A SOLDIER who was awarded the Victoria Cross will finally be given a permanent memorial, 150 years after his death.
Ticknall-born John Smith served as a sergeant in the Bengal Sappers and Miners and was awarded the country's highest honour for gallantry during the Indian Mutiny.
On September 14, 1857, as British troops tried to penetrate the Kashmir Gate in Delhi to engage mutineers, he advanced well beyond safe limits to lay and ignite the charge which blew the gates to pieces. He was the only soldier to survive the attack.
Now Ticknall Parish Council has decided it is time to honour the village's most courageous son by unveiling a plaque. The idea came from villager Jane Clayton after she discovered his story.
She said: "I couldn't believe that there was no memorial for Sgt Smith. It has taken a year to get to this point but we are finally giving the man the respect he deserves."
Sgt Smith, the son of a shoemaker, was born in Ticknall in 1814 and went to India after joining the Bengal Sappers and Miners. He married an English widow, Mary Anne, in India and had four daughters, although he never returned to England he sent money to his father and sister in Ticknall.
He died in India in 1864 and was buried with full military honours in the Artillery Cemetery. His Victoria Cross was sold at Sotherby's in 1989 and is now in private hands. There is no surviving photograph of Sgt Smith
The plaque will be unveiled on the wall of the village hall, in Ingleby Lane, during a on Sunday, May 18, at 2pm.
It will be attended by the Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire William Tucker, Lt Colonel Jay Coulson (Retd), who was the last British officer of the Bengal Sappers and Miners to leave India in 1948 following independence, and Sgt Smith's great, great, great niece, Alison Wood, who lives in Uttoxeter.
The plaque has been crafted from Welsh slate by sculptor Graeme Mitcheson, who produces plaques for the National Memorial Arboretum.
Celia Bunston, parish council clerk, said: "It will include a picture of the Victoria Cross and Sgt Smith's name. It is fantastic that we will finally have a memorial for him as he probably is Ticknall's most famous son."
People are welcome to attend the service. There will also be a small exhibition about Sgt Smith, in the village hall, from 11am to 4pm on Saturday, May 17.
FOR VALOURTHE Victoria Cross is cast from the bronze casabel from two cannons captured during the Crimean War.
Queen Victoria was actively involved in its inception in 1856 and it was stated that the medal should only be awarded for "most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy."
Each medal bears the crown of Saint Edward surmounted by a lion with the inscription "For valour". The medal is suspended from a bar decorated with laurel leaves through which a red ribbon passes.
On the reverse of this bar the recipient's name is engraved, as well as his rank, regiment and unit. On the reverse of the medal itself, the date of the recipient's act of bravery is engraved at the centre.
To date 1,356 Victoria Crosses have been awarded.
Sgt Smith's citation reads: "For conspicuous gallantry, in conjunction with Lieutenants Home and Salkeld, in the performance of the desperate duty of blowing in the Cashmere Gate of the fortress of Delhi in broad daylight, under heavy and destructive fire of musketry, on the morning of the 14th September 1857, preparatory to the assault."
(General order of Major-General Archdale Wilson, Bart. KCB, dated headquarters, Delhi City, September 21, 1857)