John Purcell

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This is about a soldier; for the American Archbishop, see John Baptist Purcell.

John Purcell VC (1814-19 September 1857) was a British Irish soldier who received the Victoria Cross.

He was born at Kilcommon, Oughterd County, Galway.

Details

He was about 43 years old, and a private in the 9th Lancers (The Queen's Royal), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 19 June 1857 at Delhi, India, when a wagon of one of the batteries was blown up and the horse of the brigadier commanding the cavalry brigade was shot, Privates Purcell and Thomas Hancock, along with Sowar Roopur Khan of the Indian Army's 4th Irregular Cavalry, stayed with the officer until he could be dragged to safety by the sowar's horse. Private Purcell's horse was killed under him and Hancock was severely wounded. Both Purcell and Hancock were awarded Victoria Crosses.

He was killed in action, Delhi, India, on 19 September 1857.

References

• The Register of the Victoria Cross (1981, 1988 and 1997)
• The Irish Sword (Brian Clarke 1986)
• Irelands VCs ISBN 1-899243-00-3 (Dept of Economic Development 1995)
• Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)
• Find A Grave biography of John Purcell

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