Spink are to put the unrivalled Victoria Cross collection of Lord Ashcroft on display in an 11-day exhibition in their main gallery in April. The exhibition is a forerunner to what is expected to become a permanent public display in two years’ time.
The Ashcroft VC Trust, which holds the collection of 50 of the
awards, will co-host the public display from April 16-25.
The VCs on show cover 15 different armed conflicts, from the
Crimean War to the Second World War, and the exhibition will
feature details of how they were won.
At the centre of the display will be VCs awarded to Lieutenant
John Rouse Merriott Chard, R.E., immortalised for his gallantry and
leadership while commanding the Mission Station at Rorke's Drift
against 4500 Zulus, in 1879; and Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson,
RFC, the first pilot to shoot down a German Zeppelin over mainland
Britain in the Great War.
Other highlights include awards for: The Defence of Mafeking,
1899, South Africa; The Boxer Rebellion, 1900, China; The
Lancashire Landings, Gallipoli, 1915; A Posthumous Cross for the
Commando Raid on Rommel's Headquarters, Western Desert, 1941, and
the incredible Cross to Sergeant Norman Cyril Jackson, R.A.F., who
diced with death at 22,000 feet above Germany attempting to
extinguish a fire on the wing of a Lancaster Bomber.
The exhibition will take place at Spink's premises in
Southampton Row, London.
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