Arthur George Hammond

Colonel Sir Arthur George Hammond VC, KCB, DSO (28 September 1843 – 20 April 1919) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Arthur Hammond was born in Dawlish, Devon in 1843 and, on leaving Sherborne School, graduated from Addiscombe Military Seminary in 1861. After serving in the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteer Regiment) he joined the Bengal Staff Corps and Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides.

Hammond was 36 years old, and a captain in the Bengal Staff Corps, British Indian Army during the Second Anglo-Afghan War when the following deed took place on 14 December 1879 at the action on the Asmai Heights, near Kabul, Afghanistan, for which he was awarded the VC:

For conspicuous coolness and gallantry at the action on the Asmai Heights, near Kabul, on the 14th December, 1879, in defending the top of the hill with a rifle and fixed bayonet, against large numbers of the enemy, while the 72nd Highlanders and Guides were retiring; and again, on the retreat down the hill, in stopping to assist in carrying away a wounded Sepoy, the enemy being not sixty yards off, firing heavily all the time.

In addition to the Afghan War, he served in the Jowaki Campaign of 1877-1878 and also in the Hazara Campaigns of 1888 and 1891 and the Tirah Campaign of 1897-1898.

Following his long military career, Arthur Hammond retired to Camberley in Surrey where he named his residence Sherborne House. He died in April 1919 and is buried in St. Michael's Churchyard, Camberley.

His VC is in private hands.