Edward St John DANIEL, VC

Michael Daniels, PhD

Updated: 13^th June 2001

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On 24^th May 1860, exactly one month after his presentation to Queen Victoria, Daniel was severely reprimanded when additional lieutenant on the sloop HMS Wasp for being twice absent without leave. Wasp was in the English Channel, due to leave for the Cape of Good Hope where Daniel had been appointed to HMS Forte. On 9^th June he was found in the wardroom in a state of drunken torpor, when he should have been standing middle watch. A court martial was held on HMS Impregnable at Devonport on 16^th June. Daniel pleaded guilty to the charge of drunkenness, but favourable consideration was given to his gallant services and privations in the Crimea and India. He was sentenced only to be dismissed from the Wasp and to be placed at the bottom of the list of lieutenants for a period of two years.

On 26^th January 1861, Daniel was appointed to the screw steam ship HMS Victor Emanuel serving in the Mediterranean. On 25^th June, he was placed under arrest and the following day the ship proceeded to join Rear Admiral Dacres, Captain of the Fleet and Senior Officer at Corfu, where Daniel would clearly face another court martial. At about 10 pm that night, the Master-at-Arms found that Daniel was missing from the ship. Two men were sent ashore to effect an arrest, but they could not find him. On 28^th June, Daniel was marked "Run" (i.e., a deserter). Normally such a report would not be made for two weeks. Because of this fact, the suggestion has been made by some that Daniel could have been paid off by the Navy in order to avoid the scandal of what would inevitably have become a high-profile and embarrassing court martial. Alternatively, Daniel might have left a note explaining his desertion, although there is no surviving record of this. In July, his name was removed from the Navy List.

The 15^th Article of the Royal Warrant of 29^th January 1856, instituting the Victoria Cross states:

"if any person on whom such distinction shall be conferred, be convicted of treason, cowardice, felony, or of any infamous crime, or if he be accused of any such offence and doth not after a reasonable time surrender himself to be tried for the same, his name shall forthwith be erased from the register of individuals upon whom the said decoration shall have been conferred by an especial warrant under Our Royal Sign Manual."

In the War Office file of correspondence relating to Daniel's case, the offence for which he was due to be court-martialled is unspecified. In a minute dated 8^th August 1861, Sir George Lewis (Secretary for War) wrote to Sir Edward Lugard (Under-Secretary, War Department):

"I privately heard of this bad case, but we now have it on record from the Admiralty that it was disgraceful, tho’ not specified fully. Prepare Warrant?"

There have been several suggestions as to what Daniel's "disgraceful offence" may have been. One suggestion is that Daniel attempted to drown a fellow officer. Another is that his offence was drunkenness, although it seems unlikely that, on its own, this would have been considered sufficiently disgraceful. The clearest evidence, however, is contained in a letter from Capt. William Clifford of HMS Victor Emanuel to Rear Admiral Dacres, which states that Daniel was arrested for "taking indecent liberties with four of the Subordinate Officers of the Victor Emanuel".

Whatever the full truth of Daniel's offence, on 4^th September 1861 Queen Victoria signed the Royal Warrant that made Edward St John Daniel the first man to forfeit the Victoria Cross:

"Whereas it hath been reported unto us that EDWARD ST. JOHN DANIEL late a Lieutenant in Our Navy, upon whom we have conferred the decoration of the Victoria Cross, has been accused of a disgraceful offence, and having evaded enquiry by desertion from Our Service, his name has been removed from the list of officers of Our Navy ... Know ye therefore, that we are pleased to command and declare that the said Edward St. John Daniel shall no longer be entitled to have his name enrolled in the Registry of persons on whom we have conferred the said decoration, but shall be and he is hereby judged and declared to be henceforth removed and degraded from all and singular rights, privileges and advantages appertaining thereunto."

Of the 1354 Victoria Crosses that have been awarded to date, only eight have been forfeited, for offences ranging from theft of a cow to bigamy. Of these, Daniel was the only officer and the only Royal Navy man. The last forfeiture was in 1908. In 1920, King George V expressed his displeasure with VC erasures, his Private Secretary stating in a letter the King's view that:

"no matter the crime committed by anyone on whom the VC has been conferred, the decoration should not be forfeited. Even were a VC to be sentenced to be hanged for murder, he should be allowed to wear his VC on the scaffold."

On 8^th February 1868, the Admiralty loaned Daniel's forfeited VC to a Colonel MacKenzie, collector of naval and military medals, on condition that "it be returned, if at any time required". The medal later came into the collection of Major-General Lord Cheylesmore, where it was displayed at the Royal United Service Institution in Whitehall. On the death of Lord Cheylesmore, the medal was sold by auction on 18^th July 1930, at Glendinings in London for forty pounds. The medal has since been sold at auction several times. The last known sale was at Christies, London on 24^th July 1990, where the medal realised 19,800 pounds.