List of Victoria Cross recipients by nationality

This is a list of recipients of the Victoria Cross by nationality. This list does not include the Victoria Cross awarded to the American Unknown Soldier of World War I Tomb of the Unknowns, buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was awarded the VC posthumously in 1921. This gesture reciprocated the award of the Medal of Honor to the British Unknown Warrior.

The Victoria Cross (VC) is a military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the British armed forces. A small number of Commonwealth countries still participate in the British (Imperial) honours system and would still be eligible to make Victoria Cross recommendations for their service personal but none of these countries have ever been awarded the Victoria Cross. The last occasion a Commonwealth country was awarded the Victoria Cross was in 1969 during the Vietnam War and today all Commonwealth countries whose armed forces had been awarded the Victoria Cross under the British honours systems have their own honours systems and their own orders, decorations and medals. The Victoria Cross takes precedence over all other British orders, decorations and medals and may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service and although civilians under military command are eligible for the award none has been awarded since 1879. The Victoria Cross has often been presented to the recipient during an investiture by the British monarch. The last award of the reign of King George VI and all awards of the reign of the present Queen with the exception of the two posthumous awards to the Australian Army during the Vietnam War have been presented by Queen Elizabeth II. The VC has been awarded on 1358 occasions to 1355 individual recipients.

The original Royal Warrant and all warrants to this day contain both expulsion and restoration clauses. Eight recipients between 1861 and 1908 had their awards rescinded and although no award has ever been restored the names of the eight are included in the list. The original warrant did not contain a specific clause regarding posthumous awards, although official policy was to not award the VC posthumously. Between 1857 and 1901, twelve notices were issued in the London Gazette regarding soldiers who would have been awarded the VC had they survived. In a partial reversal of policy for the South African War 1899-1902, the next of kin of three of the soldiers were sent medals by registered post in 1902. In the same gazette the first three posthumous awards were awarded and also sent to the next of kin. In 1907, the posthumous policy was reversed and medals were sent to the next of kin of the six officers and men. The Victoria Cross warrant was not officially amended to explicitly allow posthumous awards until 1920 but one quarter of all awards for the First World War were posthumous.

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