Robert Shields

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This article is about the soldier. For the mime, see Shields and Yarnell.

Robert Shields (1827 – 23 December 1864) was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1827 and died in Bombay, India, in 1864.

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Shields was approximately 28 years old and a Corporal in the 23rd Regiment (later the Royal Welch Fusiliers) of the British Army during the Crimean War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross:

On 8 September 1855 at Sebastopol, Crimea, near the Redan, Corporal Shields volunteered to go out with an assistant surgeon (William Henry Thomas Sylvester) to an exposed and dangerous part of the front, to bring in an officer who was wounded, and was afterwards found to be mortally so.