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The George Cross (GC) is the second highest award of the United Kingdom honours system awarded "for acts of the greatest heroism or for most conspicuous courage in circumstance of extreme danger", not in the presence of the enemy, to members of the British armed forces and to British civilians. Posthumous awards have been allowed since it was instituted. It was previously awarded to residents of Commonwealth countries, most of which have since established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any military rank in any service and to civilians including police, emergency services and merchant seamen. Many of the awards have been personally presented by the British monarch to recipients or, in the case of posthumous awards, to next of kin. These investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace.
Stewart Graeme Guthrie, GC was a New Zealand Police sergeant and is the most recent Commonwealth civilian recipient of the George Cross, the highest award for conspicuous gallantry not in the face of an enemy awarded in certain Commonwealth countries. He received the award for his role in the police response to the Aramoana massacre, in which he lost his life.
Michael Kenneth Pratt GC is a former constable of the Victoria Police Force of Melbourne, Australia, and a recipient of the George Cross, gazetted on 4 July 1978.
The Aramoana massacre was a spree shooting that occurred on 13 November 1990 in the small seaside township of Aramoana, northeast of Dunedin, New Zealand. Resident David Gray killed 13 people after a verbal dispute with his next-door neighbour, including local police Sergeant Stewart Guthrie, one of the first responders to the reports of a shooting. After a careful house-to-house search the next day, police officers led by the Anti-Terrorist Squad located Gray, and shot and injured him as he came out of a house firing from the hip. He died in an ambulance while being transported to hospital. Television news carried live reports from the scene.
Chief Superintendent James Wallace Beaton, GC, CVO is a retired British police officer who was awarded the George Cross, Britain's highest gallantry award for civilians. He was Queen's Police Officer from 1983 to 1992.
The Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM) is a United Kingdom decoration awarded for exemplary acts of bravery by civilians, and by members of the Armed Forces "not in the face of the enemy", where the services were not so outstanding as to merit the George Cross or the George Medal, but above the level required for the Queen's Commendation for Bravery.
Kenneth Farrow GC was an English Police officer and recipient of the Albert Medal, one of the highest medals for civilian gallantry in the United Kingdom, which was later exchanged for the George Cross.
Henry William Stevens GC was awarded the George Cross for the gallantry he showed while serving as a constable in the Metropolitan Police on 29 March 1958.
Rukhsana Kausar KC is a Gujjar woman from Upper Kalsi known for the 2009 shooting of a LeT terrorist at her home, in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), India. She was born to Noor Hussain and Rashida Begum. A Class 10 dropout, she has been awarded the India National Bravery Award, for the killing of a Laskar-E-Taiba terror cell leader, Abu Osama, at her residence, using an axe and AK47 rifle. She has a younger brother, Aijaz, who helped her chase the other terrorists involved in the home invasion and contact the police afterward.
Thomas Edward Mahir CBE GM was a British police officer in the London Metropolitan Police.
Peter Edmonds QGM was a British police officer who received the Queens Gallantry Medal for bravery.
The 1991 New Zealand bravery awards were announced via a Special Honours List dated 19 December 1991. Twelve of the 33 recipients were recognised for acts of bravery during the Aramoana Massacre on 13 November 1990.
The 1987 New Zealand bravery awards were announced via a Special Honours List on 27 August 1987, and recognised ten people for acts of bravery between 1984 and 1986.
The 1978 New Zealand bravery awards were announced via four Special Honours Lists dated 20 April, 18 May, 13 July, and 2 November 1978, and recognised six people for acts of bravery in 1977 or 1978.
The 1977 New Zealand bravery awards were announced in conjunction with the Queen's Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours on 11 June 1977, and via a Special Honours List dated 22 December 1977, and recognised ten people for acts of bravery in 1976 and 1977.
The 1969 New Zealand bravery awards were announced via two Special Honours Lists dated 21 April and 17 September 1969, and recognised two people for acts of bravery in 1968 and 1969.
The 2008 New Zealand bravery awards were announced via a special honours list on 3 May 2008, and recognised five people for acts of bravery between 2004 and 2006.
The 2006 New Zealand bravery awards were announced via a special honours list on 14 October 2006, and recognised 15 people for acts of bravery between 2000 and 2005.
The 1963 New Zealand bravery awards were announced via a special honours list dated 21 May 1963, and posthumously recognised two police officers killed in the line of duty with the award of the Queen's Police Medal for Gallantry. Further bravery awards were also included in that year's New Year and Queen's Birthday Honours.
References
- ↑ "No. 46361". The London Gazette . 4 October 1974. p. 8347.
- ↑ "Award for gallantry" (PDF). New Zealand Gazette (48). 16 May 1974. p. 986.