List of Crimean War Victoria Cross recipients The Victoria Cross ( VC ) was awarded to 111 members of the British Armed Forces during the Crimean War ( also known as the Russian War ) that lasted from 1854 to 1856 . The Victoria Cross is a military decoration awarded for valour " in the face of the enemy " to members of armed forces of some Commonwealth countries and previous British Empire territories . The VC was introduced in Great Britain on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to reward acts of valour during the Crimean War . It takes precedence over all other Orders , decorations and medals ; it may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service and to civilians under military command . The first ceremony was held on 26 June 1857 where Queen Victoria invested 62 of the 111 Crimean recipients in Hyde Park . In 1854 , the Crimean War broke out between the Russian Empire and an alliance of France , Great Britain , the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire . One of the first battles of the War was the Battle of the Alma where allied forces convincingly defeated the Russian forces . The Siege of Sevastapol followed shortly after in September 1854 ; it was to last for a year at the cost of over 128 , 000 lives , three quarters of which died from disease . After the siege at Sevastapol , the fighting mainly ceased and on 30 March 1856 , after two years of action , the Russians negotiated a Peace Treaty at the Congress of Paris . The Treaty set the Black Sea as neutral territory , closing it to all warships , and prohibiting fortifications and the presence of armaments on its shores . The Crimean War led to a number of large - scale changes in the British Army . The sale of commissions came under great scrutiny during the war , especially in connection with the Battle of Balaclava , which saw the ill - fated Charge of the Light Brigade . This scrutiny eventually led to the abolition of the sale of commissions . The dispatches of William Howard Russell during the war highlighted how many acts of bravery and valour by British servicemen went unrewarded . There was a growing feeling amongst the public and in the Royal Court that a new award was needed to recognise incidents of gallantry that were unconnected with a man ' s lengthy or meritorious service . Queen Victoria issued a warrant under the Royal sign - manual on 29 January 1856 ( gazetted 5 February 1856 ) that officially constituted the VC . The order was backdated to 1854 to recognise acts of valour during the Crimean War . The first awards ceremony was held on 26 June 1857 where Queen Victoria invested 62 of the 111 Crimean recipients in a ceremony in Hyde Park . Citations for the Crimean War , particularly those in the first gazette of 24 February 1857 , listed multiple actions for about a third of the recipients . The format of each citation varied between recipients , some specify the actual date , some the name of the battle and others have both sets of information . Until 1907 , it was policy not to award the VC posthumously . Between 1857 and 1901 , nine notices were published in the " London Gazette " for soldiers who would have been awarded the VC had they survived . In a partial reversal of policy in 1902 , medals were sent to the next of kin of the three mentioned for the Boer War and at the same time the first three official posthumous awards , again for the Boer War , were gazetted . In 1907 , the posthumous policy was completely reversed and medals were sent to the next of kin of the remaining six officers and men . As a result of the change of policy , one quarter of all awards for the First World War were posthumous but it was only in the general revison of the warrant issued in 1920 that a clause was inserted to explicitly allow posthumous awards .