Private Matthew Hughes VC

Matthew Hughes was one of the 62 officers and men who were the first recipients of the VC. Queen Victoria handed out the medals on horseback in Hyde Park on 26th June 1857. Hughes had won the award for his bravery during the attack on the Quarries outside Sebastopol on 7th June 1855. He made two journeys across open ground under heavy fire, to fetch ammunition. He also went to the front and retrieved a severely wounded soldier. Again, on 18th June in the unsuccessful attack on the Redan he volunteered to bring in a badly wounded officer and received a bad wound himself in the process. Matthew Hughes was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1822 and was promoted to corporal some time after 1855. He died on 9th Jan 1882 and was buried in Bradford.