VC - The Great War

Sergeant Edward John Mott VC

Edward Mott was born on 4th July 1893 at Drayton, in what was then Berkshire, He enlisted in the 1st Battalion Border Regiment and, in 1915, he took part in the ill-fated Dardanelles Expedition, after which he served in Egypt and then on the Western Front. He won the Victoria Cross during an attack near Le Transloy on 27th January 1917, when his company was held up by enemy machine-gun fire.

His citation records that ‘Sergeant Edward John Mott, Border Regiment. For most conspicuous gallantry and initiative when, in an attack, the company to which he belonged was held up at a strongpoint by machine-gun fire. Although severely wounded in the eye, Sergeant Mott made a rush for the gun, and after a fierce struggle seized the gunner and took him prisoner, capturing the gun. It was due to the dash and initiative of this non-commissioned officer that the left flank succeeded’.

Sergeant Mott died in Witney on 20th October 1967, and his ashes were interred at Oxford Crematorium. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Museum of The King's Own Royal Border Regiment & Border Regiment at Carlisle.

Company Sergeant Major Edward Brooks VC

Born on 11th April 1883 at Oakley in Buckinghamshire, 34-year old Company Sergeant-Major Brooks was awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous gallantry during a trench raid at Fayet, near Saint-Quentin in France, on 28th April 1917, while serving with the 2/4th Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

Prior to the Great War, Sergeant-Major Brooks, who had formerly served in the Grenadier Guards, was employed as a labourer by an Oxford building firm, but he enlisted in the 4th Battalion in October 1914, was promoted to Sergeant in May 1915, and became Company Sergeant-Major in November 1916.

His actions on 28th April 1917 were summarised as a follows: ‘This Warrant Officer, while taking part in a raid on the enemy's trenches, saw that the front wave was checked by an enemy machine-gun at close quarters. On his own initiative, and regardless of personal danger, he rushed forward from the second wave with the object of capturing the gun, killing one of the gunners with his revolver, and bayoneting another. The remainder of the gun's crew then made off, leaving the gun in his possession. Company-Sergeant-Major Brooks then turned the machine-gun on to the retreating enemy, after which he carried it back into our lines. By his courage and initiative he undoubtedly prevented many casualties, and greatly added to the success of the operations’.

In later years, Edward Brooks worked in the car factories at Cowley. He died at Oxford on 26th June 1944.

Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse VC and bar, MC

Noel Chavasse, the holder of two Victoria crosses, was born in Oxford on 9th November 1884, the son of an Anglican clergyman from whom he inherited an unshakable belief in God and the British Empire. He attended Magdalen College School from 1897 until 1900, when he moved to Liverpool College after his father had been appointed Bishop of Liverpool. In 1905 both Chavasse and his twin brother Christopher both went up to Trinity College, Oxford, where they gained their blues for athletics. (Both represented Great Britain in the 400 metres event at the 1908 London Olympic Games).

Chavasse graduated with first-class honours in 1908, and he then spent a year researching blood plasma at the Radcliffe Infirmary. He had, meanwhile, joined the Oxford University Officers' Training Corps. He subsequently read medicine at Liverpool and, having qualified as a doctor in 1912, Chavasse practiced in Dublin and Liverpool, while in 1913 he became medical officer to the Liverpool Scottish (1/10th battalion, the King's Liverpool regiment).

Following the outbreak of war in 1914, Lieutenant Chavasse was sent to the Western Front, where he made sure that all of his stretcher-bearers were thoroughly trained in first aid. At the same time, he performed remarkable feats of surgery in appalling conditions, and laboured to eradicate problems such as trench foot and dysentery. Chavasse won the Military Cross for gallantry at Hooge in Belgium in June 1915, and was promoted to captain in the following August. In that same year, he was mentioned in dispatches but, perhaps surprisingly, Noel Chavasse never progressed beyond the rank of captain, perhaps because of his criticisms of the way in which the war was being run.

In March 1916 Chavasse became engaged to his cousin Gladys, the daughter of Sir Thomas and Lady Frances Chavasse of Bromsgrove, although he died before the marriage could take place.

On 9th August 1916, Captain Chavasse won his first Victoria Cross at Guillemont in France, for attending to the wounded all day under heavy fire, frequently in view of the enemy, while during the night he searched tirelessly for wounded men in front of the enemy lines. Next day, under heavy shell fire, he and a stretcher bearer carried an urgent case 500 yards to safety, being wounded himself during the perilous journey. That same night he went out with 20 volunteers and rescued three wounded men from a shell hole just 36 yards from the enemy trenches, buried the bodies of two dead officers, and collected a large number of identity discs. Altogether he save the lives of at least twenty men while in great danger himself under a hail of enemy fire.

