Alexander Roberts Dunn VC (15 September 1833 – 25 January 1868) was the first Canadian awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for bravery in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Later in life, he assisted in raising a regiment in Canada for the British Army. He was the first Canadian to command a British Army regiment.

Dunn died of a gunshot wound under mysterious circumstances in Abyssinia (now Eritrea), where he was part of the British Expedition to Abyssinia. His grave was re-discovered by Canadian Armed Forces troops who were part of the United Nations peacekeeping force to the Eritrean–Ethiopian War of 2000-2001.

Family and early life

Dunn was born in York, Upper Canada (later Toronto, Ontario) in 1833, the son of John Henry Dunn, Receiver General of Upper Canada, and Charlotte Roberts. Charlotte Roberts died in 1835 when Dunn was 2 and John Dunn remarried in 1842 to Sophia Louisa Juchereau Duchesnay. Dunn studied at Upper Canada College until his family was forced to move to England in 1845 after John Dunn's political downfall. In England the Dunns lived in the St. George Hanover Square parish and Alexander Dunn attended Harrow School from 1848 to 1851. On March 12, 1852 at the age of 18, he purchased a commission in a cavalry regiment in the British Army, the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert’s Own). Dunn was six feet, three inches tall, and commissioned a special four foot long sabre from Wilkinson Sword to accommodate his height.

Crimean War, Charge of the Light Brigade and the Victoria Cross

thumb|Charge of the Light Brigade, Balaclava, 25 October 1854 ([[Richard Caton Woodville Jr., 1894)]]

Dunn served in the Crimean War where he first saw combat at the Battle of Alma when the Light Brigade took part in the initial skirmish at the beginning of the battle. For the remainder of the battle the Light Brigade guarded the inland flank.

Dunn was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854, when he was 21 years of age.

Lieutenant Dunn was actively engaged in the battle, leading his troops in the futile attempts to capture the Russian artillery. When the retreat was finally called, he saw that one of his troopers, Sergeant Robert Bentley, was in trouble. Bentley's horse was badly wounded. Russian lancers had picked Bentley out as a straggler and were attacking him, trying to knock him out of the saddle. Dunn wheeled his horse and returned to Bentley's aid. He killed two or three of the Russian soldiers, lifted Bentley back up on his horse, and slapped its rear to get it moving back to safety. Dunn then noticed that another soldier from his troop, Private Harvey Levett, had been dismounted and was being attacked by a Russian hussar. Dunn came to Levett's aid, killing the Russian hussar with his lengthy sabre. Bentley survived the battle, however Levett was killed minutes after Dunn's action.

When he was finally back to safety, Dunn found that only 25 had survived from his troop of 110 cavalrymen. Dunn broke down and cried.

Queen Victoria instituted the Victoria Cross in 1856, for conspicuous acts of bravery by any member of the British military. The award was available for events from 1854 onwards, to include acts of bravery during the Crimean War, which began in late 1853. After the war, it was announced that the 11th Hussars could nominate a soldier to receive the Victoria Cross for his bravery. Dunn was the unanimous choice of the regiment. His name was on the list of the first group of recipients of the Victoria Cross, announced in February 1857.

Later military career

Dunn sold his commission at the end of the Crimean War, having conducted an affair with the wife of a fellow officer. She left her husband for Dunn.

In May 1857, the Indian Mutiny began. Dunn assisted in raising a regiment in Canada for the British Army, the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot, which he joined with the rank of major. In 1858, when the 100th Regiment was leaving for Britain, Dunn was presented with a sword which had been recently found on the Plains of Abraham, and was thought to have belonged to General Wolfe. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1866, the youngest colonel in the British Army. At the start of the British Expedition to Abyssinia in 1868, he was given the command of the 33rd Regiment, the first Canadian to command a British regiment, Ben Mitchell of the Canadian Armed Forces gave his account of the re-discovery:

After the re-discovery of the grave, a group of 4 Engineering Support Regiment engineers from CFB Gagetown repaired it in 2001.

Legacy

In addition to the Victoria Cross, Dunn was also awarded the British Crimea Medal with four clasps, for the Battle of the Alma (1854), the Battle of Balaclava (1854), the Battle of Inkermann (1854), and the siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855). He also received the Turkish Crimean War Medal, and the British Abyssinian War Medal. The camp-stool and Dunn's sword are now also on display at the Canadian War Museum.