Mahdist (Sudanese) War Victoria Cross Recipient. A native of Canada, he was gazetted for the award on November 15, 1898 for his actions as a lieutenant in the 21st Lancers (Empress of India's) of the British Army during the Battle of Omdurman (also known as the Battle of Khartoum), Sudan on September 2, 1898 during the Mahdist War. Born in Montreal, Ontario, Canada into a prestigious family, his father was a major general in the British Army. He attended Marlborough College in Wiltshire, England and then graduated from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, Berkshire, England in 1887 and joined the Lincolnshire Regiment of the British Army. In November 1889 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant with the 21st Lancers and four years later he became their adjutant. In the early Fall of 1898 he was sent to Egypt as part of British General Sir Herbert Kitchener's expedition to Khartoum, Sudan where he won the Victoria Cross for gallantry and the Khedive's Sudan Medal (with Khartoum clasp). In 1899 he was sent to South Africa after the outbreak of the Second Boer War and was killed in combat at the Battle of Stormberg, Dordrecht, Cape Colony, South Africa at the age of 33. His Victoria Cross citation reads: "At the Battle of Khartoum on the 2nd September 1898, Lieutenant de Montmorency, after the charge of the 21st Lancers, returned to assist Second Lieutenant R. G. Grenfell, who was lying surrounded by a large body of Dervishes. Lieutenant de Montmorency drove the Dervishes off, and, finding Lieutenant Grenfell dead, put the body on his horse which then broke away. Captain Kenna and Corporal Swarbrick then came to his assistance, and enabled him to re join, the Regiment, which had begun to open a heavy fire on the enemy."
Mahdist (Sudanese) War Victoria Cross Recipient. A native of Canada, he was gazetted for the award on November 15, 1898 for his actions as a lieutenant in the 21st Lancers (Empress of India's) of the British Army during the Battle of Omdurman (also known as the Battle of Khartoum), Sudan on September 2, 1898 during the Mahdist War. Born in Montreal, Ontario, Canada into a prestigious family, his father was a major general in the British Army. He attended Marlborough College in Wiltshire, England and then graduated from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, Berkshire, England in 1887 and joined the Lincolnshire Regiment of the British Army. In November 1889 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant with the 21st Lancers and four years later he became their adjutant. In the early Fall of 1898 he was sent to Egypt as part of British General Sir Herbert Kitchener's expedition to Khartoum, Sudan where he won the Victoria Cross for gallantry and the Khedive's Sudan Medal (with Khartoum clasp). In 1899 he was sent to South Africa after the outbreak of the Second Boer War and was killed in combat at the Battle of Stormberg, Dordrecht, Cape Colony, South Africa at the age of 33. His Victoria Cross citation reads: "At the Battle of Khartoum on the 2nd September 1898, Lieutenant de Montmorency, after the charge of the 21st Lancers, returned to assist Second Lieutenant R. G. Grenfell, who was lying surrounded by a large body of Dervishes. Lieutenant de Montmorency drove the Dervishes off, and, finding Lieutenant Grenfell dead, put the body on his horse which then broke away. Captain Kenna and Corporal Swarbrick then came to his assistance, and enabled him to re join, the Regiment, which had begun to open a heavy fire on the enemy."
Bio by: William Bjornstad
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