Saluting the memory of the Borough's forgotten VC hero

SAD to relate, but a local Crimean War hero languished for decades forgotten in a foreign land in an unmarked grave.

In truth, not much is known about Charles McCurry’s short life outside of the military.

Born in 1830, the Killead man enlisted at a young age with the 57th Regiment of Foot (later the Middlesex Regiment) around 1850, and was part of the Regiment which was posted to the Crimea on the outbreak of war in 1854.

McCurry spent the majority of his time in the Crimea serving in the trenches outside the gates of Sebastopol during the Siege.

On the night of June 23 1855, he was on duty in the trenches, when a live shell which had been thrown from the Russian battery, landed in amongst McCurry and his comrades.

McCurry, without hesitation, picked up the shell - at huge personal risk - and threw it over the parapet, where it exploded, and no one was hurt.

McCurry, who was awarded the Crimean Medal with two clasps (Inkerman and Sebastopol) and the Turkish Medal, was one of the first men gazetted for the new Victoria Cross on February 24 1857 and one of only two men from the borough to ever be granted the accolade.

The medal, the highest award for gallantry under fire, has only been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individual recipients. Indeed, only 15 have been awarded since the Second World War.

The Victoria Cross was created by Queen Victoria in 1856 and the first investiture took place the following year at Hyde Park.

But Private McCurry, who was still abroad, was not among the first 62 recipients of the medal from the Queen, all of them veterans of the Crimean War.

McCurry, at the time of the award, was serving in Malta, and arrangements were made to post his medal to the island so that it could be presented to him by Lieutenant General J L Pennefather, the GOC of Malta.

Sadly, before the medal could be presented, McCurry died aged just 27 on April 8 1857.

The medal was duly returned to the War Office in London.

McCurry’s medal was installed at the Middlesex Regiment Museum - now closed - while a replica was presented to the Royal British Legion in Antrim in recent years.

McCurry was initially buried in an unmarked grave is the Msida Bastion Cemetery, Valletta.

In 2011, the Malta Heritage Society (known in Malta as Din I-Art Helwa) commissioned a memorial stone through the efforts of local man Julian Gatt, who asked the Victoria Cross Society to support an appeal for funds. After an article in the Victoria Society Journal in October 2011, the money was raised.

In a ceremony at Msida Bastion Cemetery on April 16 2012, the memorial stone was unveiled by HRH Duke of Gloucester.

It coincided with his visit to the island to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Malta’s award of the George Cross in 1942.

As a result, the ceremony was also attended by nine recipients of the George Cross – Jim Beaton GC, CVO, JP, Jack Bamford GC, Alf Lowe GC, Tony Gledhill GC, Kim Hughes GC, Barry Johnson GC, Margaret Purves GC, Michael Pratt GC and Jim McDonald (Chairman of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC Foundation).

In 1966 the regiment merged with The Queen’s Royal Surrey Regiment, The Royal Sussex Regiment and The Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment to form The Queen's Regiment.

This short-lived infantry unit served with the British Army until 1992, when it was merged into The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.

At a ceremony in Killead village in 2019, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant for County Antrum, the late Joan Christie, Councillor Paul Michael and John Taylor, Chairman of Crumlin British Legion, were joined by McCurry’s second cousins Wallace and Edmund, who had travelled from Limavady, to unveil a VC memorial stone, surrounded by new flower beds and summer seats outside Killead Presbyterian Church.

A large number of Killead residents also turned out to pay their respects.

The Mayor’s Chaplain Dr Stephen McBride led prayers at the event and wreaths were also laid, as a piper and bugler sounded the Last Post and the Reveille and a minute’s silence was held before poppy wreaths were laid.

Paul Michael hailed McCurry’s bravery and service while Mrs Christie spoke of how she humbled to be a part of the commemoration.

She added that she hoped that the monument would allow McCurry’s service to be remembered by the younger generation.

Reverend McBride spoke of the soldier’s ‘bravery in the heat of battle and consideration for the welfare of his fellow servicemen’.

Paul Michael later told of how he had first been contacted by Wallace over two decades previously.

When dropping a relative to Belfast International Airport, his passenger had commented as they passed the village ‘did you know we had a VC winner in our family?’.

Royal British Legion Chair Mr Michael said that when he was first met by the sight of former Royal Marine Commando Wallace, his initial thought was ‘what have I done?!’.

He agreed to help with ‘a bit of digging’ and duly discovered that McCurry had been mentioned in the list of Irish recipients of the VC, with a misspelt name and birthplace, before the trail went cold.

He then enlisted the help of the late Baron Molyneaux of Killead - former UUP leader Jim to his friends - who was able to find out more information.

Thanks to the intervention of officers on the legacy Antrim Borough Council, the replica medal was sourced.

Various delegations travelled out to Valetta in Malta and managed to track down McCurry’s final resting place, but where aghast to find that there was no official recognition of his bravery or citation.

In 2011, that was finally rectified and the memorial stone was dedicated the next year and a sign was erected in Killead to note the achievement of one of its most famous sons.

In later years, the VC Memorial Stone was proposed.

Wallace said that he ‘couldn’t thank the Mayor, British Legion and the council’ enough for all their hard work over the years.

“I think Charles would be looking down on us and saying ‘is this all for me? I can’t believe it!”

He told assembled guests in the Presbyterian Church Hall that there were three branches of the far flung family, traced back to three fisherman brothers from the isle of Islay who fought for Bonnie Prince Charlie and ended up marrying Irish women from the north coast.

He said that the family had spread to Cushendall, Limavady and America, and onwards to New Zealand and Australia.

He noted that there was also a family connection to Hillary Clinton - and joked that when she was beaten by ‘the guy with the red tie’, he thought ‘there goes my trip to the White House!’.

Quoting his cousin Theresa, a nun aged in her early 80s who had first prompted the search for Charles and his story, he said: “The last piece of the jigsaw has fallen into place.

“Paul has done us proud.”