Old Photograph Geddes School Culross Fife Scotland

Old photograph of Geddes School and houses in Culross, Fife, Scotland. Stewart McPherson VC, was a Scottish soldier in India and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth military forces. He was born in Culross in 1819, the only son of Mungo and Mary. He left Geddes Public School at 15 to become an apprentice weaver in Dunfermline, but he was soon lured by adventure and foreign travel. In December 1839 he walked to Stirling to join the British Army's 78th Highlanders, which were later to become the Seaforth Highlanders Ross-shire Buffs, Duke of Albany's. He married a Culross girl, Elizabeth Haig, in 1848 and the couple went on to have six children - Stewart, Sarah, Eliza, Robina, Ferguson and McGregor. McPherson saw action in Persia, India and Ireland before arriving in Bengal, India. He was approximately 38 years old, and now a colour sergeant. During his time here, his actions during the Siege of Lucknow in the Indian Mutiny earned him the Victoria Cross. His citation reads: For daring gallantry in the Lucknow Residency on the 26th September, 1857, in having rescued, at great personal risk, a wounded Private of his Company, who was lying in a most exposed situation, under a very heavy fire. Colour Sergeant McPherson was also distinguished on many occasions by his coolness and incredible gallantry in action. McPherson was presented with his award by Queen Victoria in December 1880, at Windsor Castle. Only three weeks after receiving his award, he discharged himself from the army and returned to Culross, where he was appointed superintendent of Glasgow Industrial Schools based in Bailieston. A decade later, the family moved again to Culross where they bought a house in Low Valleyfield. As a reminder of his time in India it was named Lucknow Villa and it was there that he died, aged 70, in 1892.



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