William Hall, V.C., honoured by province

A connector road in Hantsport has been named in honour of William Hall the first Nova Scotian and first African Canadian to receive the Victoria Cross medal for bravery.

Premier Darrell Dexter unveiled the William Hall V.C. Memorial Highway sign at a ceremony at Province House Wednesday morning.

The sign, bearing Hall's likeness, will be erected on the road from Highway 101 to Trunk 1 near Hantsport.

"Today, during the week of remembrance of those war heroes who fought and died for our liberty, we honour one of our own military heroes," Dexter said in a release.

"Mr. Hall holds a special place in the province's and the country's history. He was the first Nova Scotian and the first African Canadian to receive this award and deserves to be celebrated for his courage."

Born in 1827, Hall worked in shipyards in Hantsport as a young man, building wooden ships for the merchant marines. He later crewed on a trading vessel and travelled the world before his 18th birthday.

Hall enlisted in the Royal Navy as an able seaman when he wasin England in 1852.

While sailing to China in 1857, his ship was ordered to assist British troops who had lost the fort at Lucknow, India, during the Indian mutiny against the British.

Hall was one of the last men standing and kept firing his gun, before finally breaking a hole into the wall of the fort that allowed troops to enter and regain it.

For this act of bravery, he received the Victoria Cross, the highest medal given in the British Commonwealth.

Hall lived the rest of his life in Nova Scotia and is buried in Hantsport. A monument at the nearby Baptist church recognizes his grave.

The government of Nova Scotia retrieved Hall's Victoria Cross medal from Britain in 1967. It is on permanent display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.

During African Heritage Month 2010, Canada Post honouredHall by issuing a commemorative stamp with his likeness.