Forlorn Hope - History - 'The Fusilier'

The Fusilier

Sergeant Luke O’Connor
Battle of the Alma, 20/09/1854
Crimean War

Artist’s impression of O’Connor’s VC action, Mitchell Nolte, © Forlorn Hope

Luke O’Connor was born in the early 1830s (precise DOB unknown) in County Roscommon, Ireland. One of seven children, he was born into a family of poor, Catholic tenant farmers and a life defined by hardship. Around 1840, the family emigrated to North America, but Luke’s father James died of illness during the passage, and in the cramped, unsanitary conditions at Grosse Isle, Quebec, where immigrants were quarantined upon arrival, his mother and baby brother also perished.

His surviving siblings went on to Wisconsin, but Luke returned to Ireland and was sent to live with an Uncle in Boyle, Roscommon. It was there, growing up in proximity to army barracks, that soldiering first captured his imagination, and in 1849 he joined the 23rd (Royal Welch Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot as a Private, rising in two years to the rank of Sergeant.

When, in 1853, Russian attacks on the much-diminished Ottoman Empire in the Balkans and the Black Sea provoked a declaration of war by Britain and France, both keen to preserve the existing balance of power, O’Connor found himself on a troop ship bound for his first taste of
combat.

Allied forces landed in the Crimea (in modern day Ukraine) on 14/09/1854, and on 20/09/1854 they met the Russian army on the banks of the River Alma. The Russians occupied fortified positions on high ground on the South bank of the river. The British and French would have to cross and drive them from the heights if they were to continue their planned march on Sevastopol.

The 23rd were part of the Light Division, tasked with capturing a particularly formidable gun position at the centre of the Russian line, remembered as the Great Redoubt. O’Connor was one of the sergeants tasked with escorting the officers that carried the regiment’s precious
colours into battle.

The French, on the right, attacked first. O’Connor and his comrades were forced to lie down in sight of the Russian guns and wait to advance as cannonballs fell among them. Finally the order came and, with serried ranks and banners flying, the Light Division advanced over the vineyards and low walls of the now-burning village of Burliuk, and crossed the river under fire.

Reaching the South bank, the British found themselves under even more intense fire and their neatly dressed lines were soon in disarray. Urged on by officers like Colonel Lacy Yea of the 7th (Royal Fusiliers), who shouted “Never mind forming! Come on, men! Come on, anyhow!”, a great, disordered rush was made up the slope. Russian infantry advanced to intercept them, but were repulsed. The way to the Great Redoubt was open, but the guns were most deadly at close range, and they poured grapeshot and canister into the oncoming British

As they neared the redoubt, Lieutenant Anstruther, carrying the Queen’s colour of the 23rd, was shot and killed outright. O’Connor, standing beside him, was hit in the chest, but got back on his feet and took charge of the fallen colour, which appears to have been picked up by a Private William Evans (accounts vary as to the exact chain of custody).

O’Connor charged forward, the 23rd following behind him, and planted the flag on the parapet of the Great Redoubt. The Russian gunners were desperately trying to withdraw and save their guns when the 23rd rushed in and captured the position.

A Russian counter-attack soon forced the British to retreat from the Great Redoubt, but it was quickly retaken and the Russians were driven from the field; the Allies had won their first victory in the Crimea. In spite of his wounds, O’Connor refused to retire from the field or surrender the colour, and carried it until the end of the day, by which point the colour had been shot through 26 times.

Major General O’Connor in 1911, Maull & Fox

O’Connor received an Ensign’s commission for his bravery. After a month in hospital, he rejoined the regiment and served with distinction through the rest of the war. He was promoted to Lieutenant and commended for his bravery at the Siege of Sevastopol where he was shot
through both thighs on 08/09/1855.

On 24/02/1857 when the first 111 recipients of the newly-instituted Victoria Cross were announced, O’Connor’s name was among them. He was one of the 62 men who received their VCs from Queen Victoria personally at the Hyde Park investiture on 26/06/1857.

O’Connor went on to pursue the life of a career soldier. He saw further action in the Indian Rebellion (1857-8) and 3rd Anglo-Ashanti War (1873-4) and, no doubt benefitting from the prestige that attached the VC, continued to steadily climb the ranks. He retired in 1887 with the
honorary rank of Major General and died at his home in London on 01/02/1915.

O’Connor is buried in St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green, London. His medals are currently held by the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Museum at Caernarfon, Wales.