Victoria Cross awarded to Lieutenant Robert Hope Moncrieff Aitken, 13th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, 1857

An official replacement medal awarded to Lieutenant Robert Hope Moncrieff Aitken of the 13th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry.

Aitken was awarded the Victoria Cross for various acts of gallantry performed in the defence of the Residency of Lucknow, from 30th June to 22nd November 1857, during the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859). On one occasion Aitken, assisted by some loyal sepoys and a water carrier, made a sortie which successfully extinguished a fire which the rebels had set against the Baillie Guard Gate.

Aitken was born on 14 April 1828. He went to India in 1847 and entered the Honourable East India Company's 13th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry. He died in September 1887.