Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Ridgeway VC

Robert Kirby Ridgeway was born in Oldcastle, County Meath on 18 Aug 1848. He was the son of R Ridgeway FRCS and Annette Adams. After Sandhurst he was commissioned into the 96th Regiment in January 1868. He was promoted to lieutenant on 14 Feb 1870 and transferred to the Indian Army in Bengal in 1872, appointed to the 44th (Sylhet) Bengal Native LI. He was adjutant from 1874 to 1880. In 1879 the regiment took part in a punitive expedition against the Nagas. It was during the storming of the fortified village of Konoma on 22 Nov 1879 that Lieutenant Ridgeway led two assaults on the inner stockade which was 12 feet high. He was severely wounded while tearing away the planks that barricade the entrance. The Nagas kept up a sustained rifle fire which killed three officers and 17 men. Ridgeway, however, survived and was evacuated to Ireland. He was gazetted for the Victoria Cross on 11 May 1880, by which time he had been promoted to captain (8 Jan 1880). He was still not fit enough to attend the investiture so his medal was sent to him. He attended Staff College and passed in 1883. In 1885 he was appointed to the Boundary Commission in northwest Afghanistan and took part in a circuitous 745 march avoiding hostile Afghan villages. He was promoted to major in 1888 and served on the staff until 1 Jan 1891 when he returned to his regiment as commandant. He led them on the Manipur Expedition in 1891 and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1894. He relinquished his command of the 44th Gurkhas on 28 April 1895 and returned to be AQMG on the staff. He served in the Tirah campaign of 1897 as AAG, and was promoted to Colonel in 1898. He was created CB in 1905 and retired in 1906. He was married in 1871 to Emily Maria Fallan and they lived in Harrogate, Yorkshire where he died on 11 Oct 1924. He was cremated at Lawnswood in Leeds. The photo shows him as a colonel, wearing khaki service dress c1905, with Gurkha badges on his cap and lapels and black leather Sam Browne belt.