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| Page revised: 15 January, 2008 |
Colour Sergeant Peter LEITCH VC |
| Born: | Orwell, Kinross, Scotland - August 1820 | 
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| Died: | Fulham, London - 6 December, 1892 | ||
| Burial details: | Hammersmith Cemetery (Margravine Road) (now levelled) | ||
| Corps service: | As a Corporal, Leith served with the 2nd Company Royal Sappers and Miners in the Baltic campaign at the start of the war. He was posted with his company to the Crimea just before Christmas 1854. His actions in the Crimea also earned him a French Légion d'Honneur. After the war he was posted to South Africa where he was presented his VC. He returned to England in 1867 and received due promotion to Sergeant Major in 1870. He retired from the Army in 1872. | ||
| VC awarded: | Won VC at Sebastopol, Crimea on 18 June 1855. (Crimean War 1854-6) | ||
| VC unit: | 2nd Company, Royal Sappers and Miners. | ||
| VC presented: | VC presented by Lieutenant General Sir James Jackson, KCB at King William's Town, Natal, Cape Colony, on 2 November 1858. | ||
| VC citation: | For conpicuous gallantry in the assault on the Redan,
when, after approaching it with the leading ladders, he formed a caponniére
[a covered passage] across the ditch, as well as a ramp,
by fearlessly tearing down gabions [cylindrical wicker or metal
baskets] from the parapet and placing and filling them until
he was disabled from wounds. (London Gazette: 2 June 1858) |
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| VC location: | Royal Engineers Museum | ||
| Source:
Additional material: SC Fenwick, FoREM Links to further reading:
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Royal Engineers Museum main site