On 2nd August 1917, during the opening assault on Passchendaele Ridge, Captain Chavasse, was severely wounded by shell-fire at the start of the action while carrying a wounded officer to the dressing station, but he refused to leave his post and, in addition to carrying out his normal duties, he went out repeatedly under heavy fire to attend the wounded. During this time, although worn-out with fatigue and faint from his wound, he helped to carry badly wounded men to safety, and was thereby instrumental in saving many who would otherwise have died in No Mans Land.

Despite undergoing abdominal surgery, Captain Chavasse died of his wounds on 4th August 1917 and was buried the next day at Brandhoek Military Cemetery.

A bar to his Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously for his bravery in repeatedly traversing No Mans Land between 31st July and 2nd August, in search of wounded men. His headstone depicts his two Victoria crosses, and his medals are displayed at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Lance-Corporal Alfred Wilcox VC

Born in Aston in 1884, Alfred Wilcox enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Volunteer Battalion in 1905, but after serving for four years, his job took him to Liverpool, where he continued to serve as a Territorial for a further three years before retiring with the rank of Corporal in 1909. On 25 March 1915 he joined the Royal Bucks Hussars, but was dismounted shortly afterwards, and was then attached to the 2/4th Battalion, Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

He fought in the trenches of Northern France during the Great War and, as a Lance-Corporal in the Oxford & Bucks, he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallant actions on the morning of 12th September 1918, while engaged in a local action with the flank platoon of ‘A’ Company, 2/4th Battalion. Finding that it was impossible to advance any further as a result of heavy and persistent machine gun fire from an enemy position known as ‘The Junction Post’, about 70 yards distant, Lance-Corporal Wilcox crawled towards the trench with four men, bombed it with hand grenades and rushed the gun nearest to him, disposed of the gunner and, being unable to take the gun along with him, put it out of action.

He then worked his way up the trench, bombed the next gun position (during which action two of his section were wounded), and himself again rushed the gun, killed the gunner in a hand-to-hand struggle, and put the gun out of action. Despite the reduced number of his party, Lance-Corporal Wilcox continued his advance up the trench. Bombing the gun-positions, he killed one gunner, wounded another and put two more guns out of action before reaching his objective.

Having, by this time, only one unwounded man left to assist him, Lance-Corporal Wilcox was obliged to withdraw when the Germans counter-attacked in strength. Besides being extremely outnumbered, they was unable to return fire as their rifles had become clogged with mud, owing to the fact that the weather during and before the operation was very bad. In spite of the very superior numbers against him, he withdrew successfully. He later remarked, ‘I saw a lot of square-heads in front of me, and I was after them’.

Alfred Wilcox died at his home, 31 Arthur Street, Small Heath, Birmingham, on 30th March 1954 and was buried in an unmarked grave in St Peter & St Paul Churchyard in Aston. His VC was displayed in the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regimental Museum until April 1999, when the Trustees of the Museum agreed that all seven Regimental VCs would be loaned to the Royal Green Jackets Museum. However, in that same month, it was reported that Lance-Corporal Wilcox's VC was being offered for sale on the open market.

The Birmingham war hero's VC was subsequently sold by auction to a private buyer for £55,000, having exceeded its reserve price by £17,000. David Erskine-Hill, a medal specialist for auctioneers Spink, said it was probably one of the highest prices ever paid for a Victoria Cross, adding: ‘It reflects the tremendous interest being shown in the First World War at the moment. VC medals often go for high price s because of their unique history and the heroic stories behind them’.

Having rested in an un-marked grave for over half-a-century, Lance-Corporal Wilcox finally won recognition in 2006 when, following an investigation to track down the ‘lost VC’, a gravestone was dedicated at a service held at St Peter & St Paul Church. The new memorial stone, unveiled on Tuesday 12th September 2006, simply reads: ‘For Valour. Near this site lies Alfred Wilcox 1884-1954, awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery in France, 12 Sept 1918’.

Brigadier Alfred Maurice Toye VC MC

Alfred Maurice Toye (known as ‘Maurice’) was born in Stanhope Lines, Aldershot on 15th April 1897, the son of James Toye, a civilian clerk, and his wife Elizabeth. Maurice joined the Royal Engineers as a bugler at the age of 15 and through the ranks.

