John Grieve (VC)
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John Grieve
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A cavalry camp near Balaclava in 1855
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| Born | 3 May 1821 Musselburgh, East Lothian |
| Died | Error: Need valid death date (first date): year, month, day Inveresk, East Lothian |
| Buried |
St Michael's Churchyard (Inveresk Old), Inveresk
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| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service/ |
 British Army |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Unit | 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) |
| Battles/wars | Crimean War |
| Awards | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
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John Grieve VC (3 May 1821 – 1 December 1873) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Grieve was 34 years old, and a sergeant-major in the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys), British Army at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War when the following deed took place on 25 October 1854 at Balaklava, Crimea, for which he was awarded the VC. His citation in the London Gazette read:
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Saved the life of an Officer, in the Heavy Cavalry Charge at Balaklava, who was surrounded by Russian Cavalry, by his gallant conduct in riding up to his rescue and cutting off the head of one Russian, disabling and dispersing the others.[1]
Grieve later achieved the rank of lieutenant and buried in Inveresk cemetery.
His VC is on display at the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide, Australia. It had been in the possession of his nephews A. I and J. H. Oliver of Cowandilla, South Australia.[2]
A number of references including the 1997 edition of The Register of the Victoria Cross list Sergeant Major John Grieve VC (Crimea, 1854) and Captain Robert Cuthbert Grieve (Belgium, 1917) as great uncle and great nephew.[3] This connection was suggested by an article in The Times on 29 May 1964. The article said John Grieve sent home £75 from the Crimea to Robert Grieve and that if Robert Grieve was his brother and also emigrated, then some relationship may be established between the Crimean VC and an Australian First World War VC, Robert Grieve. However, descendents of both Grieve families have been in contact with each other and have found that they are not great uncle and great nephew.[4]
References
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<references />, or <references group="..." />- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- Scotland's Forgotten Valour (Graham Ross, 1995)
External links
- Gravestone
- Location of grave and VC medal (Lothian, Scotland)
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 21971. p. 655. 24 February 1857. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Nora Buzzell (compiler), The Register of the Victoria Cross, This England, 1997, ISBN 0-906324-27-0, hardback, 352 pages at page 350
- ↑ Anthony Staunton. ‘A South Australian treasure: The VC to Sergeant Major John Grieve’, Sabretache, the journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol XLVII No. 3 September 2006, pages 31 to 34.
- Pages with reference errors
- Age error
- Pages with broken file links
- British recipients of the Victoria Cross
- Crimean War recipients of the Victoria Cross
- British Army personnel of the Crimean War
- Royal Scots Greys soldiers
- Royal Scots Greys officers
- 1821 births
- 1863 deaths
- People from Musselburgh
- British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross
