His citation read : Further honours . With the end of the war he was decorated by both Napoleon III , Emperor of France being appointed as a Knight of the Legion of Honour ; and Abdülmecid I , Sultan of the Ottoman Empire who appointed him to the 5th class of the Order of the Medjidie . Subsequent career . Elphinstone ended the Crimean War as a brevet Major and as a substantive second captain in the Royal Engineers but was promoted to the substantive Army ( but not Corps ) rank of Major in 1858 . In 1859 he joined the Royal Household of Queen Victoria as governor to Prince Arthur , the third son of Queen Victoria , and later also governor to Prince Leopold , Her Majesty ' s fourth son . In 1865 the Queen rewarded him for his service as governor by appointing him as a Companion of the Order of the Bath ( Civil division ) . In 1868 he was appointed a brevet Lieutenant - Colonel and in 1870 he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George . Further honours came Elphinstone ' s way when Prince Arthur obtained his majority in 1871 , firstly in May he was appointed Comptroller of the Household to Prince Arthur , the same month he was made a Companion of the Military Division of Order of the Bath , and finally in July was knight ed as a Knight Commander of the Civil Division of the Order of the Bath . He married Annie Frances Cole ( 1856 - 1938 ) and they settled at Pinewood , Bagshot , close to Prince Arthur ' s home at Bagshot Park . Lady Elphinstone lived at Pinewood until her death in 1938 . They had one daughter , Mary , born in 1888 . Mary married Colonel Robert Singleton McClintock , son of Francis Leopold McClintock . Promotions also followed ; in 1872 his substantive promotion to Major was confirmed and the following year he was promoted to Lieutenant - Colonel . Returning to military service Elphinstone served as an Aide - de - camp to the Queen in 1877 and was promoted to Colonel at the end of 1881 and was appointed as Officer Commanding Royal Engineers in Mauritius , a post he was reluctant to take up , so much so that he was prepared to resign from the army ; however under customs then allowed in the British Army , a posting could be avoided if an other officer was prepared to take the posting instead . Normally this involved payment to the substitute officer but Elphinstone was fortunate to meet fellow Royal Engineer officer , Colonel Gordon ( Gordon of Khartoum ) who was willing to take the posting to Mauritius without payment . During 1884 – 5 he served as military attache in Berlin In 1887 he was promoted to Major - General but drowned in 1890 when he fell overboard while on a trip to Madeira . Memorial . There is a brass plaque to his honour in the Nave of Exeter Cathedral . It names the people who attended Elphinstone ' s memorial service in the cathedral - a large number were royalty and Queen Victoria sent a representative . His VC is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum , London .