Former worker reveals role in Shropshire history of Victoria Cross
From time to time, as part of his work at COD Donnington, John Robinson would come up close and personal with Britain's most precious block of metal – the chunk from which all modern Victoria Cross medals are made.
"When I handled the actual thing it sent shivers down my spine, because of the history of it, and people have died for it," said 71-year-old John, whose long working career was to give him a special association with that piece of bronze, which is stored at the base.
He contacted us after reading our recent feature about the Victoria Cross metal which is kept at Donnington, and wanted to put us right about one thing. We had said that the last time some of the metal was cut off to be turned into VCs, Britain's highest award for valour, was in February 1970.
It turns out to have happened much more recently, in 2006. How does John know? Because he was there when it was done.
"I had been retired for two years when they called me back in to supervise the cutting of this piece of the original metal. There were high-ranking officers who came from Canada who wanted to see me and asked me things about it.
"They wanted a 150g piece cut off it. It was done by a chap who is still down there, Dave Whittle.
"I was invited in to the depot to supervise, but because I was no longer a depot employee I couldn't go on the machine and cut it for insurance reasons, so they commandeered Dave to do it.
"They wouldn't tell me where this 150g was going."
In the normal course of events it would have gone to Hancocks jewellers of London to be turned into another batch of VCs.
However, in this particular case it turns out that the metal cut off was destined for Canada, which had taken the decision to create its own version of the Victoria Cross, closely following the original, but with special Canadian elements.
The Victoria Cross can only be offered for a pre-eminent act of valour in the presence of the enemy.
It was first bestowed in 1856, for bravery during the Crimean War of 1854 to 1855.
Since then, 1,355 awards have been made.
Each medal has been made by London jewellers Messrs Hancocks from the bronze of Chinese cannons captured from Russian troops at the siege of Sevastopol.
There is now a requirement for at least three witnesses to attest to acts of valour to ensure they are worthy of the Cross.[/breakout]
Medals expert Mark Smith, curator of the Royal Artillery Museum at Woolwich – where the cannon from which the VC medal originally comes is on display – said: "The Canadians asked for a sliver of the original to mix with Canadian bronze when they instituted the Victoria Cross of Canada, which say 'Pro Valore' instead of 'For Valour' on the obverse.
"Presumably as Iraq and Afghanistan gave Canadians the opportunity to win a VC, they thought that they should at least make some blanks."
The Canadian version of the Victoria Cross, which was unveiled in 2008, has been made from a metal mix from three sources – that sliver of metal cut at Donnington; a medal minted in 1867 in commemoration of the Confederation of Canada; and metals from all regions of Canada. The first two specimens were sent to the Queen for her collection. The 20 Canadian Victoria Crosses are safely kept at Rideau Hall, Ottawa, ready for when the time comes to award them.
To date, no Canadian VCs have been awarded.
Something that may surprise people is that there are several replicas of the VC bronze kept at Donnington, which were made by John on the instructions of his superiors.
"I made three of them, actual size. The intrinsic value of the real metal is priceless. People want to borrow it to take to shows and fetes, and they can't afford to release the real piece, so I made replicas, virtually identical, out of pieces of bronze and brass."
Those who borrowed the replicas were unaware that they were not the real thing, he said.
"The real thing was always kept under high security, in the new small arms building, where they do all the refurbishment of British Army small arms, in a blooming great big safe there. I don't know if it's still kept there – I've been retired 11 years.
"I used to go and take it out. I made over 30 miniature models of it which they gave to visitors of high standing."
John, who lives in St Georges, Telford, had started working at REME – later the Army Base Repair Organisation, ABRO – within COD Donnington as a centre lathe turner and toolmaker in 1965, working in the machine shop, but the shop manager George Cooke was to tap into his skills for some special projects. "I made the monument on the Humbers island which is for a deceased Army officer, I don't know who."
Another was creating a diorama for a Normandy museum. Then there was a specially altered Land Rover for the Queen Mother.
"We ripped all the back out and put in steps, and lined it with pigskin, and I did chrome handrails. It was a one-off. The day I left it came back into the shop because some squaddie had bumped it."
John does have a framed replica of the VC himself.
"I was given to me by the now-deceased George Cooke. It isn't made out of the actual metal. He gave it to me for my services, as a memento for all the work I did with the VC, and the models I made – a memento of my working career of 43 years."
He does not know when the VC medal came to Donnington in the first place, but says it was before he started working there. Like many other people, the popular story he heard about it was that it had come from a Russian cannon captured during the Crimean War, but he later learned that the Donnington metal is from a Chinese 18-pounder cannon.
And while of course only a special few can ever win the VC, John is proud of a medal of his own. "I was awarded the Imperial Service Medal for my services when I retired."
