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PTE WILLIAM STANLAKE, VC, DCM.
William Stanlake was born in Devon in 1830 and enlisted into
the Coldstream Guards on 29th July 1852 at Totnes, Devon.
He
served in the Crimean War with the 1st Battalion and saw
action at Alma, Inkerman, Balaclava and Sevastopol. He
volunteered for service with the Sharpshooters commanded by
Captain Goodlake. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his
gallantry during October 1854, which included repulsing a
Russian attack at Careenage ridge on 26th October. He was
also awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
He was presented with his Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria
at the very first VC Investiture in Hyde Park on 26th June
1857.
He was discharged on 28th January 1863 as a Private, having
received no promotion during his service, and died in
Camberwell, London on 24th April 1904.
In addition to the VC, he also received the Distinguished
Conduct Medal, Crimea Medal with 4 clasps, and the Turkish
Crimea Medal. His medals were purchased and presented to te
Regiment in 1897 by an unknown donor.
EXTRACT FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE
dated 24 Feb 1857
Victoria Cross
3968 Private William STANLOCK DCM, 1st Bn Coldstream Guards
For having volunteered, when employed as one of the
sharpshooters in October, 1854, for reconnoitring purposes,
to crawl within six yards of a Russian sentry, and so
enabled the Officer in command to effect a surprise; Pte
Stanlock having been warned beforehand of the imminent risk
which he would run in this adventure.
He is generally known as Stanlake within the Regiment,
however he variously referred to in different documents as
Stanlack or Stanlock.
His medal(s) is on display at Regimental Headquarters
RELATED IMAGES/INFORMATION
More information on Stanlake can be found below:
Wikipedia External Link
MEDAL
ENTITLEMENT OF:
Private William STANLACK (Coldstream Guards)
Victoria Cross
Distinguished Conduct Medal ( DCM )
Crimea Medal ( 1854-56 )
4 clasps:
"Alma" - "Balaclava"
"Inkermann" - "Sebastopol"
Turkish Crimea Medal ( 1855-56 )
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