Statuette of Piper Findlater VC, 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders, 1897

Silver plate, made by Elkington and Company, 1897 (c).

Piper George Frederick Findlater won the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Battle of Dargai during the Tirah Expedition on the North West Frontier of India. The Heights of Dargai form a strategic position in the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan. Incursions over the border by Afridi tribesmen led to the formation of the Tirah Expeditionary Force which was sent to suppress the unrest and re-secure the pass.

During the fighting for Dargai in October 1897 Piper Findlater was shot in both feet but continued to play the regimental march. Under heavy enemy fire, he sat up and played the bagpipes to encourage his comrades in their difficult assault. A fellow Gordon Highlander, Private Edward Lawson, was also awarded the VC for rescuing a wounded officer, despite being wounded himself. A third VC was awarded for this action by Private Samuel Vickery of the Dorsetshire Regiment.

Piper Findlater was awarded the Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria on 14 May 1898, at the Military Hospital, Netley, Hampshire. The incident captured the public imagination and Findlater became one of the best-known VC heroes, possibly due to his later career re-enacting his finest hour on the music hall stage. Questions were raised about this in the House of Commons and it was decided to award all further recipients of the Victoria Cross an annuity of £50, to prevent the need to hire themselves out. Queen Victoria offered Findlater the respectable post of lodge keeper at Windsor.

Purchased with the assistance of the Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund or NACF).