Thomas Henry Kavanagh VC (15 July 1821 – 13 November 1882) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry which can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He is one of only five civilians to have ever been awarded the VC. Indian Mutiny Kavanagh was a 36-year-old civilian in the Bengal Civil Service, an assistant commissioner in Oudh during the Indian Mutiny, when the following deed took place on 9 November 1857 at the Siege of Lucknow, India for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross: An erratum appeared in a later edition of the London Gazette stating that the deed was actually performed on 9 November as follows: Later life Kavanagh died in Gibraltar on 13 November 1882, and is buried at North Front Cemetery, Gibraltar. He was one of only five civilians awarded the VC. His medal (and a first edition of his book, How I Won The Victoria Cross) was held by Historical-Militaria.com in Toronto, Canada. The VC was sold at auction at Noonans Mayfair on 14 September 2022 for a record hammer price of £750,000. In fiction Kavanagh appears in George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman in the Great Game in which he is portrayed as a bungling glory-seeker who has to be led through the enemy lines by a reluctant and terrified Flashman. Sources The Register of the Victoria Cross (1981, 1988 and 1997) References External links Thomas Henry Kavanagh VC National Army Museum 1821 births 1882 deaths 19th-century Irish people People from Mullingar Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross Administrators in British India Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross