Victoria Crosses
Ashcroft collects Victoria Crosses. His collection is by far the largest in the world and spans the three services—the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force (RAF). The collection also spans 128 years from acts of bravery at the start of the Crimean War in 1854 to an act of courage during the Falklands War in 1982. He wrote Victoria Cross Heroes, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Victoria Cross.
Following the theft of a number of Victoria Crosses awarded to New Zealand servicemen from the Army Museum at Waiouru in late 2007, Ashcroft pledged NZ$200,000 for their return. Those stolen included the very rare VC & Bar of Charles Upham. The medals were recovered three months later and at a presentation in Wellington on 15 April 2008 he pledged a further NZ$200,000 for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the thefts.
In July 2008, Ashcroft announced a donation of £5 million for a permanent gallery at the Imperial War Museum, where the 50 Victoria Crosses held by the museum will be put on display alongside his own collection of 162 VCs.
Read more about this topic: Michael Ashcroft
Famous quotes containing the words victoria and/or crosses:
“The men who are grandfathers should be the fathers. Grandpas get to do it right with their grandchildren.”
—Anonymous Grandparent. As quoted in Women and Their Fathers, by Victoria Secunda, ch. 2 (1992)
“When an American heiress wants to buy a man, she at once crosses the Atlantic. The only really materialistic people I have ever met have been Europeans.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)