Lieutenant Edric Frederick Gifford VC

A carte-de-visite portrait of Edric Frederick Gifford (1849-1911), from 1872 3rd Baron Gifford.

Edric Gifford was born in London on 5 July 1849, the son of Robert Francis Gifford, 2nd Baron Gifford. He was educated at Harrow, and in 1869 entered the 83rd Foot. On the death of his father in 1872, he became 3rd Baron Gifford.

In 1874, at the age of 23, Gifford was a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Foot (later the South Wales Borderers), British Army during the First Ashanti Expedition, when he took part in an action for which he was subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross, the country’s highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy.

In 1876, Gifford left the 24th Foot, moving to the 57th Foot. In 1878 he was in Cyprus, and in 1879 he was aide-de-camp to Sir Garnet Wolseley in the Zulu War. Shortly afterwards he retired from the Army as a brevet major.

He was subsequently a Colonial Secretary in Western Australia (1880-1883) and in Gibraltar (1883-1887). In 1889 he became a director of the British South Africa Company.

Lord Gifford died on 5 June 1911 at Chichester in England. He had no children.

Photographed by Maull and Co of London.