On 30 June 1857 William Cubitt won the Victoria Cross for saving the lives of three wounded men. He was 21 years old and his regiment, the 13th (Bengal) Native Infantry, was one of those which had mutinied during the Indian Mutiny (1857–1859). Earlier that day, with a rebel army threatening to besiege Lucknow, Major General Sir Henry Lawrence had chosen to take troops out of the city and attack at Chinhut, rather than waiting for the rebel assault. It was a bold but ill-advised gamble: the rebels were well organised and far superior in numbers. Under heavy fire, the British withdrew in disorder to Lucknow, and Cubitt’s great courage earned him his Victoria Cross. Cubitt later saw action in the Second Afghan War (1878–1880) and the 1887 campaign in Burma, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.