text: Siston

text: knight of the shire

text: Gloucestershire constituency

text: Sheriff of Gloucestershire

text: Sheriff

text: Glamorgan

text: Waterton

text: Margam Abbey

text: Clark

text: Shropshire

text: Caus Castle

text: Lawrenny

text: Pembrokeshire

text: Siston

text: Alveston

text: in chief

text: Orielton

text: John of Gaunt

text: Ogmore Castle

text: Lord of Glamorgan

text: Sir John Devereux

text: Captain of Calais

text: Order of St. James of the Sword

text: Lydney

text: Forest of Dean

text: Mitcheldean

text: Littledean

text: Abenhall

text: Pucklechurch

text: Siston

text: farmed

text: Newport Castle

text: Chepstow Castle

text: Edward, Lord Charlton

text: sheriff

text: Marcher Lord

text: Gwynllwg

text: caput

text: Sir Maurice Russell

text: Dyrham

text: Maurice Denys

text: Maurice

text: Tristram Risdon

text: Combe Raleigh

text: William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville

text: Shute

text: Great Fulford

text: Dunsford

text: Orleigh

text: Bideford

text: jessant-de-lys

text: bezant

text: Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley

text: feoffee

text: City of London

text: Puddle Dock

text: Baynard's Castle

text: Gloucestershire

text: retinue

text: Battle of Nibley Green

text: Twelve Knights of Glamorgan

text: Robert FitzHamon

text: Lord of Glamorgan

text: Twelve Knights of Glamorgan

text: Rogiet

text: Cardinal Henry Beaufort

text: Bishop of Winchester

text: Francis, George Grant

text: Clark, G.T.

text: Golden Grove Book of Pedigrees

categories: Medieval English knights,Year of birth uncertain,People from Glamorgan,14th-century English MPs,Prisoners in the Tower of London,1422 deaths,High Sheriffs of Gloucestershire,Denys family

paragraph: Gilbert Denys

paragraph: Sir Gilbert Denys (c. 1350–1422) of Siston, Gloucestershire, was a soldier, and later an administrator. He was knighted by January 1385, and was twice knight of the shire for Gloucestershire constituency, in 1390 and 1395 and served as Sheriff of Gloucestershire 1393-4. He founded the family which provided more Sheriffs of Gloucestershire than any other.

paragraph: Section::::Early life.

paragraph: Gilbert Denys was probably born in about 1350 in Glamorgan, South Wales, probably the son of John Denys of Waterton, in the lordship of Coity. The latter is referred to as "Johan Denys de Watirton" in a charter of 1379 being leased land by Margam Abbey at Bonvilston during the wardship of John Norreis, son and heir of John Norreis of Lachecastel. In 1415 Sir Gilbert Denys is recorded as renting land in Waterton from the late Lord of Coity, Sir Roger Berkerolles. The Denys family are recorded in ancient Glamorgan charters, the earliest mention being in 1258, when "Willelmo le Denys" witnessed a charter effecting an exchange by Gilbert de Turberville, Lord of Coity, of lands in Newcastle, Glamorgan, with Margam Abbey. The Glamorgan antiquarian Clark (d.1898), supported by the Denys pedigree in the "Golden Grove Book"

paragraph: believed this William Denys to have originated in Gloucestershire and to have married a Turberville.

paragraph: Section::::First marriage to Margaret Corbet.

paragraph: In about 1379 Denys obtained the hand in marriage of a Gloucestershire heiress, Margaret Corbet, and became thereby a man of wealth and influence. Margaret had been born a triplet in about 1352, and both her brothers had died young in succession, leaving her the sole heir of the large Corbet landholdings in Gloucestershire and elsewhere. John the eldest had died in 1370 and William in 1377. Their father William, husband of Emma Oddingseles, had died while his children were young, predeceasing his own father, Sir Peter Corbet(d.1362). The manors held by Sir Peter Corbet on his death in 1362, which descended to his grandchildren in succession, John, William and Margaret were as follows: Hope-juxta-Caus, Shropshire, a remnant manor from the great Corbet honour, or virtually autonomous lordship established under William I at Caus Castle. Lawrenny in Pembrokeshire, (held from the Carew family) remnant of the family's large Welsh holdings, most of which had been earlier settled on Corbet male lines. The Corbet lands in Gloucestershire were as follows: Siston, held from the Bishops of Bath and Wells, and Alveston and Earthcott Green, both held "in chief" from the King. The possession of these tenancies-in-chief meant that should they ever descend into the hands of a female heiress, the King could repossess them and install his own favoured tenant who would thenceforth owe royal knight service and would be obliged to become a local administrator of the royal government. Margaret had been married off to a Pembrokeshire man, William Wyriott of Orielton, probably with the intention of consolidating Lawrenny with the Wyriott lands. Yet in 1379, only two years after her brother William's death aged 25, her husband William Wyriott died also, leaving Margaret as a female tenant-in-chief, a very precarious position for her. She could only remarry by royal licence, effectively giving the King the right of veto over her free choice or she could relinquish her family manors to live with a husband of her choice, probably in relative poverty and social obscurity. Within a short time after Wyriott's death, Margaret had accepted Gilbert Denys as her husband. The two were contemporaries, and the marriage proved on a personal level to be successful, as Denys asked in his will to be buried next to Margaret. The marriage, like most of the period, is unlikely to have been the result of a romance but rather arranged by some powerful figure at Court who wished to see Denys rise in the world. Insufficient evidence exists to identify who this patron of Denys might have been, but pure speculation might suggest John of Gaunt.

paragraph: Section::::Early career.

paragraph: Denys's career had begun in the service of John of Gaunt, son of King Edward III, who as Duke of Lancaster was Lord of Ogmore Castle, 3 miles SW of Waterton. Although certainly an insignificant property within his vast holdings, Denys may have made a mark for himself serving at Ogmore and come to the Duke's notice. In May 1375, on behalf of the Duke, Denys had taken formal custody of the manors of Aberavon and Sully in Glamorgan, part of the holdings of the late Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, Lord of Glamorgan. In 1378 he took out letters of protection to join Gaunt's foreign expedition, no doubt in the expectation of sharing in its profits. In 1382 Denys's subsequent letters of protection were revoked 2 months after issue when Sir John Devereux, Captain of Calais, testified that he had still not crossed the Channel. His absence may have been due to a pregnancy of his wife. In 1384 he enlisted in the army about to sail for Portugal in the company of the Portuguese Chancellor, Fernand, Master of the Order of St. James of the Sword. Denys served on his first Royal Commission at home in 1389, as Sheriff for Gloucestershire in 1393/4, and twice served as Knight of the Shire in 1390 and 1395. In 1401 he was one of 5 men from Gloucestershire summoned to attend a great council in August 1401.

paragraph: Section::::Escapes murder plot.

paragraph: An indictment heard before the Court of Kings Bench in 1387 accused 3 persons of holding conventicles at Earlswood in the lordship of Lydney in order to plot the killing of Sir Gilbert Denys and John Poleyn. The 3 accused were Ralph Greyndour the younger, John Magot and John Chaunterell. Greyndour was an example of the curious mediaeval phenomenon of the gentleman bandit. The Greyndour clan dominated the sparsely populated and wild area of the Forest of Dean in western Gloucestershire bordering on the Welsh Marches. Ralph's kinsman was John Greyndour, lord of Mitcheldean, Littledean and Abenhall, all within the Forest of Dean. These 3 were also accused of plotting to kill Henry Warner, Nicholas More and Thomas de Berkeley of Berkeley when the latter came hunting in the forest with the king's licence. All 3 were acquitted of the charges.

paragraph: Section::::Holds "Farm" of Pucklechurch.

paragraph: The manor of Pucklechurch lies to the immediate north-east of Siston, and was held by the Bishop of Bath & Wells since 1275, when he had received it from Glastonbury Abbey. To save themselves the administrative burden of collecting all the rents within the manor, they farmed the manor to Gilbert Denys, that is to say gave him the right to keep all the rents he could collect in exchange for an annual one-off payment. This sum was set at £40, which must be assumed to represent about 70% of the total rents due, therefore estimated at £57. Thus the See saved itself more than £17 per annum in its admin. expenses by farming it to Denys, who for his outlay of £40 may have collected £51 in rents, i.e. 90%, depending on how forceful he was inclined to be. That would represent a gross return to him of 28%. One must assume that Denys would have been willing to pay more than anyone else for the privilege, already holding next-door Siston, making for convenient administration. Thus in the Communar's Accounts of the See of Bath and Wells the following entries are recorded:

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1400-01 Received from Gilbert Denys, knt, for farm of Pokelchurch £40

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1400-01 Paid to servant of Sir Gilbert Denys for venison from Pokelchurch for the canons 2s

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1407/8 Received from Sir Gilbert Denys, farmer of the church at Pucklechurch £40

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1407/9 Expenses of the steward about the agreement with Sir Gilbert Denys and on other occasions £1 3s 2d.

