Raymond de Montmorency
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox military person
Raymond Harvey Lodge Joseph de Montmorency VC (5 February 1867 – 23 February 1900) was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. (Also considered a Canadian recipient due to his place of birth).
Early life career
De Montmorency was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the eldest son and heir of Major-General Reymond de Montmorency, 3rd Viscount Frankfort de Montmorency, Irish representative peer, who served in the Crimean War, the Indian Rebellion, Abyssinia and the Mahdist War, and his wife Rachel Mary Lumley Godolphin Michel, daughter of Field Marshal Sir John Michel.
He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Lincolnshire Regiment on 14 September 1887, and transferred to the 21st Lancers as he was promoted to lieutenant on 6 November 1889.<ref name=TT26021900>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref>
Details of Victoria Cross
De Montmorency was 31 years old, and a lieutenant in the 21st Lancers (Empress of India's), British Army during the Sudan Campaign when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:
On 2 September 1898 at the Battle of Omdurman, Sudan, after the charge, Lieutenant de Montmorency returned to help an officer who was lying surrounded by a great many Dervishes. He drove the Dervishes off and finding that the officer was dead, put the body on his horse which then broke away. Captain Paul Aloysius Kenna and a corporal then came to his assistance and he was able to rejoin his regiment. His citation read: Template:Quote
Later military career
De Montmorency was promoted to the rank of captain on 2 August 1899, having in the previous October been despatched on special service to South Africa,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> where he raised and commanded a special body of scouts, Montmorency's Scouts.<ref name=TT26021900 /> Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, the Scouts were involved in fighting in Cape Colony. He was killed in action at the Battle of Stormberg, Dordrecht, Cape Colony, on 23 February 1900.<ref>London Gazette</ref><ref>Brighton, Terry, The Last Charge: the 21st Lancers and the Battle of Omdurman. Marlborough: Crowood, 1998. Template:ISBN.</ref>
References
- British recipients of the Victoria Cross
- 21st Lancers officers
- British Army personnel of the Mahdist War
- 1867 births
- 1900 deaths
- Military personnel from Montreal
- British Army personnel killed in the Second Boer War
- People educated at Marlborough College
- Royal Lincolnshire Regiment officers
- Heirs apparent who never acceded
- Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
- British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross