VC policeman to be given a marked grave after 141 years - News - Evening Standard
       

VC policeman to be given a marked grave after 141 years

A London soldier awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery will finally be given a marked grave today - 141 years after he was buried.

Robert Grant, who joined the police after leaving the Army, will have his final resting place in Highgate Cemetery recognised at a ceremony where Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair will unveil a headstone.

He was a 20-year-old corporal when he was awarded the VC after risking his life to carry a wounded comrade off the battlefield while under fire during the Indian Mutiny in 1857.

Seven years later, he returned to London and joined the Met. As a Pc, he regularly patrolled Kentish Town until he died of tuberculosis in 1867.

His wife failed to raise funds for a funeral and he was buried in a common grave, which was recently discovered by historians.

Comments

Don't Miss
Victoria Coren: My obsession with children, five proposals a week and why David and I are no power couple

Victoria Coren

David Mitchell and I are no power couple
The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition preview party

Summer party

Stars at the The Royal Academy of Arts
London gets ready for the Diamond Jubilee - in pictures

Diamond Jubilee

London gets ready - in pictures
The Glamour Awards - stars turn on the style

Glamour Awards

Stars turn on the style
Duchess of Cambridge is pretty in pink at her first Buckingham Palace garden party

Garden party

Duchess of Cambridge is pretty in pink
FIRST review of Ridley Scott's latest sci-fi blockbuster Prometheus

First review

Is Ridley Scott's Prometheus any good?
Fair-weather goths

Fair-weather goths

The sultry shades of summer darks are coming out of the shadows
Dog save the Queen: Corgis surge in popularity

Dog save the Queen

Corgis surge in popularity
'He’s a better ex than he was a husband', says Boris Johnson's ex wife

A better ex than husband

We talk to Boris Johnson's ex wife
TV Baftas - in pictures

Best of the Baftas

Stars on the red, white and blue carpet