Surg. Gen. Herbert Taylor READE VC, CB

  General Notes:

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Surgeon General Herbert Taylor Reade VC. Winning his VC during the Siege of Dehli, 14th September 1857, with a small number of men of the 61st foot, cleared rebels from the rooftops, where they had been firing down on wounded men that Reade had been attending. Born in Perth, Canada, on 20th september 1828, the son of Staff Surgeon George Hume Reade, who became Colonel of the 3rd Regiment of Canadian Militia and died at Scutari in 1854. He was also the elder brother of Surgeon General Sir John Reade, KCB, KStJ, QHS, KHS. Herbert Reade was educated in Canada and qualified in Dublin joining the army as Assistant Surgeon to the 61st Foot (Gloucesters) in 1850. In 1857 he was promoted Staff Surgeon 2nd Class, saw actionduring the Indian Mutiny and took part in the attack on Ferozepore, and the Siege and Assault on Dehli in the same year, gaining his Victoria Cross while with the Regiment. The citation reads: "Dates of Acts of Bravery: 14 and 16 Sept 1857. During the siege of Dehli, and on the 14th Sep 1857, while Surgeon Reade was attending to the wounded at the end of one of the streets of the city, a party of rebels advanced from the direction of the Bank, and, having established themselves in the houses of the street, commenced firing from the roofs. The wounded were thus in very great danger, and would have fallen into the hands of the enemy, had not Surgeon Reade drawn his sword, and calling upon the few soldiers who were near to follow, succeeded after heavy fire, in dislodging the rebels. Text supplied by Royal Army Medical Corps Historical Museum.