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1407/9 Received from Gilbert Denys for wood at Crotesmor £5 13s 4d

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1408/9 Received from Sir Gilbert Denys for the farm of Pucklechurch, £5 being remitted for the first term £35

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1414-18 Expenses of holding a court at Pucklechurch and treating with Gilbert Denys at Sixton (Siston) and Olvyston and with Abbatiston (Abson?) parish £1 1s 5½d

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1414-18 Expenses: Sir Gilbert Denys £2 and his bailiff 3s 4d and his entertainment for horses and men at Simon Bayly's (11s 8d) £2 15s

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1414-18 Expenses hire of 2 horses at Wells and holding a court at Pucklechurch 1s 11d

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1414-18 Rec'd from the bailiff of Pucklechurch, rent and perquisites of court £1 7s 5d

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1417-18 Received from Sir Gilbert Denys for the farm of Pucklechurch £40

paragraph: BULLET::::- 1417-18 Expenses at Pucklechurch, with horse hire, about tithes in Pucklechurch, Abbatiston (Abson?) and Westleigh (Westerleigh?) and arranging with Gilbert Denys £1 8s 1d

paragraph: It would seem that it was a pleasant day out for a couple of the canons or friars of Wells to hire horses and ride over to talk business with Denys, perhaps an excuse to enjoy some all-expenses paid entertainment. It appears that Denys held the farm until his death in 1422, although records are not available to confirm this. A cadet branch of the Denys family became lords of the manor of Pucklechurch, probably in the 16th century, and continuing until the death of William Dennis in 1701, last of the male line.

paragraph: Section::::Joins Retinue of Earl of Stafford.

paragraph: Following Gaunt's death in 1399, Denys joined the retinue of Edmund, Earl of Stafford(d.1403), and probably fought with the Earl in Henry IV's campaign against the Scots in 1400. In 1403 he was appointed by the King as constable of the late Earl of Stafford's Newport Castle, Monmouth, in charge of 80 archers and 40 lances, specifically to resist the rebellion of Glendower. Having been discouraged from attacking nearby Chepstow Castle, a far larger fortification, Glendower turned his force on Newport, which Denys's force was clearly unable to resist, for the castle was sacked. He must have returned across the Bristol Channel to Gloucestershire as on 7th. Oct in the same year the King issued the following order preserved in the Patent Rolls:

paragraph: Commission to Maurice Russell, Gilbert Dynys, John Rolves and John Harsefelde to assemble all the able fencible men, footmen and horsemen, of the hundreds of Barton Regis by Bristol, Hembury, Pokelchurche, Thornbury, Grymboldesasshe, Berkeley and Whiston and bring them sufficiently armed to the town of Chepstowe by Thursday next at the latest to go with the King or his lieutenant to Wales to resist the rebels bringing with them victuals for 4 days and to take horses from those who have them who cannot labour and deliver them to those who can labour but lack horses. By K.

paragraph: Three days later, on 10th. Oct. 1403 Denys and Edward, Lord Charlton were granted full powers to pardon any rebels in the lordships of Usk, Caerleon and Trilleck who submitted to them. He continued to hold office at Newport as steward and sheriff, possibly owing these appointments to Ann, dowager countess of Stafford and her 3rd. Husband, Sir William Bourchier. In 1418 Denys was sheriff of the Marcher Lordship of Gwynllwg (Wentloog), the "caput" of which was Newport.

paragraph: Section::::Second Marriage to Margaret Russell.

paragraph: Margaret Corbet died in 1398, having produced no male heir, only a daughter, Joan, who married Thomas Gamage and was old enough by 1422 to serve as executrix of her father's will. Before 1408 Denys married Margaret Russell, elder daughter of his near neighbour Sir Maurice Russell of Dyrham. The marriage was socially advantageous for Denys as the Russells were wealthy and well established in Gloucestershire, yet little prospect existed at the time of the marriage of financial advancement as Maurice Russell then had an 8 year old heir, Thomas, produced by his young second wife Joan Dauntsey. Yet after Denys's death, Thomas Russell died in 1432, leaving an infant child who also died, leaving the Russell inheritance to Margaret, by then remarried to John Kemeys, and Isabel her sister. Thus Maurice Denys (1410–1466) the son and heir of Denys and Margaret Russell, and his Denys descendants, became heirs to half the Russell lands. According to the Heralds' Visitation of Glos. "op.cit.", Denys had by Margaret Russell the following children:

paragraph: BULLET::::- Maurice, eldest son and heir.

paragraph: BULLET::::- William Denys, second son, who according to the Devon historian Tristram Risdon (d.1640) married Joan St Aubyn (born 1411), widow of Otto Bodrugan (from the prominent Cornish family) and one of the two daughters and co-heiresses of John St Aubyn, of Combe Raleigh in Devon. William Denys had by her a single daughter and sole heiress to Combe Raleigh, Alice Denys, who married John Bonville, the illegitimate son of the Devonshire magnate William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville(c.1392/3-1461), of Shute, Devon, by his mistress, Elizabeth Kirkby. John Bonville and Alice Denys had six daughters and co-heiresses, one of whom, Joan Bonville, married William III Fulford (1476-1517) of Great Fulford in the parish of Dunsford in Devon. Risdon was well-versed in the history of the separate ancient family of Denys of Devon, which originated at Orleigh, near Bideford, with different arms to Denys of Glmorgan, and is thus unlikely to have been in error in identifying William as the "son of Sir Gilbert Dennis of Wales". This genealogy is confirmed by the surviving 16th century stone-sculpted heraldic escutcheon over the entrance to the courtyard of Great Fulford, still occupied by the Fulford family in 2015, which shows in the 1st quarter the arms of Fulford and in the 7th quarter the jessant-de-lys arms of Denys of Glamorgan, in the 8th quarter the arms of St Aubyn ("Argent, on a cross gules five bezants"), an heiress of Denys, and in the 9th and last quarter the arms of Chalons ("Gules, two bars between nine birds argent 3,3,3") an heiress of St Aubyn. These arms of Denys of Glamorgan are also shown in the Fulford Chapel in Dunsford Church.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Richard (a priest).

paragraph: BULLET::::- Margaret (b. about 1413, a nun at Lacock Abbey)

paragraph: The Dictionary of Welsh Biography entry by Evan David Jones for the family of Gamage

paragraph: mentions a daughter "Matilda Denys" who married Thomas Gamage(b.1408), son and heir of William Gamage(d.1419), Denys's co-besieger of Coity, by Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Rodborough. Thomas became a ward of the Earl of Worcester in 1421, following his father's death. There is apparently some confusion here with Joan, Denys's daughter and executrix by Margaret Corbet, who would however have been too old to be the wife of this Thomas Gamage(b.1408) as she acted as Denys's executrix in 1422, and would then have been an adult. However a Matilda Denys is mentioned in the Calendar of the Martyrologue of St. Augustine's Abbey, Bristol, as having died in October 1422:

paragraph: ""Domina Matilda Denys, quae obiit die... Octobris, anno Christi 1422""

paragraph: Section::::Serves under Lord Berkeley.

paragraph: In 1404 Denys served at sea in a fleet under the command of Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley(d.1417), Admiral of the West. It appears this may have involved action around the southern Wales coast in connection with quelling Glendower's revolt.

paragraph: Section::::Appointed feoffee of Lord Berkeley.

paragraph: In 1417 he was enfeoffed at Berkeley Castle by Lord Berkeley, shortly before his death, as one of the feoffees (i.e. trustees) of his estates, as the catalogue entry for charter number 581 preserved in the muniments at Berkeley Castle records:

paragraph: "Feoffment by Thomas, Lord Berkeley, Knt, to

paragraph: Walter Poole, Gilbert Denys, Knts, Thomas Knolles, citizen of London, Thomas Rugge, John Grevell, Robert Greyndour and Thomas Sergeant, esquires, of all the lands, reversions, and tenants' services in Berkeley, Wotton, Glou-

paragraph: cester, South Cerney, Cerneyeswike, Aure, Arlingham, and Horton, and in Berkeley and Bledislow Hundreds ; in the city of London ; in Portbury, Portishead, Weston, Bedminster, and in Bedminster and Portbury Hundreds, co. Somerset, and in Sharnecote and Chicklade, co. Wilts.,

paragraph: together with the advowsons of St. Andrew's Church in Baynard's Castle, London, the advowsons of Chicklade, Portishead, and Walton, and the patronage and advowson of St. Mary's Abbey of Kingswood. Witnesses : Thomas

paragraph: FitzNicoll, John Pauncefoot, Knights; Robert Poyntz, Edmund Bassett, Thomas Kendale. "Datum ad" Berkeley, Thursday, Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (24 June) 5 Hen. V. (1417). (With seal, broken)"

paragraph: The City of London mansion of the Berkeleys was at Puddle Dock by Baynard's Castle. Thomas FitzNicholl, one of the witnesses, was many times MP for Gloucestershire, including in 1395 when he served jointly with Denys. Saul, N. states that such feoffees were likely to have been members of Lord Berkeley's retinue. This was a very significant position of trust assigned to Denys and others as Berkeley died leaving only a daughter and the succession to the vast Berkeley lands, including the castle itself, became a matter of much dispute amongst his possible heirs resulting in a series of feuds which led in 1470 to the last private battle fought on English soil at the Battle of Nibley Green, between Lord William Berkeley and Viscount Lisle, and there followed the longest dispute in English legal history, which did not end until 1609.

paragraph: Section::::Besieges Coity Castle.

paragraph: The de Turberville family held the lordship of Coity from c. 1092 to 1360, having been founded by Sir Payn de Turberville, one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan of Robert FitzHamon, 1st. Lord of Glamorgan. Richard de Turberville died in 1384, leaving his 4 sisters as co-heiresses. Sarah had married William Gamage; Margaret had married Sir Richard Stackpole, whose da. Joan had married Sir Richard Verney; Agnes had married Sir John de la Bere of Weobly Castle, Gower; Catherine had married Sir Roger Berkerolles (d.1351), another descendant of one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan, of East Orchard, St. Athan. It was their son Sir Roger Berkerolles (d.1411) who succeeded to Coity, but clearly not with the approval of all concerned. His sister Wenllian had married Sir Edward Stradling of St. Donat's Castle. The tomb effigies of Catherine and Sir Roger can be seen in St. Athan's Church. The Berkerolles' claim to Coity ended on 18 October 1411, with the death of Sir Lawrence Berkerolles II, son of Sir Roger and Catherine. His heir was his 1st. cousin once removed, the minor Thomas de la Bere, son of John de la Bere deceased, son of Agnes Turberville (sister of Richard) and Sir John de la Bere. Thomas died as a minor on 28 October 1414. Coity briefly thereafter escheated to the King, under the hand Isabel Despenser, seemingly in the capacity of Lord of Glamorgan, wife of Richard de Beauchamp, Lord of Bergavenny, following which the lordship reverted to the de Turberville family through Sarah, the youngest sister of Richard de Turberville. Following Sir Roger's death there was much general re-shuffling of property interests in Glamorgan, for example with the Stradling family. Sarah's marriage to Sir William Gamage of Rogiet brought the estate into the Gamage family. The succession was not however easily achieved for in September 1412, William Gamage assisted by Sir Gilbert Denys, raised "no moderate multitude of armed men" and besieged Coity for a month, trying to oust Lady Joan Verney, wife of Sir Richard Verney and daughter of Margaret de Turberville, who it seems had taken up residence to assert her own claim to Coity in the confusion following Berkerolles's death. The king called up a commission of his local tenants to raise the siege and called another one a month later. The pair ended up in the Tower of London for having taken the law into their own hands, from 19th. November 1412 until 3rd. June 1413, after the death of Henry IV. However their action nevertheless proved successful in enforcing the Gamage claim to Coity. Denys's eldest daughter Joan was the wife of a certain Thomas Gamage, as his will reveals, possibly brother of William. Another of Denys's daughters, Matilda, by his 2nd. wife, married another Thomas Gamage, son or grandson of William Gamage and Sarah, thereby becoming Lady of Coity on her husband's succession, producing a son & heir John Gamage. The Gamage family held Coity until 1584. The Corbet triplets, of some thereof became wards of a certain Gamage and it may have been this connection of Margaret Corbet which formed a common link between her and Gilbert Denys, who as a young man would have been known to the Gamage family in Glamorgan.

