Robert Blair (VC)
Robert Blair VC was a Scottish 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.
He was 23 years old, and a lieutenant in the 2nd Dragoon Guards, British Army, attached to 9th Lancers during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 28 September 1857 at Bolandshahr, India, for which he was awarded the VC.
Blair was a graduate of University of Glasgow and a Snell exhibitioner at Balliol College, Oxford. Blair joined the army in 1855 in the service of the 9th Lancers and later transferred to the 2nd Dragoon Guards. He later achieved the rank of captain and died of smallpox in Cawnpore, India, on 28 March 1859. He was the cousin of another Indian Mutiny VC recipient James Blair.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Queen's Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum in Cardiff Castle, Wales.
