Victoria Cross, Sergeant James McGuire, 1st Bengal European Fusiliers, 1857 (metal)

Victoria Cross awarded to Sergeant James McGuire, 1st Bengal European Fusiliers, 1857. McGuire won the VC during the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859) for actions at the storming of Delhi on 14 September 1857. As the assault troops waited at the Kabul Gate, ammunition was being carried up on to the ramparts to be put into a small magazine, but before it could be safely stowed away, three boxes exploded and two were set on fire by enemy shot. McGuire and Drummer Miles Ryan, seeing the danger of the fire spreading, seized the two burning boxes and threw them over the ramparts, thus saving many lives. Ryan was also awarded the VC. James McGuire was born at Enniskillen, Ireland where he became a labourer by occupation. On 29 March 1849 he enlisted at Enniskillen for ten years in the Honourable East India Company's Service. He sailed for India in the troopship ‘Ellenborough’, where he arrived on 10 October 1849. McGuire served in the Burmese War (1852-1853), where he received the Medal with a clasp for Pegu. After his service in the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859), McGuire was discharged on 16 May 1859 to a pension of one shilling a day. In 1862 McGuire forfeited his decoration when he was convicted of felony.