paragraph: Section::::Connection with Earl of Warwick.

paragraph: Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick was married to a daughter of Lord Berkeley, and it is likely Denys was known to him. One of Denys's own feoffees was Robert Stanshaw, a retainer of Warwick's, and Denys witnessed a charter at Cardiff in May 1421 for Richard Beauchamp, a cousin of the Earl.

paragraph: Section::::Death and Burial.

paragraph: Denys's will was dated the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel (16 October 1421), and he died on 24 March 1422. His will is a very short and businesslike document. He requested to be buried in Siston Church, near his first wife Margaret Corbet. The fact that he had appointed his daughter Joan, "wife of Thomas Gamage" as his executrix to arrange this burial, suggests she must have been a daughter of Margaet Corbet, not of his second wife Margaret Russell. This supposition is strengthened by the fact she must have been an adult to be thus appointed, which would place her date of birth before Denys's 2nd. Marriage to Margaret Russell, c. 1408.

paragraph: He requested Margaret Russell to take a vow of chastity if she wished to inherit his moveable goods in addition to her customary dower of 1/3 of his real estate. She was however remarried within 7 months, possibly under pressure from Sir Edward Stradling of St. Donat's Castle, Glamorgan, who had obtained the wardship of Morys, her son and Denys's heir. Her new husband, much her junior, was John Kemeys of Began, Monmouth, the young nephew of Stradling. 5 years earlier Stradling's uncle, Sir John Stradling had married Joan Dauntsey, the young widow of Margaret's own father, Sir Morys Russell (d.1416). Sir Edward Stradling married his daughter Katherine to Morys his ward, and Katherine Stradling thereby became matriarch of the Denys line. Denys and Stradling were well known to each other in Glamorgan, and in 1421 Denys had made a quitclaim or General Release to Stradling of his interests in Glamorgan following the death of Sir Roger Berkerolles, Lord of Coity, when much re-shuffling of property occurred. Katherine's mother was Joan, the bastard daughter of Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, and son of John of Gaunt. Denys must have been known to Beaufort since he named him one of the overseers of his will, together with Bishop Philip Morgan of Worcester. It is possible that Stradling had obtained the wardship of Morys Denys through the influence of his father-in-law Beaufort, possibly as part of the marriage settlement, for in the next year, 1423, the marriage of Joan and Stradling took place. Morys was aged 12 in 1422, and the only son of his marriage to Katherine Stradling, Walter, was born in 1437, aging Katherine at just 14 when she became a mother. She seems to have died shortly thereafter as Morys then remarried to Alice Poyntz.

paragraph: Section::::Sources.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Roskell, J.S. (ed.) History of Parliament: House of Commons 1386–1421, London, 1992. Vol. 2, pp. 771–2, biography of Sir Gilbert Denys.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Williams, W.R. Parliamentary History of Gloucestershire. p. 29.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Saul, Nigel. "Knights and Esquires: The Gloucestershire Gentry in the Fourteenth Century", Oxford, 1981.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Rawcliffe, Carole. The Staffords, Earls of Stafford and Dukes of Buckingham, 1394–1521, Cambridge, 1978. p. 214. (In series Cambridge Studies in Mediaeval Life & Thought, 3rd. Series, No. 11)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Rymer, (ed.). Foedera (orig.edition), vii,186

paragraph: BULLET::::- Francis, George Grant (ed.) "Original Charters & Materials for a History of Neath and its Abbey", Swansea, 1845.

paragraph: BULLET::::- William Salt Archive Society, Stafford, xiv,264

paragraph: BULLET::::- Scott-Thomson, Gladys. Two Centuries of Family History, London, 1930. pp. 326–7 (Russell pedigree)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Clark, G.T. "Limbus Patrum Morganiae et Glamorganiae": Being the Genealogies of the Older Families of the Lordship of Morgan and Glamorgan, 1886, pp. 381–382, Denys

paragraph: BULLET::::- Golden Grove Book of Pedigrees, manuscript by anonymous author c. 1765, Carmarthenshire Archives. 2nd. part (G), "Advenae" of Glamorganshire, G 1026, p. 78, pedigree of Denys

paragraph: BULLET::::- Visitation of the County of Gloucester Taken in the Year 1623 by Henry Chitty and John Phillipot, ed. Maclean, Sir John, London, 1885, pp. 49–53, "Dennis"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Visitation by the Heralds in Wales, Transcribed and Edited by Michael Powell Siddons, Wales Herald Extraordinary, London, 1996, pp. 62–3, "Dennys"

description: Member of the Parliament of England

wikidata_label: Gilbert Denys

wikipedia_title: Gilbert Denys


text:
British Army
Victoria Cross
Commonwealth
Castlecomer
County Kilkenny
private
68th Regiment of Foot
The Durham Light Infantry
British Army
Crimean War
Battle of Inkerman
Crimean Peninsula
corporal
Newport, Wales
River Thames
John Byrne
Biography

categories: British military personnel of the New Zealand Wars,Disease-related deaths in Wales,Crimean War recipients of the Victoria Cross,1879 deaths,People from County Kilkenny,Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal,1832 births,19th-century Irish people,British Army personnel of the Crimean War,Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross,Irish soldiers in the British Army,Durham Light Infantry soldiers

paragraph: John Byrne (VC)

paragraph: John Byrne, (September 1832 – 10 July 1879) was a British Army soldier and an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Life.

paragraph: Byrne was born at Castlecomer, County Kilkenny in Ireland, in September 1832.

paragraph: Byrne was about 22 years old, and a private in the 68th Regiment of Foot (later The Durham Light Infantry), British Army during the Crimean War. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Battle of Inkerman on 5 November 1854 on the Crimean Peninsula. When his regiment was ordered to retire, Private Byrne went back towards the enemy, and, at the risk of his own life, brought in a wounded soldier, under fire. On 11 May 1855 he bravely engaged in a hand-to-hand contest with one of the enemy on the parapet of the work he was defending, prevented the entrance of the enemy, killed his antagonist, and captured his arms.

paragraph: He later achieved the rank of corporal. He died, aged 46, in Newport, Wales.

paragraph: Section::::The medal.

paragraph: The only medal on display is his New Zealand campaign medal, held in the Durham Light Infantry Museum.

paragraph: A Victoria Cross medal (missing the suspender bar and ribbon) was found by Tobias Neto in the mud of the River Thames on 17 December 2015, the medal having the date of "November 5, 1854" engraved on the reverse. Of the 16 VCs awarded for actions during the Battle of Inkerman, two were unaccounted for—those won by John Byrne and John McDermond of the 47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot, the other 14 being in private collections or museums. However, in an article published on the UK Detector Net web forum, the finder is seen to confirm that the medal was established as that awarded to John Byrne. It indicates that Sergeant Byrne accidentally, or in self defence, shot an assailant in 1879, and in a fit of regret and despair, he fled to London, disposed of his Victoria Cross medal in the River Thames, and subsequently returned to Newport.

paragraph: Section::::Sources.

paragraph: BULLET::::- John Byrne at Find-A-Grave

paragraph: BULLET::::- Biography, lightinfantry.me.uk

description: Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: John Byrne

wikipedia_title: John Byrne (VC)


text:
VC
MM
English
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
Drayton
Norfolk
British Army
sergeant
The East Surrey Regiment
Arras
Lewis gun
captain
Home Guard
Second World War
Norwich
Sprowston
Imperial War Museum
Location of grave and VC medal

categories: People from Drayton, Norfolk,East Surrey Regiment officers,British Home Guard officers,East Surrey Regiment soldiers,British Army personnel of World War I,1966 deaths,British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross,Recipients of the Military Medal,1894 births,Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)

paragraph: Harry Cator

paragraph: Harry Cator VC, MM (24 January 1894 – 7 April 1966) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: He was born in Drayton in Norfolk to a railway worker. After leaving school, he was a porter on the London Midland and Great Northern Joint Line before joining a building contractor in Great Yarmouth.

paragraph: He joined the British Army in September 1914, and arrived on the Western Front in June 1915 already a sergeant in the 7th Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment. In 1916 at the time of the Somme Offensive, he was awarded the Military Medal for bringing back 36 wounded men from no-mans land.

paragraph: He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Arras offensive. On 9 April 1917 near Arras, Sergeant Cator's platoon had suffered heavy casualties from a hostile machine-gun. Under heavy fire the sergeant, with one man, advanced across the open to attack the gun and when his companion was killed, he went on alone. Picking up a Lewis gun and some ammunition drums on his way, he succeeded in reaching the enemy trench and sighting another hostile machine-gun, he killed the entire team and the officer. He held the end of the trench with such effect that a bombing squad were able to capture 100 prisoners and five machine-guns.

paragraph: A few days later he was injured by an exploding shell. It was shortly after that the award of the VC and the French Croix de Guerre were announced. After the war he worked as a postman and as a civil servant.

paragraph: Cator served with the rank of captain in the Home Guard during the Second World War, and was commandant of a prisoner-of-war camp near Cranwick. He retired from the Army in December 1947. He died in 1966 in Norwich on 7 April and is buried in Sprowston cemetery.

