North-east soldier’s Victoria Cross sells for world record price of £420,000
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A collection of medals including a Victoria Cross won by a soldier born in the North East has sold for £420,000 at auction.
Charles Grant was a Lieutenant with the 12th Regiment (2nd Burma Battalion) Madras Infantry when he fought in the Anglo-Manipur War in 1891.
The month-long conflict on the North East Frontier of India saw Grant earn the nickname 'The Hero of Manipur' for his bravery.
During the Battle of Thoubal he led 80 troops who fought off wave after wave of attacks from an enemy force estimated to number about 2000.
His VC, together with other historically important items, was sold to an unnamed bidder for what is a new world record auction price.
Christopher Mellor-Hill, of the London-based auction house Dix Noonan Webbs, said the sale "further underlines the stature of the VC as the world’s most famous gallantry award".
Charles Grant was born in Bourtie, near Oldmeldrum, in 1861.
The son of a Lieutenant-General, he was educated privately and went to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
He was commissioned into Suffolk Regiment on May 10, 1882, and joined the Madras Staff Corps two years later.
After a long military career, in which he rose to the rank of Colonel, he spent his later years in Devon, where he died in 1932, aged 71.
A leather-bound notebook, within which Grant meticulously recorded the march to Manipur and subsequent fighting, were also sold alongside the VC.
A file of original letters, which includes a coded message from him to the relief force, were also part of the collection.
