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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 1165

The mounted group of four miniature dress medals worn by Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Dick-Cunyngham, Gordon Highlanders, who won his superb Victoria Cross on the Takht-i-Shah pass, Afghanistan, in December 1879

Having added a 'mention' before the war was out, Dick-Cunyngham commanded 2nd Battalion at Elandslaagte, on which occasion he was wounded in the leg - he would lose his life when killed by a chance shot at Ladysmith, 6 January 1900, on his first day back from being wounded

Victoria Cross; Jubilee 1887; Afghanistan 1878-80, 2 clasps, Kabul, Kandahar; Kabul to Kandahar Star 1880, mounted as worn in this order, good very fine (4)

V.C. London Gazette 18 October 1881:

'For the conspicuous gallantry and coolness displayed by him on the 13th December, 1879, at the attack on the Sherpur Pass, in Afghanistan, in having exposed himself to the full fire of the enemy, and by his example and encouragement rallied the men who, having been beaten back, were, at the moment, wavering at the top of the hill.'

William Henry Dick-Cunyngham was born on 16 June 1851 at Edinburgh, youngest son of Sir William Hanmer Dick-Cunyngham, 8th Baronet of Prestonfield and Lambrughton. Educated at the Trinity College, Glenalmond and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst he was commissioned Ensign in the 92nd Highlanders in February 1872. Promoted Lieutenant in 1873, he served as Adjutant of the Regiment from January 1877-April 1878. Initially serving in Afghanistan in the Transport Department of the Quetta Field Force, he then was in the advance to Kandahar, being in the actions Ali Khel, the expedition to Mardan in November, and the operations in Kabul in December. Winning the Victoria Cross at Takht-i-Shah, Dick-Cunyngham was personally invested by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on 1 December 1881.

Serving in command of the 2nd Battalion at Elandslaagte during the Boer War, he was wounded in action in the leg and only returned to action at Ladysmith on 6 January 1900. January. The pipers played him in and the whole regiment turned out and cheered him. Turning out on his horse at 4.20am, he had crossed the iron bridge with “A” Company, waiting for the rest of his command. It was then he was struck in the side by a bullet, which, fired from the far side of the plateau, had travelled more than 3000 yards. He fell mortally wounded from his trusty steed. Buried in the Ladysmith Cemetery and with a cairn upon the spot he fell (with every man of the Battalion offering a stone), he is also commemorated upon the Boer War Memorial, Cheltenham. A family memorial tablet at Duddingston Kirkyard commemorates him and the loss of his only son, St John William Keith Dick-Cunyngham who was drowned near the family home, Philorth Castle, in 1897 while trying to rescue his best friend. His full-size medals are on display in the Gordon Highlanders Museum, Aberdeen; sold together with an original riband bar and bound book of research.

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Sold for
£3,500

Starting price
£1800