paragraph: His Victoria Cross and other medals are displayed in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Notes

paragraph: BULLET::::- References

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Location of grave and VC medal "(Norfolk)"

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: Harry Cator

wikipedia_title: Harry Cator


text:
VC
Dublin
Victoria Cross
Commonwealth
Bengal Veteran Establishment
Bengal Army
Indian Mutiny
Delhi
John Buckley
William Raynor
captain
Dehra Dun
The Register of the Victoria Cross
Ireland's VCs
Monuments to Courage
Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross

categories: 1859 deaths,1800 births,19th-century Irish people,People from County Dublin,Irish soldiers in the British East India Company Army,Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross,British East India Company Army officers

paragraph: George Forrest (VC)

paragraph: George Forrest VC (1800 – 3 November 1859) was born St Michael's, Dublin and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: Forrest was about 57 years old, and a lieutenant in the Bengal Veteran Establishment, Bengal Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 11 May 1857 at Delhi, India for which he was awarded the VC.

paragraph: Lieutenant Forrest was one of nine men who defended the Magazine for more than five hours against large numbers of rebels, until, on the wall being scaled and there being no hope of help, they fired the Magazine. Five of the defending band died in the explosion and one shortly afterwards, but many of the enemy were killed. See also John Buckley and William Raynor. His citation in the London Gazette reads:

paragraph: Forrest later achieved the rank of captain and died at Dehra Dun, India, on 3 November 1859.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: Listed in order of publication year

paragraph: BULLET::::- "The Register of the Victoria Cross" (1981, 1988 and 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Ireland's VCs" (Dept of Economic Development, 1995)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Monuments to Courage" (David Harvey, 1999)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross" (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: George Forrest

wikipedia_title: George Forrest (VC)


text: VC

text: English

text: Victoria Cross

text: British

text: Commonwealth

text: Wimbledon, London

text: second lieutenant

text: British Army

text: First World War

text: France

text: Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum

text: Winchester

categories: British military personnel killed in World War I,1917 deaths,Rifle Brigade officers,British Army personnel of World War I,British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross,1892 births,Artists' Rifles soldiers,British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross,People from Wimbledon, London

paragraph: George Edward Cates

paragraph: George Edward Cates VC (9 May 1892 – 8 March 1917) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Cates was born on 9 May 1892 to George and Alice Ann Cates, of Wimbledon, London.

paragraph: He was 24 years old, and a second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own), British Army during the First World War, and was awarded the VC for his actions on 8 March 1917 at Bouchavesnes, France during which he was killed.

paragraph: Section::::Citation.

paragraph: His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum, Winchester, England.

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: George Edward Cates

wikipedia_title: George Edward Cates


text: VC

text: Scottish

text: Victoria Cross

text: British

text: Commonwealth

text: Motherwell

text: corporal

text: British Army

text: Battle of Poelcapelle

text: Belgium

text: Tyne Cot Memorial

text: Green Howards Museum

text: North Yorkshire

text: Monuments to Courage

text: The Register of the Victoria Cross

text: Scotland's Forgotten Valour

text: Salvation Army

categories: Cameronians soldiers,Green Howards soldiers,British military personnel killed in World War I,1917 deaths,British Army personnel of World War I,1891 births,British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross,People from Motherwell

paragraph: William Clamp

paragraph: William Charles Clamp VC (28 October 1892 – 9 October 1917) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Clamp was born on 28 October 1892 to Charles and Christina Dundas Clamp, of Flemington, Motherwell.

paragraph: He was 24 years old, and a corporal in the 6th Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own), British Army when he was awarded the VC for actions on 9 October 1917 at the Battle of Poelcapelle, Belgium which led to his death.

paragraph: Section::::Citation.

paragraph: Clamp is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Green Howards Museum, Richmond, North Yorkshire, England.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)

paragraph: BULLET::::- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Scotland's Forgotten Valour (Graham Ross, 1995)

paragraph: BULLET::::- VCs of the First World War - Passchendaele 1917 (Stephen Snelling, 1998)

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Salvation Army

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: William Clamp

wikipedia_title: William Clamp


text: VC

text: English

text: Victoria Cross

text: British

text: Commonwealth

text: Sittingbourne

text: Kent

text: Hackney

text: Stoke Newington

text: private

text: British Army

text: Indian Mutiny

text: Agra

text: James Hope Grant

text: KCB

text: The London Gazette

text: Bareilly

text: Imperial War Museum

categories: British recipients of the Victoria Cross,1832 births,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,1913 deaths,British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross,9th Queen's Royal Lancers soldiers

paragraph: John Freeman (VC)

paragraph: John Freeman VC (1833 – 1 July 1913) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Background.

paragraph: John Freeman was born in Sittingbourne, Kent in 1833. He died in Hackney, east London on 1 July 1913 and was buried in Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington.

paragraph: Section::::Military career.

paragraph: Freeman was approximately 25 years old, and a private in the 9th Lancers (The Queen's Royal) Regiment, British Army during the Indian Mutiny when he was awarded the VC for an act of conspicuous bravery at Agra.

paragraph: The despatch from Major-General Sir James Hope Grant, KCB, dated 8 April 1858 reads:

paragraph: In "The London Gazette" dated 3 August 1858, the Nominal Return of Casualties, in action, in Her Majesty's Troops at Bareilly, on 5, 6 and 7 May 1858 indicates that Freeman was "dangerously wounded".

paragraph: His VC is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum, London.

description: recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: John Freeman

wikipedia_title: John Freeman (VC)


text: VC

text: English

text: Victoria Cross

text: British

text: Commonwealth

text: St Ives

text: private

text: 5th Lancers (Royal Irish)

text: France

text: Battle of Cambrai

text: Nottinghamshire

text: Cambrai Memorial to the Missing

text: Chatteris

categories: British military personnel killed in World War I,1917 deaths,British Army personnel of World War I,5th Royal Irish Lancers soldiers,1889 births,British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross,People from St Ives, Cambridgeshire

paragraph: George William Burdett Clare

paragraph: George William Burdett Clare VC (18 May 1889 – 29 November 1917) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Clare was born on 18 May 1889 in St Ives, Huntingdonshire to George and Rhoda Clare.

paragraph: He was 28 years old, and a private in the 5th Lancers (Royal Irish), he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 28/29 November 1917 at Bourlon Wood, France during the Battle of Cambrai at which he was killed.

paragraph: Section::::Citation.

paragraph: His Victoria Cross will be displayed at The Queen's Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum at Thoresby Park, Nottinghamshire

paragraph: He is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial to the Missing, France; in St Peter and St Paul's Church, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire and on Chatteris War Memorial.

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: George William Burdett Clare

wikipedia_title: George William Burdett Clare


text:
VC
British Indian Army
First World War
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
Chamba
Tehri
Himalayas
The Garhwal Rifles
British Indian Army
First World War
Indian Expeditionary Force A
Western Front
7th (Meerut) Division
First Battle of Ypres
Battle of Neuve Chapelle
Neuve Chapelle
Cavalry Corps
bombs
British Empire
Neuve-Chapelle Memorial
Memorial Gates
India Office
Queen Mary

categories: Indian Army personnel killed in World War I,British Indian Army soldiers,Indian World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross,1915 deaths,1893 births

paragraph: Gabar Singh Negi

paragraph: Gabbar Singh Negi VC (21 April 189510 March 1915) was a soldier in the British Indian Army during the First World War and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Early life.

paragraph: Gabar Singh Negi, also known as Gobar Sing Negi, was born on 21 April 1895 at Manjaur village near Chamba, in the Indian district of Tehri. The area is in the Himalayas and was part of the original Kingdom of Garhwal. He joined the 2nd Battalion of The Garhwal Rifles, a regiment of the British Indian Army, in October 1913; the personnel of the regiment were mainly from the Himalayan hill tribes, and many had served with the Gurkhas.

paragraph: Section::::First World War.

paragraph: On the outbreak of the First World War, the 39th Garhwal Rifles was among the regiments selected for the Indian Expeditionary Force A, destined for the Western Front in France. By October 1914, the regiment, as part of the 7th (Meerut) Division, was in the frontlines during the First Battle of Ypres and later in the Pas-de-Calais sector where it would remain until going into reserve at the end of that year.

paragraph: In March 1915, the 7th Division was selected to be involved in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, which called for an assault on the German lines at Neuve Chapelle. The 7th Division was to help force a gap for the Cavalry Corps to exploit. On 10 March 1915, during the battle, Negi's 2nd Battalion was attacking to the southwest of Neuve Chappelle; an artillery barrage that preceded the attack was not effective and the German trenches were well defended. Parties with bombs had to clear the trenches; one such party included Negi. When the commander of his party was killed, he took over, leading from the front as the party took control of the German trenches. He was later killed. His actions on 10 March led to him being posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC). The VC, instituted in 1856, was the highest award for valour that could be bestowed on a soldier of the British Empire. The citation for his VC read as follows:

paragraph: Negi has no known grave; his name is recorded on the Neuve-Chapelle Memorial, as Gobar Sing Negi. His name was one of those included on the dome of the Memorial Gates in London, unveiled in 2002.

paragraph: Section::::Victoria Cross.

paragraph: Negi's VC was sent to the India Office to be forwarded to his next of kin, Satoori Devi, his wife. The VC was acquired by his regiment which arranged for a replica to be sent to Devi. A letter of condolences from Queen Mary was also sent to Devi, although she could not read. The medal was a source of pride for Negi's widow, who would wear it until her death in 1981.

paragraph: Section::::Legacy.

paragraph: Descendants of Negi have organised the Gabar Singh Negi Fair annually at Chamba in his memory, held every 20 or 21 April since 1925, depending on the Hindu calendar. His regiment, the Garhwal Rifles, have maintained a presence since 1971. A recruitment rally, stalls and army bands provide entertainment and many villagers, particularly the youths, attend the fair because of the drawcard of the recruitment rally.

