On 18 October 1854 at the Siege of Sevastopol, he picked up a live shell with the fuse still burning from amongst several powder cases and threw it over the parapet.

[1] For this he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC); it is now displayed at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.

On 5 November at the Battle of Inkerman, he joined some of the officers of the Grenadier Guards and helped to defend the Colours of the regiment when they were hard-pressed.

[4] There are two copies of this statue, one in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich [5] and one which was erected in Eden Gardens, Calcutta.

[8] A plaque at The Lodge, headquarters of the RSPB in Sandy, commemorates the 150th anniversary of the death of Captain Sir William Peel.