A Victoria Cross belonging to Colonel C J W Grant, who spent his last days living in Sidmouth, has sold for £420,000 making it a world auction record for a British Military VC.

The unique and exceptional 1891 ‘Capture and Defence of Thobal’ Victoria Cross group of five awarded to 30-year-old Scotsman Lieutenant, later Colonel, Charles James William Grant of the 12th Regiment (2nd Burma Battalion) Madras Infantry fetched £420,000 at Dix Noonan Webb auctioneers on Wednesday, June 23.
It was expected to fetch £300,000-400,000 and after much competition between two telephone bidders, a relatively new collector of British Gallantry Awards purchased it.

Lieutenant Grant was awarded the highest military decoration for his astonishing valour having defended improvised fortifications at Thobal in Manipur, Eastern India with just 80 men against an estimated 2,000-strong enemy.
His actions earned him the nickname ‘Hero of Manipur’. He spent his later years in Sidmouth, where he died in 1932, aged 71 years.