description: Indian Victoria Cross recipient

wikidata_label: Gabar Singh Negi

wikipedia_title: Gabar Singh Negi


text:
VC
English
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
private
42nd Regiment
The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
British Army
Indian Mutiny
Maylah Ghat
India
Duncan Millar
Monuments to Courage
The Register of the Victoria Cross
Scotland's Forgotten Valour

categories: British recipients of the Victoria Cross,People from London,1864 deaths,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,1834 births,Deaths by drowning,Accidental deaths in India,Black Watch soldiers

paragraph: Walter Cook

paragraph: Walter Cook VC (18 June 1834 – c. 1864) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: He was about 25 years old, and a private in the 42nd Regiment (later The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 15 January 1859 at Maylah Ghat, India for which he and Private Duncan Millar were awarded the VC:

paragraph: The pipe tune "Lawson's Men" was written about the incident.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)

paragraph: BULLET::::- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Scotland's Forgotten Valour (Graham Ross, 1995)

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: Walter Cook

wikipedia_title: Walter Cook


text:
VC
Irish
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
Queen's County
44th Regiment of Foot
53rd Regiment of Foot
sergeant
The King's Shropshire Light Infantry
British Army
Indian Mutiny
Ghota Behar
India
John Charles Campbell Daunt
Imperial War Museum
The Register of the Victoria Cross
Ireland's VCs
Monuments to Courage
Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross
Location of grave and VC medal
Dublin
VC medal auction details

categories: British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Sikh War,British military personnel of the First Anglo-Sikh War,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,19th-century Irish people,People from County Laois,King's Shropshire Light Infantry soldiers,Essex Regiment soldiers,1822 births,Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross,1863 deaths,Irish soldiers in the British Army

paragraph: Denis Dynon

paragraph: Denis Dynon VC (September 1822 – 16 February 1863) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: Born in born Kilmannon, Queen's County, he first enlisted in the 44th Regiment of Foot, transferring into the 53rd Regiment of Foot in 1844. He served in the Sutlej Campaign of 1845-46 (battles of Aliwal and Sobraon) and the Punjab Campaign of 1848-49.

paragraph: Dynon was about 35 years old, and a sergeant in the (later The King's Shropshire Light Infantry), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 2 October 1857 at Ghota Behar, India for which he and Lieutenant John Charles Campbell Daunt were awarded the VC:

paragraph: Section::::Further information.

paragraph: He was forced to leave the army due to ill health and was admitted to Kilmainham Hospital in Dublin. He died on 16 February 1863. His burial place is unknown. His VC is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum, London.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: Listed in order of publication year

paragraph: BULLET::::- "The Register of the Victoria Cross" (1981, 1988 and 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Ireland's VCs" (Dept of Economic Development, 1995)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Monuments to Courage" (David Harvey, 1999)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross" (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Location of grave and VC medal "(Dublin)"

paragraph: BULLET::::- VC medal auction details

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: Denis Dynon

wikipedia_title: Denis Dynon


text: VC

text: Scottish

text: Victoria Cross

text: British

text: Commonwealth

text: Bengal Staff Corps

text: 5th Gurkha Rifles

text: Umbeyla Campaign

text: Second Anglo-Afghan War

text: Edinburgh

text: Edinburgh Academy

text: Edinburgh

text: London

text: Royal India Military College

text: Addiscombe

text: British Indian Army

text: Bengal Staff Corps

text: Ensign

text: Lieutenant

text: 3rd Sikh Infantry

text: mentioned in despatches

text: Umbeyla Campaign

text: Adjutant

text: Hazara Expedition

text: North West Frontier

text: Captain

text: 5th Gurkha Rifles

text: Abbottabad

text: Frederick Robert

text: Kurram Valley Field Force

text: Peiwar Kotal Pass

text: captain

text: Bengal Staff Corps

text: British Indian Army

text: 5th Gurkha Rifles

text: Second Anglo-Afghan War

text: major

text: Sherpur

text: Afghanistan

text: mentioned in despatches

text: Victoria Cross

text: Mentioned in Despatches

text: India General Service Medal

text: Afghanistan Medal

text: Victoria Cross

text: Michael Ashcroft

text: Monuments to Courage

text: The Register of the Victoria Cross

text: Scotland's Forgotten Valour

text: Burial location of John Cook

text: News Item

text: Memorial to Major J Cook VC

categories: British recipients of the Victoria Cross,1879 deaths,Second Anglo-Afghan War recipients of the Victoria Cross,British military personnel of the Umbeyla Campaign,British Indian Army personnel killed in action,1843 births,People educated at Edinburgh Academy,People from Edinburgh

paragraph: John Cook (VC)

paragraph: Major John Cook VC (28 August 1843 – 19 December 1879) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. An officer of the Bengal Staff Corps who transferred to the 5th Gurkha Rifles, Cook was a veteran of the Umbeyla Campaign who received the VC posthumously for his actions during the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

paragraph: Section::::Early life.

paragraph: Born in Edinburgh Cook was educated at Edinburgh Academy before attending the Scottish Naval and Military Academy in Edinburgh from 1856 to 1858, Dr Greig’s School in London from 1858 to 1859, and finally the Royal India Military College at Addiscombe from 1859 to 1860.

paragraph: Section::::Military career.

paragraph: Cook sailed to India in late 1861 at the age of eighteen joining the British Indian Army, Bengal Staff Corps as an Ensign before being promoted Lieutenant on 29 March 1862, and soon after his arrival was posted to the 3rd Sikh Infantry.

paragraph: He was mentioned in despatches for his services in the Umbeyla Campaign in 1863, and also distinguished himself while serving as Adjutant of his regiment in the Black Mountain campaign, Hazara Expedition of 1868 on the North West Frontier.

paragraph: After being promoted Captain on 19 December 1872, Cook transferred to the 5th Gurkha Rifles as Wing Commander in 1873.

paragraph: On 24 September 1878, the 5th Gurkha Rifles were warned for active service, and in October proceeded from Abbottabad to Thal, where it joined Sir Frederick Robert's Kurram Valley Field Force. Cook crossed the frontier with his regiment as part of Brigadier-General Thelwall's 2nd Brigade and following the reconnaissance of Peiwar Kotal Pass, won his Victoria Cross on the slopes of the Spingawai Kotal, or White Cow Pass. Captain Cook led repeated charges against enemy barricades with a joint force of 5th Gurkhas and 72nd Highlanders. At dawn, as the Afghans fled their positions, Cook collected a few men and charged and killed a large number of enemy who were trying to rescue one of their guns before going to the aide of Major Galbraith. Cook's helmet was pierced by an enemy bullet.

paragraph: Section::::Military career.:Gallantry recognized.

paragraph: Just days after the action, Major Galbraith wrote to General Roberts a report dated 'Camp near Zabbardast Kila, 5 December 1878:

paragraph: Section::::Victoria Cross.

paragraph: He was 35 years old, and a captain in the Bengal Staff Corps, British Indian Army, and 5th Gurkha Rifles during the Second Anglo-Afghan War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:

paragraph: He was promoted to the rank of major on 22 November 1879, a fact announced on 16 January 1880.

paragraph: Section::::Death in action.

paragraph: Attached to MacPherson's Brigade on the 11 December 1879 Cook participated in the attempted to attack the Afghans in the rear at Argundeh, but they were forced to fall back towards Sherpur faced by overwhelming numbers. Late in the day Cook distinguished himself in the rearguard action which saved the brigade's baggage. He fought a determined throng of Afghans shoulder to shoulder with his brother and resorted to a bayonet charge which was led by Major John Cook VC, 5th Gurkha Regiment and Lieutenant Walter Cook, 3rd Sikhs which forced the Afghans to withdraw. Unfortunately Walter Cook was shot in the chest and was carried to the Sherpur Cantonment and John Cook received a head wound.

paragraph: On 12 December 1879, John Cook was still able to take part in the attack next day on the That-i-Shah peak, which dominated the high ground around Kabul. During this action Major Cook received a fatal wound, being struck by a bullet that passed through the bone of his left leg below the knee. After spending the night on the hill in the open he was taken to the hospital at the besieged Sherpur, Afghanistan, but died of wounds on 19 December 1879.

paragraph: On 21 December 1879, Major John Cook was buried in the Sherpur Cantonment British Cemetery, locally known as the 'Gora Kabar' which literally means 'White Graveyard'. He was mentioned in despatches by Frederick Roberts on 23 January 1880.

paragraph: Section::::Medals and awards.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Victoria Cross on 21 March 1879.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Mentioned in Despatches in May 1880.

paragraph: BULLET::::- India General Service Medal (1854–1895) with clasps "North West Frontier" and "Umbeyla"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Afghanistan Medal (1878–1880) with clasps "Peiwar Kotal", "Charisia" and "Kabul"

paragraph: Section::::Medals and awards.:Medals sold.

paragraph: The Victoria Cross and campaign medals awarded to Captain John Cook were sold on 17 September 2004, by the London auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb for £82,000. It was purchased for the Michael Ashcroft Trust, the holding institution for Lord Ashcroft's VC Collection.

paragraph: Section::::See also.

paragraph: BULLET::::- List of Brigade of Gurkhas recipients of the Victoria Cross

paragraph: Section::::Further reading.

