Military Career
Peel was a Captain in the Royal Navy, serving with the Naval Brigade during the Crimean War. On 18 October 1854 at the Siege of Sevastopol, he picked up a live shell with the fuse still burning from amongst several powder cases and threw it over the parapet. The shell burst as it left his hands. For this he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC); it is now displayed at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.
On 5 November at the Battle of Inkerman, he joined some of the officers of the Grenadier Guards and helped to defend the Colours of the regiment when they were hard-pressed. On 18 June 1855 he led the first scaling party at the assault on the redan, and was himself severely wounded. On each of these occasions Captain Peel was accompanied by a young midshipman, Edward St. John Daniel as Aide-de-camp.
After the Crimean War, he served in the Indian Mutiny and was wounded at the Relief of Lucknow. At the age of 33, he died of smallpox at Cawnpore, India, on 27 April 1858.
Read more about this topic: William Peel (Royal Navy Officer)
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