Edward St John DANIEL, VC

Michael Daniels, PhD

Updated: 13^th June 2001

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In July 1971, concern was expressed over the overgrown state of Daniel's unmarked grave in Hokitika Municipal Cemetery. As a result, the Hokitika-Westland branch of the NZ Returned Services Association (equivalent to the British Legion) made representations to the local Borough Council. The grave lay in a remote part of the cemetery that was due to be bulldozed and closed off, being very close to an eroding cliff. A suggestion that the body be exhumed and reburied in another area was rejected in favour of a granite memorial plaque in the Returned Services portion of the cemetery. This plaque, which was eventually erected the following year, at a cost of 75 New Zealand dollars, reads simply:

In Memory Of
EDWARD ST JOHN DANIEL V.C.
OF BRISTOL, ENGLAND
DIED HOKITIKA 20^TH MAY 1868
AGED 31 YEARS

The area around Daniel's actual grave (still unmarked) has now been redeveloped as a park and car park.

The Victoria Cross Warrants have always included a provision for the restoration of forfeited awards. In the latest recoding of the rules and ordinances, issued by Queen Elizabeth II on 30th September 1961, the 15^th Article includes the simple statement:

"it shall be competent for Us, Our Heirs and Successors, to restore the Decoration when such recommendation has been withdrawn and with it such pension as may have been forfeited."

On 24^th June 1981, Mr Norman Turnbull of South Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand sent a petition to H.M. Queen Elizabeth requesting a pardon and restoration to the Victoria Cross Registry for Edward St John Daniel. Mr Turnbull argued that Daniel was a victim of alcoholism and appealed to the Queen’s compassion and fair-mindedness in giving a sympathetic consideration to the petition. Mr Turnbull received a reply dated 28^th September 1981 from the Official Secretary to the NZ Governor-General (to whom the Queen’s Private Secretary had referred the petition). This official reply curtly pointed out that:

"the restoration of forfeited awards may only be made on a petition to the Sovereign from the former recipient himself. In Daniel’s case this is not possible. Furthermore, as your proposal relates to events so long ago it is considered inappropriate to reverse the decision made in 1861 by Queen Victoria".

In 1992, radio producer John Armstrong made contact with VC researcher Victor Tambling of Birmingham, England, an expert on the eight forfeited VCs. What Victor Tambling had to tell him was astonishing and subsequently became the focus of Armstrong's radio documentary "Switched Identity," first broadcast by BBC Radio Bristol. Mr Tambling showed Armstrong a small sepia "cabinet photograph," taken in London by Thomas Fall of Baker St, of a man believed to be Edward St John Daniel. Tambling had bought the photograph from a reputable dealer as a portrait of Daniel. The same image is also to be found in the Imperial War Museum and National Army Museum files on Edward St John Daniel, which were originally collated by leading VC researcher, the late Canon William Lummis. What made no sense at all was that although the photograph bore an uncanny likeness to the known portrait of Daniel in uniform, it was of a man apparently in his late thirties, or forties. Subsequent research at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television revealed that the photograph was certainly taken after 1865 (when Daniel was in New Zealand) but more than likely after 1875 (seven years after Daniel's death). It is known that Canon Lummis had himself obtained a copy of the cabinet photograph prior to 1956, before he became aware that there was an earlier photograph of Daniel in uniform, and before he discovered that Daniel had died in 1868. Unfortunately he does not say how or from whom he obtained the cabinet photograph.

In May 2001, a new documentary on the life and career of Edward St John Daniel was broadcast on New Zealand national television, as part of the very popular "Epitaph" series, hosted by Paul Gittins. The documentary had sought the expertise of Dr Tim Koelmeyer, a leading forensic pathologist, to carry out a photographic comparison of the bone structure indicated in the portrait in uniform and the later cabinet photograph. When the two images were superimposed and carefully compared, Dr Koelmeyer reports:

"I think there's quite a remarkable result here with the superimposition. If one particularly concentrates on the position of the eyes, the eye sockets, the jaw and so on - Well, I'm quite convinced that the portrait and the photograph are one and the same person".

