A Victoria Cross sold at auction holds a remarkable untold tale.
For although it was awarded to sailor James Gorman for heroism during the Crimean War, two imposters falsely claimed it had been given to them.
Genuine hero Gorman joined the Royal Navy aged 13 in 1848 and was serving on board HMS Albion when Britain was at war with Russia. He was extensively involved in the fighting on land.
During the Battle of Inkerman in 1854, the British lines were attacked at night. Gorman was among a handful of men who ignored orders to abandon stricken comrades and declared they were ‘not trusting any Ivan to get in bayonet range of the wounded’.
He received his Victoria Cross in 1857 and emigrated to Australia a year later. In Sydney, he worked as a drill master, gunnery inspector and a master at arms. He died in 1882.
A medal for valour awarded to veteran James Gorman for heroism during the Crimean War
Genuine hero Gorman joined the Royal Navy aged 13 in 1848 and was serving on board HMS Albion when Britain was at war with Russia
Faker James Devereux, claimed he had joined the Royal Navy using Gorman’s name
But, with Gorman living 10,000 miles away, two conmen stepped in to assume his identity.
First, a sailor – also called James Gorman – claimed his namesake’s VC pension for two-and-a-half years.
After being caught in 1859 and jailed in Hong Kong, he was ordered to pay back the cash before being dishonourably discharged.
Then, back in England, another sailor, James Devereux, claimed he had joined the Royal Navy using the name James Gorman. He only became James Devereux later, while working as a carpenter.
When he died aged 69 in 1889, an obituary in the South London Press stated he had been awarded the VC ‘for conspicuous bravery’.
The deception was only uncovered in the 1980s.
A spokesman for auctioneers Noonans, which sold the medal for £396,800, including fees, in December, said: ‘The situation was put beyond doubt when the Australian descendants of Seaman James Gorman VC came forth with not only a portrait of him wearing his medals but, more importantly, all his medals – including the Victoria Cross.’