Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The V.C. group of nine miniature dress medals worn by Major-General E. H. Sartorius V.C., 59th Foot, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery at Sliah-jui, Afghanistan, on 24 October 1879, and who was gifted his miniature V.C. by his brother (and fellow V.C. recipient) R. W. Sartorius

Victoria Cross, the reverse of the suspension bar contemporarily engraved ‘R. S. to E. S. 25.5.81’; The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s badge, gold and enamel, with integral gold riband buckle; Jubilee 1887, silver; Coronation 1902, silver; Coronation 1911, silver; Afghanistan 1878-80, no clasp; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, no clasp; Ottoman Empire, Order of Osmanieh, Fourth Class badge, silver, gold, and enamel, with rosette on riband; Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, mounted as worn and housed in a wooden box with plaque inscribed ‘Major General Euston Henry Sartorius, VC., G.C.B. [sic]’, green enamel damage to Medjidieh, generally very fine (9) £2,400-£2,800

V.C. London Gazette 16 May 1881:
‘For conspicuous bravery during the action at Sliah-jui, on the 24th October 1879, in leading a party of five or six men of the 59th Regiment against a body of the enemy, of unknown strength, occupying an almost inaccessible position on the top of a precipitous hill. The nature of the ground made any sort of regular formation impossible, and Captain Sartorius had to bear the first brunt of the attack from the whole body of the enemy, who fell upon him and his men as they gained the top of the precipitous pathway; but the gallant and determined bearing of this Officer, emulated as it was by his men, led to the most perfect success, and the surviving occupants of the hilltop, seven in number, were all killed. In this encounter Captain Sartorius was wounded by sword cuts in both hands, and one of his men was killed.’

Euston Henry Sartorius was born in Cintra, Portugal, on 6 June 1844, the younger son of Admiral Sir George Rose Sartorius, G.C.B., and the younger brother of Reginald William Sartorius V.C., C.M.G. Along with his brothers, he was educated at Victoria College, St. Helier, Jersey, then Woolwich, and later at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. First serving as an Ensign in the 59th Foot, he was gazetted Lieutenant on 29 June 1865. He served as a Staff Officer and Instructor at Sandhurst from December 1869 until 1874, during which time, on 29 June 1869 along with two other men, he helped to save three girls from drowning at Broadstairs, Kent, and was awarded the Royal Humane Society Medal in Bronze. When he left for India in 1874, he served as a Company Commander during the Second Afghanistan War, and for his gallantry at Shahjui on 24 October 1879 was awarded the Victoria Cross. Lieutenant Irwin of the 59th, who was under Sartorius’ command, wrote of the action:
‘Captain Sartorius ordered his men to fix bayonets, and to clamber up. The hill was very steep, and when they got to within a few feet of the top the Afghans sprang up with a yell, and, sword in hand, slashing right and left, simply jumped down upon our fellows. For a few moments, all was confusion, friend and foe falling down together, but it was speedily all over. We had gained the hill, and the standards on it, not one of the enemy having escaped. We lost one man, and Captain Sartorius was wounded in both hands. The fanatics were splendid, though ferocious-looking scoundrels, and fought like fiends, having evidently made up their minds to die, and to do as much damage as possible before doing so.’

Sartorious was invested with his Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria on 1 July 1881. Due to wounds received during his V.C. action, he partially lost the use of his left hand; unable to continue as an active field officer, he was appointed to a staff post at Aldershot. In the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War he was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General and Quartermaster-General, responsible for base and communications, and was afterwards promoted brevet Lieutenant-Colonel; was Mentioned in Despatches; and was awarded the Fourth Class of the Ottoman Order of Osmanieh. He was promoted Colonel in 1886, and was Assistant Adjutant-General in Portsmouth from 1891 to 1894. He then served as Military Attaché to Japan, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1896. Promoted Major-General in 1899, he retired in August 1901, although he continued to serve as a Colonel of a volunteer battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment.

The inscription on the reverse of the Victoria Cross ‘R. S. to E. S.’, presumably refers to the fact that Euston Sartorius was gifted his miniature V.C. by his brother Reginald Sartorius, himself a recipient of the V.C. during the Ashantee War. The Sartorius brothers are one of only four sets of brothers to both be awarded the Victoria Cross (the others being C. J. S. and H. H. Gough; G. N. and R. B. Bradford; and A. B. and V. B. Turner).