George Nicholas Channer VC

George Channer

General George Nicholas Channer VC CB (7 January 1843 – 13 December 1905) was 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 forces.

Channer was the son of George Girdwood Channer and Susan (d.1895), daughter of Nicholas Kendall JP, Vicar of Talland and Lanlivery. Educated at Cheltenham College, he was 32 years old, and a captain in the Bengal Staff Corps, Indian Army, and 1st Gurkha Rifles during the Perak War when, on 20 December 1875 in Perak, Malaya, Captain Channer was the first to jump into the enemy's stockade to which he had been despatched with a small party to obtain intelligence of its strength and position. The stockade was formidable and it would have been impossible to bring guns to bear on it because of the steepness of the hill and the density of the jungle. If Captain Channer and his party had not been able to take the stockade in this manner it would have been necessary to resort to the bayonet, with consequent great loss of life.

He later achieved the rank of General.

Information contributed by User:Edwardkendall