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{{Short description|Scottish Victoria Cross recipient (1842–1879)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= James Dundas
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1842|9|10|df=yes}}
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1879|12|23|1842|9|10|df=yes}}
|birth_place =[[Edinburgh]], Scotland
|death_place= [[Siege of the Sherpur Cantonment|Sherpur]], Afghanistan
|image= VCJamesDundas.jpg
|caption=
|nickname=
|allegiance= {{UK}}
|service_years=
|rank= [[Captain (land and air)|Captain]]
|branch=[[British Indian Army]]<br>[[File:Flag of the British Army.svg|22px]] [[British Army]]
|commands=
|unit=[[Bengal Engineers]]<br>[[Royal Engineers]]
|battles=[[Bhutan War]]<br>[[Second Anglo-Afghan War]]
|awards= [[Victoria Cross]]
|other_work=
}}
[[File:The memorial plaque to Robert Dundas VC in St Marys Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|280px|The memorial plaque to James Dundas VC in St Marys Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh]]
[[File:Memorial to James Dundas VC, Rochester Cathedral.jpg|thumb|280px|Memorial to James Dundas VC, Rochester Cathedral]]
'''James Dundas''' [[Victoria Cross|VC]] (10 September 1842 – 23 December 1879) was a [[Scotland|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 [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] forces.

==Early life==

He was born the son of [[George Dundas, Lord Manor]] a judge in the [[Edinburgh]] High Court, and his wife Elizabeth Mackenzie on 10 September 1842 and baptised on 12 September. He was the older brother of [[William John Dundas]] [[FRSE]] (1849–1921).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/George-Dundas/6000000018160570200|title = George Dundas, Lord Manor| date=3 February 2023 }}</ref> His early education was at [[Edinburgh Academy]].

From 1855 to 1857 he attended [[Glenalmond College|Glenalmond School]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glenalmondcollege.co.uk/news-events/archive/victoria-crosses-come-to-glenalmond/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408142838/http://www.glenalmondcollege.co.uk/news-events/archive/victoria-crosses-come-to-glenalmond/ |archive-date=8 April 2016 |title=Victoria Crosses come to Glenalmond}}</ref> He then attended [[Addiscombe Military Seminary]] for specific officer training for the British Army. In 1860 he was given a commission as a lieutenant in the [[Royal Engineers]].<ref>Afghan Campaigns of 1878 and 1880, by Sidney H Shadbolt</ref>

In 1862 he went with his regiment to India under General [[Henry Tombs]] VC, and rose to the level of Executive Engineer as part of a series of public works in the Bengal area.

==Details of award==

Dundas was 22 years old, and a [[lieutenant]] in the [[Bengal Engineers]], [[Indian Army]] during the [[Bhutan War]] when the following deed took place on 30 April 1865 at Dewan-Giri, [[Bhutan]] for which he was awarded the VC in a joint citation with Major [[William Spottiswoode Trevor]]:
{{blockquote|For their gallant conduct at the attack on the Block-house at Dewan-Giri, in Bhootan, on the 30th of April, 1865.
Major-General Tombs, C.B., V.C., the Officer in command at the time, reports that a party of the enemy, from 180 to 200 in number, had barricaded themselves in the Block-house in question, which they continued to defend after the rest of the position had been carried, and the main body was in retreat. The Block-house, which was loop-holed, was the key of the enemy's position. Seeing no Officer of the storming party near him, and being anxious that the place should be taken immediately, as any protracted resistance might have caused the main body of the Bhooteas to rally, the British force having been fighting in a broiling sun on very steep and difficult ground for upwards of three hours, the General in command ordered these two Officers to show the way into the Block-house. They had to climb up a wall which was 14 feet high, and then to enter a house, occupied by some 200 desperate men, head foremost through an opening not more than two feet wide between the top of the wall and the roof of the Block-house. Major-General Tombs states that on speaking to the Sikh soldiers around him, and telling them in Hindoostani to swarm up the wall, none of them responded to the call, until these two Officers had shewn them the way, when they followed with the greatest alacrity. Both of them were wounded. Dundas fought on despite his wounds and convinced the 200 to surrender. He recovered from his wounds 3 months in a hospital.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=23338|page=7107 |date=18 November 1864 }}</ref>}}

The medal was presented to Dundas in [[Calcutta]] on 23 March 1868 by Major General C F Fordyce on behalf of [[Queen Victoria]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.memorialstovalour.co.uk/vc325.html|title=James Dundas}}</ref>

The medal forms part of the Ashworth Collection at the [[Imperial War Museum]] in [[London]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lordashcroftmedals.com/collection/james-dundas-vc/|title = James Dundas VC - Lord Ashcroft Medal Collection}}</ref>

==Later life==

In March 1877, he had inherited the family estate of [[Ochtertyre]], near Stirling in Scotland, from his uncle [[David Dundas (politician)|Sir David Dundas MP]]. He returned to Britain briefly that year to inspect the property but returned to India after a few months.

In 1878 he is recorded as saving a man's life in a fire at the [[Simla]] bazaar.

Remaining in the army, Dundas died during the [[Second Anglo-Afghan War]]. General Roberts had selected him to lead a group advancing on Kabul. He was killed on 23 December 1879 during the [[Siege of the Sherpur Cantonment]]. He was killed by a British mine going off prematurely due to a makeshift fuse. He is buried nearby at the Seah Sang Cemetery in Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.memorialstovalour.co.uk/vc325.html|title=James Dundas}}</ref>

James Dundas died unmarried, and on his death the estate passed to his twin brother Colin Mackenzie Dundas.

==Memorials==

A brass memorial plaque exists in [[St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Episcopal)]].

A plaque also exists at [[Glenalmond College|Glenalmond School]].

Listed on the "For Valour" memorial at the Royal Engineers Museum in Kent.

A memorial window and brass plaque in [[Rochester Cathedral]].

In 2002 the Royal Engineers erected a new bridge in Afghanistan close to where he met his fate and named it the '''James Dundas Bridge'''.

==Further information==

"The Dundas Bridge", between [[Kabul]] and [[Bagram]], [[Afghanistan]], was named after him, by the [[British Army]], [[Corps of Royal Engineers|Royal Engineers]], following reconstruction work during 2002.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*''Scotland's Forgotten Valour'' (Graham Ross, 1995)
*''[[The Register of the Victoria Cross]]'' (This England, 1997)
*''[[The Sapper VCs]]'' (Gerald Napier, 1998)
*''[[Monuments to Courage]]'' (David Harvey, 1999)

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060810230716/http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_vc.htm#1d#1d Royal Engineers Museum] Sappers VCs

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dundas, James}}
[[Category:People educated at Edinburgh Academy]]
[[Category:People educated at Glenalmond College]]
[[Category:British recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Afghan War]]
[[Category:British military personnel killed in action]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Bhutan War]]
[[Category:Bengal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:1842 births]]
[[Category:1879 deaths]]

James Dundas VC - Revision history

Roamingindian at 03:34, 2 May 2026