#OnThisDay 1855 Lt Hugh Burgoyne, Royal Navy, from Dublin received the Victoria Cross during the Crimean War for landing in the face of superior enemy numbers, out of range of his ship’s guns & destroyed Russian food & ammo stores before returning to his ship.
Burgoyne came from a military family, his grandfather being the general who surrendered to the American Continental Army at Saratoga 1777. The phrase to do/pull a Burgoyne became popular which meant that you did something silly or foolish.
Hugh Burgoyne had a long military career and like the fate of many sailors was lost at sea when his ship the HMS Wivern capsized in a storm in 1870.
The Irish at War 