Corporal Lendrim of the Royal Engineers was the first Victoria Cross winner of 1855 during the Crimean War from anywhere in Ireland. 

He came from the Lisburn area and was awarded the VC for actions in February and April. In April he was supervising some 150 French chausseurs engaged on the reconstruction of an artillery battery. This came under heavy enemy fire which managed to ignite the roof of the battery’s magazine. Under continued fire he himself climbed onto the roof and extinguished the flames. Later that month he was one of a small group of volunteers who destroyed screens erected by the enemy as defences for their riflemen.

He was promoted sergeant-major and also was awarded the French Medaille Militaire and the Légion d’Honneur. A memorial tablet to him is located in Market Square, Lisburn, beside the Linen Museum which has a wall poster commemorating his actions.

 

Born:	1 January 1830
Died:	28 November 1891