| MEMORIAL STONES HAVE BEEN PLACED OVER THE PREVIOUSLY UNMARKED GRAVES OF LIEUTENANT JOHN GRIEVE VC, AT ST MICHAEL'S CHURCHYARD ( INVERESK OLD ), LOTHIAN & PRIVATE JAMES DAVIS VC, NORTH MERCHISTON CEMETERY, EDINBURGH |
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| 21 August 2003 |
| A ceremony organised by the Royal Highland Fusiliers, and representavies from the 2nd Dragoons and The Black Watch, took place on the 21st August 2003 in Piershill Cemetery, Edinburgh, to place a memorial stone over the previously unmarked grave of Private George Wilson VC. Two further memorial stones were placed either side of Wilson's, commemorating Lieutenant John Grieve, 2nd Dragoons, who earned his Victoria Cross at Balaclava during the Crimean War, and Private James Davis, 42nd Regiment ( The Black Watch ) who was awarded the VC during the Indian Mutiny. The two turfstones were later taken to their respective cemeteries and placed over the graves of Grieve in St Michael's Churchyard ( Inveresk Old ), Inveresk, and Davis', in North Merchiston Cemetery, Edinburgh. |
Charles Dickens wrote of John Grieve's heroic action in an early edition of his journal "All the Year Round", "It is not a thing that should be suffered to die away. When he cut off a soldier's head at a blow, and disabled and dispersed several others, he had no very exciting motives of self-devotion. Pay, promotion, or popularity could not well enter his head, for he knew the rules of the Service about rising from the ranks, and he knew too, that the British public rarely asks the names of the poor privates and non-commissioned officers who fall. What John Grieve did, then, was an act of the purest and most unselfish heroism; but I daresay, when the Queen pinned the Cross to his breast in Hyde Park that day, he felt he was more than rewarded for what to him was a very ordinary matter-of-fact bit of duty."
For the award of the Victoria Cross. [ London Gazette, 24 February 1857 ]. Balaklava, Crimea, 25 October 1854, No. 774 Sergeant-Major John Grieve, 2nd Dragoons. Saved the life of an officer in the Heavy Cavalry Charge at Balaklava, who was surrounded by Russian cavalry, by his gallant conduct of riding up to his rescue and cutting off the head of one Russian, disabling and dispersing others.
John Grieve was invested with his Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria in Hyde Park on the 26th June 1857.
Medal entitlement of Sergeant-Major John Grieve - 2nd Dragoons
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| James Davis was born in Edinburgh in February 1835 and after a military career in the 42nd Regiment ( The Black Watch ) returned to his home city where died on the 2nd March 1893. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the North Merchiston Cemetery, Edinburgh.
For the award of the Victoria Cross. [ London Gazette, 27 May 1859 ]. Fort Ruhya, India, 15 April 1858, Private James Davis, 42nd Regiment ( The Black Watch ). For conspicuous gallantry at the attack on the fort at Ruhya, when, with an advanced party to point out the gate of the fort to the Engineer officer, Private Davis offered to carry the body of Lieutenant Bramley, who was killed at this point, to the regiment. He performed the duty of danger and affection under the very walls of the fort.
John Grieve was invested with his Victoria Cross by Brigadier-General Sir R. Walpole at Bareilly, India, on the 7th April 1860.
Medal entitlement of Private James Davis - 42nd Regiment ( The Black Watch )
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Iain Stewart, 4 September 2003