“Perfect courage means doing unwitnessed what we would be capable of with the world looking on.”

– François de La Rochefoucauld

The nature of the fighting at Badli-ki-Serai of a numerically superior but disorganised force of mutineers against a smaller yet disciplined army meant danger was manifest. The mutineers, especially those who had killed their officers at Meerut and Delhi, knew they would receive no quarter from the British, so surrender was not an option. The British were fighting with much anger. The European community in India was small, and most were to some degree related to each other – more than one man at Badli-ki-Serai had relatives or friends who had either been killed or otherwise abused at the two stations.

Amid the battle, in the chaos of pounding guns, the screams of the wounded, the dust and the burning heat, three very different men distinguished themselves with valour to win the Victoria Cross.