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Burial location of John Cook "Afghanistan"

paragraph: BULLET::::- News Item "John Cook's Victoria Cross sold at auction"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Memorial to Major J Cook VC

description: recipient of the Victoria Cross, born 1843

wikidata_label: John Cook

wikipedia_title: John Cook (VC)


text:
VC
English
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
Liverpool
Lancashire
England
Honourable East India Company
Liverpool
Bengal Horse Artillery
Jhelum
Battle of Jhelum
British India
Indian Mutiny
VC
Jhelum
Toxteth
Liverpool
Everton
Liverpool
Toxteth
Toxteth
VC
VC
Everton
Kirkdale, Liverpool
William Henry Quilliam
Bengal Horse Artillery
Indian Mutiny
Jhelum
British India
Nelson
Lancashire
England
William Connolly VC website

categories: British recipients of the Victoria Cross,British East India Company Army soldiers,1891 deaths,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,1816 births

paragraph: William Connolly (VC)

paragraph: William Connolly VC ( – 31 December 1891) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Biography.

paragraph: William Connolly was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England c1816. No baptism record has been found for him, his birth details and the identity of his parents are unknown.

paragraph: After working as a stableman, he enlisted as a soldier in the Honourable East India Company on 2 May 1837 at Liverpool. Later that year he sailed on the ship "Exmouth" to India to serve as a gunner in the Bengal Horse Artillery. He was given a medical discharge in 1859, at the age of 43 years, after 21 years and 3 months service, due to wounds received on 7 July 1857 at Jhelum during the Battle of Jhelum, British India during the Indian Mutiny. He was awarded the VC for his bravery at Jhelum. He was described as having an indifferent character. In physical appearance he was 5 feet 7 inches tall, he had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He returned home to England from India on the ship "Alfred".

paragraph: Back in Liverpool Connolly was now an army pensioner. He lodged with Thomas and Catherine Burrows at 124 Upper Mann Street Toxteth, Liverpool in 1861 and with the Dodd family at 40 Seacombe Street Everton, Liverpool in 1881. Catherine Burrows was formerly Catherine Connolly, so she was probably a relative. Thomas and Catherine were married on 17 December 1848 at St John The Baptist church in Toxteth. Catherine's father, Michael Connolly, was a warehouseman. She was living in Mill Street Toxteth at the time of the marriage.

paragraph: In 1883 he gave a testimonial that was used in an advertising campaign for a universal remedy called "Eclectica":

paragraph: He improved his financial standing by selling his VC at auction in 1886 for £10. This was bought by Charles Winter, the newly appointed head of the Medal Department at Spink. The first sale at auction of a VC was in 1884. Towards the end of his life he lived in Great Homer Street Everton and had a deposit at Great Homer Street Post Office Savings Bank. He died on 31 December 1891 of bronchitis at the Johnson family's residence at 14 Westminster Road Kirkdale, Liverpool. He was 75 years old. Mrs Johnson's daughter, Emma Catterall, was present at his passing and informed the Kirkdale Registrar, Robert Henry Webster, the next day. He was buried on 4 January 1892 in Section CE 17 Grave 220 at Kirkdale Cemetery. The mode of burial was 'Public' so the grave was unmarked. Most people were buried in 'Public' graves in those days. He made provision for his own funeral in his will and left £37 12s to his friend and doctor, Thomas Hill, of 6 Westminster Road. The solicitor involved in the probate was William Henry Quilliam.

paragraph: Most biographies of Connolly make no reference to his will and wrongly assume he died in poverty. Some authors suggest that William Connelly, labourer, aged 73 years, residing at Walton Workhouse in 1891 was William Connolly VC. This man was probably William Connell who died at Walton Workhouse aged 74 years and was buried at St Mary's Bootle on 24 February 1893. Similar biographical content detailing Connolly's supposed decline into poverty was given to the "Liverpool Echo" by local politicians when a plaque was unveiled on the grave at Kirkdale Cemetery in 2015. Prior to this event there was an appeal by Liverpool City Council for help in tracing any relatives of William Connolly. Researchers from "Liverpool & South West Lancashire Family History Society" and "RootsChat" genealogy forums found out that Connolly had left a will. Information about the existence of a will was forwarded to the relevant person but unfortunately it was not followed up on. Correspondence sent to the "Liverpool Echo" revealed some of the contents of the will, highlighted mistakes in Connolly's biography and was generally critical of previous accounts of Connolly's life.

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: Connolly was about 41 years old, and a gunner in the Bengal Horse Artillery during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 7 July 1857 at Jhelum, British India, for which he was awarded the VC:

paragraph: Section::::The medal.

paragraph: Today, his medal is on public display in the British in India Museum in Nelson, Lancashire, England.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- William Connolly VC website

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: William Connolly

wikipedia_title: William Connolly (VC)


text: VC

text: English

text: Victoria Cross

text: British

text: Commonwealth

text: Winsford

text: Cheshire

text: Lancashire Fusiliers

text: company sergeant major

text: British Army

text: First World War

text: pneumonia

text: Imperial War Museum

text: Monuments to Courage

text: The Register of the Victoria Cross

text: Location of grave and VC medal

text: Regimental details of Clarke and his VC

categories: 1947 deaths,Deaths from pneumonia,British Army personnel of World War I,People from Winsford,Lancashire Fusiliers soldiers,British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross,1894 births

paragraph: James Clarke (VC)

paragraph: James Clarke VC (6 April 189416 June 1947) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: He was born in Winsford, Cheshire. Leaving school at the age of 14, he worked as a day-labourer, before enlisting in the Lancashire Fusiliers in October 1915. He was 24 years old and an acting company sergeant major in the 15th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, British Army during the First World War when he performed the deeds which resulted in the award of the Victoria Cross. His citation reads:

paragraph: The forename in the original citation was subsequently corrected.

paragraph: He did not find much success in civilian life. On 8 June 1946, Clarke participated in the World War II Victory Parade. He died the following year of pneumonia. His VC is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum, London.

paragraph: Section::::Further reading.

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Monuments to Courage" (David Harvey, 1999)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "The Register of the Victoria Cross" (This England, 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "VCs of the First World War - The Final Days 1918" (Gerald Gliddon, 2000)

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Location of grave and VC medal "(Lancashire)"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Regimental details of Clarke and his VC

description: English recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: James Clarke

wikipedia_title: James Clarke (VC)


text:
VC
English
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
Wells
Somerset
private
18th Hussars (Queen Mary's Own)
British Army
Second Boer War
corporal
World War I
A666
Pendlebury
Monuments to Courage
The Register of the Victoria Cross
Victoria Crosses of the Anglo-Boer War
Location of grave and VC medal
Angloboerwar.com

categories: 18th Royal Hussars soldiers,Second Boer War recipients of the Victoria Cross,British recipients of the Victoria Cross,British Army personnel of the Second Boer War,1874 births,British Army personnel of World War I,People from Wells, Somerset,1953 deaths

paragraph: Harry George Crandon

paragraph: Harry George Crandon VC (12 February 1874 – 2 January 1953) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: He was born in Wells, Somerset, on 12 February 1874. At the age of 27 years, he was a private in the 18th Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), British Army during the Second Boer War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

paragraph: Section::::Further information.

paragraph: He later achieved the rank of corporal and served in World War I where he was wounded. He died in 1953 and was buried in Swinton Cemetery, Salford.

paragraph: Section::::Crandon Court, Pendlebury.

paragraph: He is commemorated in the town where he was buried by a sheltered housing complex named in his honour.

paragraph: Crandon Court stands on North Dean Street, just off Bolton Road (A666), Pendlebury, about 2 miles from his resting place.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)

paragraph: BULLET::::- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Victoria Crosses of the Anglo-Boer War (Ian Uys, 2000)

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Location of grave and VC medal "(Manchester)"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Angloboerwar.com

description: soldier

wikidata_label: Harry George Crandon

wikipedia_title: Harry George Crandon


text: VC

text: DSO

text: Victoria Cross

text: Commonwealth

text: Uppingham School

text: Christ Church, Oxford

text: Apollo University Lodge

text: Marple

text: Bedfordshire Regiment

text: lieutenant

text: captain

text: Gavrelle

text: Mentioned in despatches

text: Marcoing

text: Albert

text: Bouzincourt

text: Wardown Park Museum

text: Monuments to Courage

text: The Register of the Victoria Cross

categories: British military personnel killed in World War I,Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment officers,British Army personnel of World War I,Burials in France,People educated at Uppingham School,British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross,Companions of the Distinguished Service Order,1918 deaths,British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross,1880 births,People from Manchester

paragraph: John Stanhope Collings-Wells

paragraph: Lieutenant-Colonel John Stanhope Collings-Wells VC DSO (19 July 1880 – 27 March 1918) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was educated at Uppingham School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he joined the Apollo University Lodge.

paragraph: Born in Manchester on 19 July 1880 to Arthur & Caroline Mary, Collings-Wells moved to Marple to live with his cousin, Will Buck, enabling him to run his father's business in Manchester.

paragraph: Collings-Wells enlisted in the Hertfordshire Militia, and was commissioned into the Bedfordshire Regiment on 14 March 1904. He was made lieutenant in September 1904 and captain in January 1907. When war broke out, he travelled to France with his Regiment on 22 August 1914. In the winter of 1914-15, he was wounded and invalided home. He returned to the front lines in July 1916, with the rank of Major, in command of a company. He was promoted to acting Lieutenant-Colonel in October 1916.

paragraph: Collings-Wells was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1917 for his command of a battalion, which captured and held the northern outskirts of Gavrelle on 23 April 1917. Further, on 29 April he commanded a composite battalion, attacked and captured the Oppy line. He was also Mentioned in despatches in November 1917.

paragraph: Section::::VC Citation.

paragraph: In the period 22/27 March during the fighting from Marcoing to Albert, France, he committed acts which earned him the Victoria Cross. He died in action on 27 March 1918.

paragraph: He was buried at Bouzincourt Ridge Cemetery (Plot 3, Row E, Grave 12). His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regimental Collection at the Wardown Park Museum, Luton, Bedfordshire.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- VCs of the First World War - Spring Offensive 1918 (Gerald Gliddon, 1997)

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: John Stanhope Collings-Wells

wikipedia_title: John Stanhope Collings-Wells


text:
VC
Glenavy
County Antrim
Irish
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
67th Regiment of Foot
sergeant
90th Regiment
The Cameronians
British Army
Indian Mutiny
Lucknow
India
Meerut
The Register of the Victoria Cross
Ireland's VCs
Monuments to Courage
Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross

categories: Cameronians soldiers,Royal Hampshire Regiment soldiers,1826 births,19th-century Irish people,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,British military personnel killed in action in India,Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross,1863 deaths,People from County Antrim,Irish soldiers in the British Army,British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross

paragraph: Samuel Hill (VC)

paragraph: Samuel Hill VC (1826 in Glenavy, County Antrim – 21 February 1863) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: In 1844 he enlisted in the 67th Regiment of Foot and then transferred in 1856 to the 90th.

