LordAshcroft, the Conservative peer, has added to his renowned collection of Victoria Crosses by paying £312,000 for a medal won by a young Britishofficer who saved his soldiers from being wiped out by tribesmen.

Lt Thomas Watson fought on despite being shot three times as he tried to clear a hill village under cover of darkness and his courage was praisedof a young Winston Churchill.

Commanders noted the officer had "in all probability saved the whole force from being wiped out" by the Pashtun tribesmen who heavily outnumberedthe British during the action on India's North West Frontier in September 1897.

Lord Ashcroft bought the medal on Friday at auction in London after fierce bidding pushed the price well beyond the expected £180,000, to£260,000. With all the fees added on the overall price paid at auctioneers Dix Noonan and Webb was £312,000. He said: "In my opinion it is one of thefinest Victoria Crosses of the Victorian era."

The medal will eventually be displayed alongside the rest of his collection in the Imperial War Museum's Lord Ashcroft Gallery.

The peer has the world's largest collection of Britain's highest battlefield award for gallantry, having bought more than 180 of them in the past30 years.

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