Click below for full citation

VC56   William Coffey

BORN  5 August 1829

DIED   13 July 1875  AGE   45

VC Won  29 March 1855  AGE 25

Place VC Won  Sebastopol, Crimea

War/Campaign  Crimean War

Name   William Coffey  No.   3837

VC Issue No.   56   Awards   VC    DCM

Regiment   34th Regiment

Later   Border Regiment

Now   The Duke of Lancasters Regiment

Rank VC Won   Private

Rank End Of Career   Sergeant

Place Of Birth   Conlay Hospital, Knocklong, Co. Limerick, Ireland

Place Of Death   Army Drill Hall, City Road, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England

Buried/Location Ashes  Spital Cemetery, Hady Hill, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England

Cremated

Date Buried/Cremated   18 July 1875

Headstone   Headstone   Plot/Grave no.   RC Section, Grave 10657

Gazetted   24 February 1857

VC Presented   26 June 1857 by Queen Victoria at Hyde Park, London, England

Memorials

P  Headstone, Spital Cemetery, Hady Hill, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England

P  Named on VC memorial Carlisle Cathedral

P  Memorial Bench outside Town Hall, Chesterfield

By The Way…

Committed suicide by shooting himself

CWGC headstone erected c. 1960

VC Held By

Border Regiment Museum, Queen Mary's Tower, The Castle, Carlisle, Cumbria, England

NEXT

PREVIOUS

During the siege of Sebastopol, he threw a live shell out of a crowded trench and over the parapet, saving many men from certain death.