Lieutenant Thomas Adair Butler, 1st Bengal European Fusiliers, winning the VC at Lucknow, 9 March 1858

Oil on canvas by Louis William Desanges, 1860 (c).

Butler (1836-1901) won the Victoria Cross (VC) during the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859). According to Major-General Sir James Outram's Memorandum in the Governor General's Gazette Extraordinary, Monday 5 April, 1858, Lieutenant Thomas Butler 'swam across the River Goomtee, at Lucknow, and climbing the parapet, remained in that position for a considerable time, under a heavy fire of musketry, until the work was occupied, 9th March 1858'.

This painting is one of a series of 55 depicting Victoria Cross subjects executed between 1859 and 1862 by the British artist Louis Desanges, and displayed at the Crystal Palace during the 1860s and 1870s.