John Chard's VC

Quote :

Break the current sale record of £405,000.

(Anyone know the name of the recipient who's medal sold for this.)

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John Chard VC

A notable and interesting recipient of the Victoria Cross is Lieutenant John Rouse Merriott Chard who won his VC at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu War in 1879. During the battle Chard commanded a small British garrison of just over 100 men who fought off repeated attacks from over 4000 Zulu warriors. Some 11 VCs were awarded for the battle which remains one of the highest numbers of VCs awarded for a single action. Chard became a firm favourite of Queen Victoria who was said to be extremely fond of him but he sadly died of cancer of the tongue on 1st November 1897 aged only 49.

After his death the whereabouts of his VC became unknown and a number of rumours developed. One such rumour, according to the Telegraph newspaper, was that the actor Stanley Baker who played Chard in the film Zulu obtained what he thought to be a cast copy of Chard’s VC but it actually turned out to be Chard’s real VC. After the death of Baker the VC again disappeared and was thought to have ended up in the hands of a private collector in Canada who had many VCs within his collection which he kept a secret. However this collection has now been sold off and Chard’s VC is now believed to be owned by Lord Ashcroft who is said to have the world’s largest private collection of VCs numbering 142 having cost Ashcroft over £14 million to assemble. Pressure is now on Lord Ashcroft to put his private collection on view after he has angered many military museums, including the RAF Museum, who he has outbid to buy many VCs at auction. The museums argue that the VCs are part of Britain’s national heritage and should therefore be on display for the public to see. However Chard’s original VC and South Africa Medal were recently put on display at the museum in Brecon for a short period of time along with many of the other Rorke’s Drift VCs. Visitors can still visit the museum but the VCs are now locked safely away with replicas taking their place on display

With the 150th Anniversary of the VC it is believed that the Lord may bend to pressure by placing his collection on display once suitable premises have been found to house them. Despite this criticism Lord Ashcroft has at least saved many VCs from being taken out of the UK by foreign collectors and if John Chard’s VC ever came up for auction it may very well break the current sale record of £405,000 for a VC?

Investiture of Major Chard VC
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The VC you are thinking of is likely to be:
"The medal was part of a group including a Military Cross awarded to Captain Alfred John Shout which sold for £491,567 (1,214,500 Australian dollars) at Bonhams & Goodman in Sydney, Australia."

However, the world record price for a VC, is of course the VC and Bar to Noel Chavasse, bought by Lord Ashcroft in a private agreement, from St Anthony's College, Oxford.

Oh, Ashcroft is believed to have paid about £1.5M.