paragraph: He was about 31 years old, and a sergeant in the 90th Regiment (later The Cameronians - Scottish Rifles), of the British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 16 and 17 November 1857 at Lucknow, India for which he was awarded the VC:

paragraph: For gallant conduct on the 16th and 17th of November, 1857, at the storming of the Secundra Bagh at Lucknow, in saving the life of Captain Irby, warding off with his firelock a tulwar cut made at his head by a sepoy, and in going out under a heavy fire to help two wounded men. Also for general gallant conduct throughout the operations for the relief of the Lucknow garrison. Elected by the non-commissioned officers of the Regiment.

paragraph: He was killed in action, Meerut, India, on 21 February 1863.

paragraph: His Victoria Cross medal is in the Tolson Memorial Museum, Huddersfield, Yorkshire.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: Listed in order of publication year

paragraph: BULLET::::- "The Register of the Victoria Cross" (1981, 1988 and 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Ireland's VCs" (Dept of Economic Development, 1995)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Monuments to Courage" (David Harvey, 1999)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross" (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)

description: Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: Samuel Hill

wikipedia_title: Samuel Hill (VC)


text:
Lieutenant Colonel
VC
English
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
Archdeacon John Jones
Liverpool College
9th Lancers
lieutenant
British Army
Indian Mutiny
Delhi
India
siege of Delhi
lieutenant colonel
environmental engineer
Royal Agricultural Society
sewage farm
Finchampstead
Berkshire
Royal Naval Reserve
Location of grave and VC medal

categories: Environmental engineers,British recipients of the Victoria Cross,1920 deaths,Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst,People educated at Liverpool College,Victoria Cross awardees from Liverpool,1832 births,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,Somerset Light Infantry officers,18th Royal Hussars officers,English civil engineers,9th Queen's Royal Lancers officers

paragraph: Alfred Stowell Jones

paragraph: Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Stowell Jones, VC (24 January 1832 – 29 May 1920) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Early life.

paragraph: Jones was the son of the Archdeacon John Jones. He was educated at Liverpool College and Sandhurst and entered the 9th Lancers in 1852.

paragraph: Section::::Details on the Victoria Cross.

paragraph: Jones was 25 years old, and a lieutenant in the 9th Lancers, British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed on 8 June 1857 at Delhi, India took place for which he was awarded the VC:

paragraph: Section::::Later life.

paragraph: Throughout the siege of Delhi he served as DAQMG to the cavalry and was mentioned in despatches three times and promoted Captain and Brevet-Major. After graduating from Staff College in 1861 he served on the Staff at the Cape 1861-7. He retired in 1872 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

paragraph: After retiring from the military Jones became an environmental engineer and won a prize from the Royal Agricultural Society for best managed sewage farm.

paragraph: He lived at Ridge Cottage, Finchampstead, Berkshire. He died there, aged 88, on 29 May 1920 and is buried in the churchyard of St James in the village.

paragraph: Section::::Family.

paragraph: His son Owen Jones was a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve when he married in 1902 Lillian Stevenson.

paragraph: Section::::Sources.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Location of grave and VC medal "(Berkshire)"

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Liverpool VCs" (James Murphy, Pen and Sword Books, 2008)

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: Alfred Stowell Jones

wikipedia_title: Alfred Stowell Jones


text:
VC
MC
English
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
Neston
Cheshire
Sedbergh School
Mostyn House
second lieutenant
3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
British Army
World War II
siege of Tobruk
the Germans counter-attacked
Sidi Rezegh
J Battery
portee
Rifle Brigade
QF 2 pounder
honour title
Sedbergh
Royal Artillery Museum
Woolwich
CWGC entry

categories: 1912 births,British military personnel killed in World War II,Recipients of the Military Cross,Royal Horse Artillery officers,British World War II recipients of the Victoria Cross,People from Neston,People educated at Sedbergh School,1941 deaths,British Army personnel of World War II

paragraph: George Ward Gunn

paragraph: George Ward Gunn VC MC (26 July 1912 - 21 November 1941) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Life.

paragraph: Gunn was born in Neston, Cheshire. He was educated at Sedbergh School and Mostyn House.

paragraph: He was 29 years old, and a second lieutenant in the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, British Army during World War II when the action took place for which he was awarded the VC.

paragraph: During the British attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk, the Germans counter-attacked near the airfield of Sidi Rezegh.

paragraph: On 21 November 1941 at Sidi Rezegh, Gunn was the commander of A Troop of J Battery. These four QF 2 pounder anti-tank guns mounted "portee" on trucks were part of a battery of twelve guns attached to the Rifle Brigade.

paragraph: An attack earlier in the day was driven off but the main attack was by 60 German tanks. Gunn - in an unarmoured vehicle - drove between the guns under his command, encouraging and reorganising them as the battle progressed. Three guns and their crews were already knocked out when the last was hit. Except the sergeant, the crew were dead or disabled and the vehicle set alight. The battery commander Major Pinney attacked the flames and Gunn crossed the enemy fire to join him. Gunn took over the gun aiming and firing it with the sergeant acting as his loader. Despite enemy fire and the danger of the flames exploding the ammunition with which the portee was loaded, Gunn fired 40- 50 rounds from the QF 2 pounder gun and set two enemy tanks on fire before he himself was killed by being shot through the head.

paragraph: After he was killed, the battery commander took over the gun and continued the action. As a result of the battery's actions, it was given the honour title "Sidi Rezegh".

paragraph: The official announcement in the "London Gazette" of the award said of him "Second-Lieutenant Gunn showed the most conspicuous courage in attacking this large number of enemy tanks with a single unarmoured gun, and his utter disregard for extreme danger was an example which inspired all who saw it. He remained undismayed by intense fire and overwhelming odds, and his gallant resistance only ceased with his death. But for this very gallant action the enemy tanks would undoubtedly have over-run our position."

paragraph: A memorial to Gunn stands in his old school, Sedbergh, and at Mostyn House commemorating his brave deeds. A street was named in his honour in Neston ("Gunn Grove"), a JLRRA training troop was created in his name (Gunn Troop 33 Campbell Battery RA) and a memorial was placed in the Parish Church, (St Mary & St Helen's).

paragraph: Section::::The medal.

paragraph: His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Artillery Museum in Woolwich, England.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Notes

paragraph: BULLET::::- Bibliography

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Allied Tank Destroyers", Vanguard 10, Osprey Publishing

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- CWGC entry

description: British recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: George Ward Gunn

wikipedia_title: George Ward Gunn


text:
VC
English
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
corporal
sergeant
5th Regiment of Foot
The Northumberland Fusiliers
British Army
Indian Mutiny
Alumbagh
London Gazette
constable
Metropolitan Police
Holloway
consumption
Highgate Cemetery
Fusiliers Museum of Northumberland
Alnwick Castle
Northumberland
police service
Ian Blair
Harrogate
Image of Fusilier Museum display
Location of grave and VC medal

categories: British recipients of the Victoria Cross,1837 births,1874 deaths,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,People from Harrogate,19th-century deaths from tuberculosis,Royal Northumberland Fusiliers soldiers,Burials at Highgate Cemetery,Metropolitan Police officers

paragraph: Robert Grant (VC)

paragraph: Robert Grant VC (1837 – 23 November 1874) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Military service.

paragraph: Grant was approximately 20 years old, and a corporal (subsequently promoted to sergeant) in the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of Foot (later The Northumberland Fusiliers), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place at Alumbagh for which he was awarded the VC. The citation was published in the "London Gazette" of 19 June 1860, and initially Grant was incorrectly named as Ewart, which was corrected in a subsequent "Gazette" of 12 October 1860. The citation read:

paragraph: Section::::Police service.

paragraph: He later became a constable in the Metropolitan Police, and served in the Y Division Holloway area until his death of what was then commonly known as consumption in 1874. He was buried, at the expense of the parish, in a paupers' grave, number 15054, in Highgate Cemetery, North London. The grave (with modern headstone) lies on the eastern mid-way path just off the main western path.

paragraph: A replica of his Victoria Cross is displayed at the Fusiliers Museum of Northumberland in Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.

paragraph: In 2007 and 2008 moves were made to properly commemorate both his military and police service with a memorial stone to be unveiled by the head of London's police service, Sir Ian Blair. He is also commemorated in his home town of Harrogate with a plaque at the War Memorial.

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Image of Fusilier Museum display with tinted photograph of Grant in uniform and his VC medal

paragraph: BULLET::::- Location of grave and VC medal "(N. London)"

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: Robert Grant

wikipedia_title: Robert Grant (VC)


text:
VC
English
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
Hatfield
Doncaster
South Yorkshire
corporal
4th Battalion
York and Lancaster Regiment
British Army
Second World War
Merksplas
Belgium
Rotherham
South Yorkshire
British VCs of World War 2
Monuments to Courage
The Register of the Victoria Cross
CWGC entry

categories: British military personnel killed in World War II,People from Doncaster,British World War II recipients of the Victoria Cross,1944 deaths,British Army personnel of World War II,British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross,1916 births,York and Lancaster Regiment soldiers

paragraph: John William Harper

paragraph: John William Harper VC (6 August 1916 – 29 September 1944) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Birth.

paragraph: John William Harper was born in Hatfield, Doncaster, South Yorkshire on 6 August 1916 to George Ernest Harper and his wife, Florence Parkin.