Victor Tambling's thesis is that at some time between October 1866 and May 1868, Daniel secretly returned to England. Having left New Zealand, his identity in that country was then adopted by another man, who may have found this to be of some personal advantage. This other man, Tambling believes, is possibly Robert Daniels of Birmingham who enlisted with the Taranaki Military Settlers in Melbourne on the very same day as Daniel. Robert Daniels’ Regimental No. was 427 (Edward St John Daniel’s was 428), and he sailed to New Zealand with Daniel aboard the Gresham. There is also clear evidence in the NZ National Archives that information on these two men has been mixed up.

Another intriguing clue comes from the celebrated American author Jack London who, in 1902, toured the East End of London interviewing various characters in the slums and workhouses. In 1903 he published a non-fiction account of his observations and interviews in "The People of the Abyss". Chapter 7, entitled "A Winner of the Victoria Cross," describes meeting an elderly man who claimed to have joined the Navy as a boy, to have served in China, Burma, the Crimea and Indian Mutiny, to have won the Victoria Cross and to have sailed the globe. The man then relates an incident in which he was insulted by a Lieutenant, who called him a name that referred to his mother. Enraged, the man struck the Lieutenant with an iron bar, who then fell into the sea. Jumping in after him, determined to drown them both, the two men ended up fighting in the water. For this action, he was court-martialled, stripped of the Victoria Cross and pension rights, and sent to prison.

Although Jack London's version of events does not match precisely the career of Edward St John Daniel (e.g., Daniel was not sent to prison), the number of coincidences in the story is remarkable. It is especially interesting that one of the accounts of Daniel's "disgraceful offence" is that he attempted to drown a fellow officer. If the man's story about winning and losing the Victoria Cross is true, he could only be Edward St John Daniel. Who, then, is the man buried at Hokitika? According to Victor Tambling, it may be Robert Daniels.

A Personal Note

My full name is Michael Inkerman Daniels. The middle name "Inkerman" is shared by my brother, father and grandfather. A story, which I remember hearing from my grandmother as a child, is that this name was given to the males in the family because a Daniels ancestor had won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Inkerman in the Crimean War. Unfortunately my father and grandfather had both died, and I was therefore unable to confirm this with them, or to obtain further information.

My interest in Edward St John Daniel was sparked when I discovered that if the story of my ancestor were true, that ancestor would have to be Daniel, who had indeed won the VC at the Battle of Inkerman. Daniel’s family came from Bristol and my family was based in Bath, only twelve miles away. I also found that I bear some facial resemblance to Edward St John Daniel.

However, research into my own family history and that of Edward St John Daniel has failed to establish any connection at all between the families. My own Daniel(s) ancestors turned out to be humble agricultural labourers living in the small isolated (now evacuated and abandoned) village of Imber, on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. Edward St John’s own Daniel ancestors were well-heeled Bristol attorneys, although the family originally came from Somerset. It is still possible that there is a distant connection between the two families, but this would not seem to explain why in 1886 (more than thirty years after the Crimean War) my great grandfather Henry Daniels, a simple shepherd of Imber, should have named his son "Inkerman". A search of the 1881 British Census (30 million people) shows 98 individuals with a forename "Inkerman" or "Inkermann," over half of whom were born in the three years immediately following the Battle of Inkerman (1854). None are shown as born prior to 1853 and only 14 after 1870. A further six people share the family name "Inkerman," with two of the three men born in 1855 and 1856.

I have so far been unable to discover any Crimean War connection in any branch of my family, even though this seems to be the inspiration for the Inkerman name (in 1881, Henry Daniels had named his first child, a daughter, "Alma," which is the name of the first Battle of the Crimean War). Several of the other Inkerman shown in the 1881 Census had a sister named "Alma". In one family, there were children named "Inkerman," "Alma," "Sebastepool," and "Balaclave" (!)

In my case, the precise origins of the "Inkerman" name remain a mystery. On the other hand, if the "switched identity" theory is correct and Edward St John Daniel returned secretly to England sometime between 1866 and 1868, then this begs a number of intriguing questions. The most important, of course, are where did he settle and under what name? The research continues ...

Memorial plaque to
Edward St John Daniel
at Hokitika Cemetery

Portrait believed to be
Edward St John Daniel
(aft. 1865)

Courtesy: Victor Tambling

Edward St John Daniel
(c. 1860, age 23)

Michael Inkerman Daniels
(age 24)