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It's 24 June 1900, and Peking (modern-day Beijing) is under siege. The Boxer Rebellion – a violent anti-foreign, anti-Christian, and anti-imperialist uprising – has reached its peak. For weeks, thousands of Boxers, members of a secret society skilled in traditional Chinese martial arts (hence the Western name “Boxers”), have been attacking the foreign legations in the city.

Trapped inside the British Legation compound are diplomats, civilians, and a small guard force from several nations.

On this day, a determined group of Boxers breaks into the legation grounds. They seize nearby buildings and set fire to the stables, threatening to overrun the entire position. The situation is desperate. Reinforcements are called for.

Enter the Royal Marines.

A detachment of twenty men from HMS Centurion’s Royal Marine Light Infantry, led by Captain Lewis Stroud Halliday (often recorded as Lancelot in later accounts), rushes to the crisis point. The only way in is through a hastily knocked hole in the legation wall.

Halliday hand-picks six Marines and leads the counter-attack himself. What follows is one of the most extraordinary displays of raw courage in Royal Marines history.

Pushing forward under heavy fire, Halliday’s tiny team fights room-to-room and courtyard-to-courtyard to drive the Boxers out. The combat is brutal and at close quarters. In the chaos, Halliday is horribly wounded: a bullet tears through his shoulder, practically shattering it, while another punctures his lung. Blood pours from the wounds; every breath is agony.

Most men would have collapsed on the spot. Halliday does not.

Despite the catastrophic injuries, he keeps fighting, personally accounting for four Boxers with bayonet and revolver. Only when he is physically unable to continue does he finally stagger back. Even then, his thoughts are for the mission. Turning to his Marines, he tells them to “carry on and not mind him,” refusing to let his collapse reduce their fighting strength.

Alone, leaving a trail of blood, the gravely wounded captain walks a hundred yards across open ground to the makeshift hospital inside the legation. He makes it, collapses, and survives – barely.

For his extraordinary gallantry that day, Captain Lewis Halliday is awarded the Victoria Cross, one of the very few awarded during the defence of the Peking Legations.

The Boxers are driven out, the legation holds, and fifty-five desperate days later an international relief force finally breaks the siege.

But on 24 June 1900, it was twenty Royal Marines – and one indomitable officer who refused to quit – who kept the flag flying.

Halliday’s extraordinary bravery did not go unrecognised. For his actions on 24 June 1900 he was immediately promoted to brevet major and, in 1901, returned to Britain to receive the Victoria Cross from King Edward VII in a private investiture at Marlborough House on 25 July.

He was soon back on active duty. Over the following decades Halliday enjoyed a distinguished career, rising steadily through the ranks of the Royal Marines.

He served with distinction throughout the First World War and eventually reached the pinnacle of the Corps when he was appointed Adjutant-General Royal Marines in December 1927 – the most senior Royal Marine officer of the day. 

He held the post until voluntarily retiring in June 1930, after an unbroken 41 years of service stretching from 1889 to 1930.

In retirement he settled in Surrey, where he lived quietly until his death on 9 March 1966 at the remarkable age of 95. Few men have carried the Victoria Cross with such enduring honour; fewer still have lived long enough to see their legend grow across three wars and nearly a century.

Captain – later Major-General – Lancelot Halliday VC remains one of the Royal Marines’ most inspiring figures.