b. 1820 Claremorris, County Mayo, Ireland. d. 22/12/1878 Liverpool.
Patrick Mylott (1820-1878) was born in June 1820 in the parish of Kilcommon, Hollymount, near Claremorris, County Mayo, Ireland. Little is known of his early life except that he enlisted with the 84th Regiment of Foot (later York and Lancaster Regiment) in the 1840s. Mylott served in India prior to the outbreak of the Mutiny in Meerut in 1857.
Victoria Cross
Mylott served throughout the Mutiny, spending the majority of 1857 in the struggle for the relief and capture of the Residency of Lucknow. Mylott’s citation for the Victoria Cross (London Gazette, 24th December 1858) describes his actions as thus: on the 12th July 1857, Private Mylott was with his Regiment when they were trying to capture an enemy enclosure which was across a road which was being swept by enemy musket fire. Mylott stormed across the road, through a hail of musket balls and captured the enclosure. He was then involved in several other incidents of gallantry until Lucknow was taken in September 1857. Mylott was elected for his award by the private soldiers of his Regiment.
Mylott returned to England after the end of the Mutiny, and came out of the Army. He was presented with his Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria on the 4th January 1860 at Windsor Castle. Mylott decided not to return to his native Ireland and instead settled in Liverpool. Sadly, as many ex-soldiers of that time, he fell into debt and struggled to adjust to civilian life. He was in and out of the workhouse, and tragically, on 22nd December 1878, aged 58, he died in the Brownlow Hill Workhouse Hospital in Liverpool. The Workhouse Hospital is now the site of the Roman Catholic Cathedral. Mylott was buried in an unmarked grave in RC Section of Anfield Cemetery. His grave remained unmarked until 1994, when a new headstone was erected (though not on the site of his grave). His medals are not publicly held.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: NOT PUBLICLY HELD.
BURIAL PLACE: ANFIELD CEMETERY & CREMATORIUM, LIVERPOOL. SECTION 2, GRAVE 1743.
