Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.
The February issue of magazine has four pages on the life and bravery of Major-General Sir Christopher Charles Teesdale, who was awarded the VC for bravery during the Crimean War.
Teesdale was born in Grahamstown in the Cape Colony of South Africa on June 1 1833 and was only two when he travelled to England with his family. In 1848, he was accepted as a gentleman cadet in the Royal Artillery and he was commissioned into the regiment in June 1851, shortly after his 18th birthday.
He received the only VC for the siege of Kars – the last major action of the Crimean War – and he was the first South African-born recipient of the VC.
It was during ferocious and prolonged fighting during the siege on September 29 1855 that Teesdale, then a lieutenant aged 22, showed outstanding courage in helping to defeat the Russian force. His VC was eventually announced on September 25 1857.
Teesdale went on to have a long and distinguished military career and later became a Justice of the Peace. He died at his home in South Bersted, near Bognor, Sussex, on November 1 1893, aged 60.
Lord Ashcroft’s articles for Britain at War over the past six years have been largely based on excerpts from his six books on gallantry: Victoria Cross Heroes, Special Forces Heroes, George Cross Heroes, Heroes of the Skies, Special Ops Heroes and Victoria Cross Heroes Volume II.
Lord Ashcroft is a military historian who has lectured extensively on courage and his various medal collections.
- Lord Ashcroft’s latest article appears in the February issue of Britain at War which is on sale now.
