Victoria Cross Timeline of Events

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Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

Timeline of Events

1854

6.21.1854

The first Victoria Cross is awarded during the bombardment of Bomarsund in the Åland Islands.

1856

1.29.1856

Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross.

1857

6.26.1857

The first investiture of the Victoria Cross in Hyde Park, London.

11.16.1857

Second relief of Lucknow. Twenty-four Victoria Crosses are awarded, the most in a single day.

1915

7.25.1915

RFC Captain Lanoe Hawker becomes the first British military aviator to earn the Victoria Cross, for defeating three German two-seat observation aircraft in one day, over the Western Front.