Thomas Esmonde

Thomas Esmonde I Clongowes 1840-1846

Thomas Esmonde (1829-73), soldier and VC holder, was a native of County Waterford, who attended Clongowes in 1840-6. He was a great grand-uncle of Eugene Esmonde VC. Commissioned into the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot, he took part in the Burma war of 1852-3. He next served in the Crimean War, where he was promoted captain. He won the Victoria Cross for his courage during the siege of Sebastapol in 1855. The circumstances were that after participating in the unsuccessful British attack on the Russian strongpoint known as the Redan, under heavy fire he repeatedly rescued wounded men from exposed situations. A week later, while in command of a covering party, he rushed to a spot where a fireball from the enemy had just lodged, and extinguished it before it could betray the position of his men, thus saving them from a murderous fire of shell and grape that immediately opened up. Both acts were combined to merit the award. He was known afterwards as ‘Esmonde of the Redan’. He later achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He died from an eye infection incurred in a riding accident in Belgium and is buried at Bruges.