Timothy O'Hea, Victoria Cross 1866
The Only Person to Receive VC for Bravery in Canada During Peacetime
Jun 18, 2008
Part of the 1st Battalion of the Rifle Brigade of the British Army, Private Timothy O'Hea was one of a four-member squad that found themselves guarding a boxcar load of ammunition bound for Montreal from Quebec City. The train also contained several locked carriages with 800 German immigrants inside.
Born in Ireland's Bantry of County Cork in 1846, the young O'Hea had joined the British army and came to Canada to fight against the Fenian rebellion. On the late afternoon of June 19, 1866, with the train stopped at Danville, Quebec, noted Mysteries of Canada, a fire was discovered smouldering in the boxcar carrying gunpowder.
Railway Men Fled
Sounding the alarm, O'Hea was no doubt dismayed to find that his fellow soldiers and railway men had fled the potentially explosive train. Climbing boldly into the ammunition boxcar, he "ripped burning covers off ammunition cases and tossed them outside, then for almost an hour, making 19 trips to a creek for buckets of water," O’Hea managed to put out the fire - by himself. He not only saved the British ammunition, but by putting out the fire, he rescued the hundreds of immigrants locked in their cars from an explosion of 2,000 pounds of gunpowder and weaponry. The immigrants were cheering his actions and were seemingly “unaware of their peril,” said Mysteries of Canada. With the ammunition moved to another car, the train went safely on to its destination.
For his selfless effort to protect complete strangers during peacetime, Private Timothy O’Hea was bestowed the Victoria Cross, the highest award given for valour. The 20-year-old was decorated on New Year’s Day, 1867. Since the Victoria Cross is usually a wartime honour, the wording of the award given to O’Hea required somewhat of a change from the usual “acts of valour in the face of the enemy”. In his case, an exception was made to reflect his great bravery, and the inscription changed to “conspicuous courage under circumstances of great danger”.
O’Hea’s life after his military duty is not well documented. According to findagrave, it seems that he was struck with tuberculosis and hospitalized in London, England, then he returned home to Ireland. Though there is a gravesite in Queensland, Australia with the O’Hea name on it, there is suggestion that Timothy’s brother had borrowed his identity, and then died in Australia in 1874.
Victoria Cross Found
The Victoria Cross of Private Timothy O’Hea was missing for decades, finally located in 1950, “lying in a drawer in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Apparently,” said Mysteries of Canada, “O’Hea had left it with a friend who had ‘presented it to the gallery’.”
Private Timothy O’Hea was the only person to receive the Victoria Cross for tremendous valour on Canadian soil. His medal is held by the Royal Green Jackets Museum in Winchester, England.
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