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: Harper was 28 years old, and a corporal in the 4th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, British Army during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

paragraph: On 29 September 1944 during an assault on the Depot de Mendicite, Merksplas, Belgium, Corporal Harper led his section across 300 yards of completely exposed ground, with utter disregard for the hail of mortar bombs and small arms fire from the enemy. He was killed in the action, but the subsequent capture of the position was largely due to his self-sacrifice.

paragraph: Section::::The medal.

paragraph: His Victoria Cross is held at The York & Lancaster Regiment Museum in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.

paragraph: Section::::Memorials.

paragraph: His remains now lie at the War Cemetery at Leopoldsburg, near Limburg, Belgium, Plot No.5, Row B, Grave No.15.

paragraph: His name is inscribed on the Hatfield Cemetery War Memorial.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)

paragraph: BULLET::::- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- CWGC entry

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: John William Harper

wikipedia_title: John William Harper


text: VC

text: English

text: Victoria Cross

text: British

text: Commonwealth

text: Victoria Cross

text: private

text: The Royal Warwickshire Regiment

text: British Army

text: First World War

text: battle of Passchendaele

text: VC

text: corporal

text: War Memorial Park, Coventry

text: Monuments to Courage

text: The Register of the Victoria Cross

text: Arthur Hutt VC Appreciation

text: Location of grave and VC medal

text: Earlsdon

text: Obituary

categories: Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers soldiers,British Army personnel of World War I,1889 births,British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross,1954 deaths,People from Coventry

paragraph: Arthur Hutt

paragraph: Arthur Hutt VC (12 February 1889 – 14 April 1954) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the first person born in Coventry to be awarded the Victoria Cross

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: He was 28 years old, and a private in the 1/7th Battalion of The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place at the battle of Passchendaele for which he was awarded the VC.

paragraph: On 4 October 1917, at Terrier Farm, south-east of Poelcapelle, during the advance on the villages of Poelcapelle and Passchendaele, Belgium, when all the officers and NCOs of No. 2 Platoon had become casualties, Private Hutt took command of and led the platoon. He was held up by a strong post but immediately ran forward alone and shot the officer and three men in the post; between 40 and 50 others surrendered. Later, having pushed too far, he withdrew his party, covering them by sniping the enemy, and then carried back a wounded man to shelter. After he had consolidated his position, he then went out and carried in four more wounded under heavy fire.

paragraph: Section::::Further information.

paragraph: He later achieved the rank of corporal. He is commemorated with a Cornish granite memorial in War Memorial Park, Coventry.

paragraph: On Wednesday 4th October 2017 a commemorative V.C. Paving stone was lay for Cpl Arthur Hutt at the War Memorial Park in Coventry. The address was given by Reverend Greg Bartlem (vicar of Urban Hope Church, Coventry), and the unveiling was done by Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor John Blundell. Other readings were also read out by Mr David Williams (great nephew), Mr D Rex, Mr J Waite (Nephew of Joseph (Joe) Waite M.M.) and one of the Lord Mayors Cadets.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- VCs of the First World War - Passchendaele 1917 (Stephen Snelling, 1998)

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Arthur Hutt VC Appreciation

paragraph: BULLET::::- Location of grave and VC medal "(Warwickshire)"

paragraph: BULLET::::- Earlsdon

paragraph: BULLET::::- Obituary

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: Arthur Hutt

wikipedia_title: Arthur Hutt


text:
VC
Dublin
Irish
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
private
90th Regiment of Foot
The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
British Army
Indian Mutiny
Hamilton
Lanarkshire
The Register of the Victoria Cross
Ireland's VCs
Monuments to Courage
Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross
Location of grave and VC medal

categories: Cameronians soldiers,1837 births,19th-century Irish people,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross,1875 deaths,People from Dublin (city),Irish soldiers in the British Army

paragraph: Patrick Graham (VC)

paragraph: Patrick Graham VC (1837 – 3 June 1875) was born in St Michael's Parish, Dublin and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: He was about 20 years old, and a private in the 90th Regiment of Foot (later The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:

paragraph: He died in Dublin on 3 June 1875. His Victoria Cross is displayed in the Cameronians Regimental Museum at Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- "The Register of the Victoria Cross" (1981, 1988 and 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Ireland's VCs" (Dept of Economic Development, 1995)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Monuments to Courage" (David Harvey, 1999)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross" (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Location of grave and VC medal "(Dublin)"

description: Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: Patrick Graham

wikipedia_title: Patrick Graham (VC)


text:
VC
English
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
Farrier
8th Hussars (The King's Royal Irish)
British Army
Indian Mutiny
Gwalior
India
Clement Walker Heneage
Joseph Ward
John Pearson
Curragh
County Kildare
John Pearson
Location of grave and VC medal

categories: British recipients of the Victoria Cross,1879 deaths,People from Chipping Sodbury,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,8th King's Royal Irish Hussars soldiers,1833 births

paragraph: George Hollis

paragraph: George Hollis VC (October 1833 – 16 May 1879) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: He was about 24 years old, and a Farrier in the 8th Hussars (The King's Royal Irish), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 17 June 1858 at Gwalior, India for which he was awarded the VC:

paragraph: Farrier Hollis - together with a captain (Clement Walker Heneage), a sergeant (Joseph Ward) and a private (John Pearson) was in a charge made by a squadron of the 8th Hussars. His citation reads:

paragraph: Section::::Medal.

paragraph: In 1994 a man watching racehorses being trained on the Curragh in County Kildare, Ireland, glimpsed a small piece of metal being thrown up with mud by a horse galloping by; this turned out to be a Victoria Cross (minus its bar). It was presumed to have been one of the four awarded to the 8th Hussars, as they were based at the Curragh between 1869 and 1875. Until 1881 soldiers were required to wear all their medals while on duty and it was believed that a member of the Hussars could have lost the medal while training on horseback on the Curragh. It was thought likely that the medal belonged to either George Hollis or John Pearson as the other two medals were accounted for; however Pearson's VC subsequently turned up in auction at 2004, along with his other medals.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Location of grave and VC medal "(Devonshire)"

description: English recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: George Hollis

wikipedia_title: George Hollis


text:
VC
Scottish
Victoria Cross
British
Commonwealth
private
42nd Regiment of Foot
Black Watch
British Army
Indian Mutiny
Fort Ruhya
India
Imperial War Museum
Monuments to Courage
The Register of the Victoria Cross
Scotland's Forgotten Valour
Location of grave and VC medal

categories: British recipients of the Victoria Cross,1893 deaths,1835 births,Black Watch soldiers,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,British Army personnel of the Crimean War,People from Edinburgh

paragraph: James Davis (VC)

paragraph: James Davis VC (February 1835 – 2 March 1893) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: His full name was James Davis Kelly, but he dropped Kelly when he enlisted

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: Davis was approximately 23 years old, and a private in the 42nd Regiment of Foot, later The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 15 April 1858 during the attack on Fort Ruhya, India for which he was awarded the VC.

paragraph: His VC is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum, London.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Harvey, David, "Monuments to Courage", 1999

paragraph: BULLET::::- "The Register of the Victoria Cross" (This England, 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- Ross, Graham, Scotland's Forgotten Valour, 1995

paragraph: Section::::External links.

paragraph: BULLET::::- Location of grave and VC medal "(Edinburgh)"

description: recipient of the Victoria Cross, born 1835

wikidata_label: James Davis

wikipedia_title: James Davis (VC)


text: County Roscommon

text: Irish

text: Victoria Cross

text: British

text: Commonwealth

text: 1st Earl of Altamont

text: Marquess of Sligo

text: Trinity College Dublin

text: Charles Seely

text: Sir Charles Seely, 1st Baronet

text: J. E. B. Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone

text: captain

text: 32nd Regiment of Foot

text: The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

text: British Army

text: Indian Mutiny

text: Siege of Lucknow

text: colonel

text: 100th Regiment of Foot

text: Isle of Wight

text: Shanklin

text: deed poll

text: The Register of the Victoria Cross

text: Ireland's VCs

text: Monuments to Courage

text: Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross

categories: People from County Roscommon,19th-century Irish people,Alumni of Trinity College Dublin,Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross,Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment officers,1912 deaths,1830 births,Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross,Irish soldiers in the British Army,British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross

paragraph: Henry Gore-Browne

paragraph: Colonel Henry George Gore-Browne (30 September 1830 – 15 November 1912) was born in Newtown, County Roscommon and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Family.

paragraph: Henry George was the son of Arthur Browne, Esq. (d.1870), and his wife Anna Elizabeth Clements, daughter of Captain Clements. He was a great-great grandson of the 1st Earl of Altamont MP, whose heir is the Marquess of Sligo. His great-grandfather was The Right Hon Arthur Browne MP, of Leixslip Castle.

paragraph: He was educated at Trinity College Dublin. He married Jane Anne Seely, daughter of Charles Seely MP on 10 April 1882. Jane Anne Seely was the sister of Sir Charles Seely, 1st Baronet and the Aunt of J. E. B. Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone.

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: He was 26 years old, and a captain in the 32nd Regiment of Foot (later The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry) in the British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 21 August 1857 during the Siege of Lucknow for which he was awarded the VC:

paragraph: Section::::Further information.

paragraph: He later achieved the rank of colonel of the 100th Regiment of Foot. He served as Magistrate for Hampshire and became a Deputy Governor of the Isle of Wight. He died at Shanklin on the Isle of Wight on 15 November 1912. He changed his name by deed poll in 1915 from Henry George Browne to Henry George Gore-Browne.

paragraph: Section::::References.

paragraph: Listed in order of publication year

paragraph: BULLET::::- "The Register of the Victoria Cross" (1981, 1988 and 1997)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Ireland's VCs" (Dept of Economic Development, 1995)

paragraph: BULLET::::- "Burke's Peerage and Baronetage"; 107th edition, vol. III

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: Henry George Gore-Browne

wikipedia_title: Henry Gore-Browne


text: VC

text: British Army officer

text: World War I

text: Victoria Cross

text: British

text: Commonwealth

text: Leeds

text: Captain

text: British Army

text: First World War

text: Wancourt

text: France

text: Green Howards Regimental Museum

text: North Yorkshire

categories: British military personnel killed in World War I,1896 births,People from Leeds,1917 deaths,British Army personnel of World War I,British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross,Green Howards officers

paragraph: David Philip Hirsch

paragraph: David Philip Hirsch VC (28 December 1896 – 23 April 1917) was a British Army officer during World War I and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

paragraph: Section::::Details.

paragraph: Hirsch was born 28 December 1896 to Harry and Edith Hirsch of Weetwood Grove, Leeds.

paragraph: He was 20 years old, and an Acting Captain in the 4th Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own), British Army during the First World War. On 23 April 1917 near Wancourt, France, he performed a deed for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. He died in action that day.

paragraph: Section::::The medal.

paragraph: His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Green Howards Regimental Museum, Richmond, North Yorkshire, England.

description: Recipient of the Victoria Cross

wikidata_label: David Philip Hirsch

wikipedia_title: David Philip Hirsch