The Victoria Cross memorials of St.Peter's churchyard leckhampton

There are three memorials to holders of the Victoria Cross in our churchyard. Two are crosses on the graves of William Fraser McDonell, from the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and Major Douglas Reynolds from the First World War, and the other is a stone recording the name of Commander Cecil William Buckley who died in Madeira and gained his honour in the Crimean War. The memorials had become rather shabby with the passage of time and we were delighted recently when the Victoria Cross Trust contacted the Parish Office with an offer to clean them.
 
They came one sunny day in February 2023 and transformed the stones. The grey patina was removed from the crosses and the stone underneath was revealed to be white marble, as can be seen in the photo below of Major Reynolds’s grave. Steve Abell and Barry Stewart from the Trust made short work of the task and had time in addition to treat the gravestone of Major Henry Duberly and his wife Fanny (who wrote about her experiences in the Crimean War and in India).
 
When they had finished, Steve and Barry presented plaques inscribed with brief accounts of the actions for which the crosses were awarded (see images below). 
 
More information on recipients of the honour can be found on the Trust’s website https://victoriacrosstrust.org.  
 
Eric Miller
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