He won the VC during World War I for outstanding gallantry at Eterpigny Ridge, in France, while serving as an Acting Captain in the 2nd Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. His citation records that, on 25th March 1918, He three times re-established a post which had been captured by the Germans, and when his three other posts were cut off, he fought his way through the enemy with one officer and six men. He then collected 70 men of the Battalion, who had been retiring, and took up a position which was maintained until reinforcements arrived. Without this action, the defence of the bridge would certainly have failed.

On two further occasions, when in command of a composite company, he covered his battalion's retirement with skill and courage. Later, with a Battalion Headquarters party, he forged on through the enemy who were situated in a village, firing at them in the streets, and helping to cover the battalion's retirement on the left flank. On a later occasion still, whilst in command of a mixed force, after some extremely hard fighting, he managed to re-establish a line that had been lost before their arrival. His valour and leadership, throughout this extended period of intense fighting, were most conspicuous, especially as, despite being wounded twice in ten days, he insisted on remaining on duty.

Brigadier Toye, who also held Military Cross, transferred to the 43rd Light Infantry in the 1920s. He was Assistant Commandant of the Royal Egyptian Military College in Cairo from 1925 until 1935, while from 1940 until 1942 he commanded the Chemical Warfare School, after which he Commanded the 6th Airborne Division until 1944. Again in the Middle East he served at GHQ from 1945-48. Until his retirement he was the Commandant of the Home Office Civil Defence School. Brigadier Toye died at Tiverton on 6th September 1955. His grave is in Tiverton Cemetery, while his Medal and other medals are held by the National Army Museum at Chelsea.

Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson VC

William Leefe Robinson was born at Kaima Betta, in India, on 14th July 1895, the youngest son of Horace Robinson, a coffee-planter, and his wife, Elizabeth Leefe. He was educated at the Dragon School and St Bees Grammar School in Cumberland. He entered Sandhurst in August 1914, and was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps after a few months service with the Worcestershire Regiment. On the night of 2nd-3rd September 1916, he shot down the German airship SL11 while flying from Sutton's Farm, near Hornchurch in Essex. The airship crashed into a field at Cuffley, in Hertfordshire – the first time that an enemy airship had been brought down on British soil.

  The airship was Schutte-Lanze, which resembled a Zeppelin in size and shape, but had a wooden frame, so that it burned furiously for two hours and was totally destroyed (apart from its engines and guns). The spectacular destruction of SL11 was witnessed by thousands of Londoners - underlining the fatal vulnerability of the hydrogen-filled German airships and marking the beginning of their defeat as raiding weapons. Hailed as Britain’s saviour, Leefe Robinson was awarded the VC just two days later.

  He returned to France in 1917 as a flight commander with 48 squadron at Bertangles, but on 5th 1917 April his six-strong patrol was attacked by Manfred von Richthofen’s aircraft, and Robinson was captured. Sent to Clausthal and, later, Holzminden prisoner-of-war camps, Robinson made several escape attempts, resulting in unusually harsh treatment by the Germans. He was repatriated to England on 14th December 1918, by which time his health had deteriorated. Tragically, Leefe Robinson contracted Spanish influenza and died at Lavender Cottage, Harrow Weald, on 31st December 1918. He was buried with full military honours in All Saints' churchyard at Harrow Weald, on 3rd January 1919. His name is recorded on the Dragon School memorial.

Captain Oswald Austin Reid VC

Captain (later Acting Major) Oswald Austin Reid was born in Johannesburg on 2nd November 1893, the son of Harry Austin Reed and his wife Alice Gertrude Reid - the daughter of George Bottomly, the Mayor of Kimberley. He attended the Diocesan College in Cape Town and St John's College in Johannesburg before moving on to Radley College, where he became Senior Prefect and Captain of the Football and Cricket teams. In 1913 he was captain of a Public Schools Eleven that played against the MCC.

  On 14th August 1914 he joined the 4th Battalion King’s Liverpool Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant, and in April 1915 he was wounded while serving on theWestern Front. Following his recovery, he joined the 1st Battalion, and was wounded again a year later. He subsequently served in Mesopotamia, being attached to the 6th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. On 8th March 1917, finding himself and a small party of men cut-off at the Dialah River after the sinking of a pontoon bridge, he organised a defensive position and held it for 30 hours against continuous Turkish attacks, with the full knowledge that repeated attempts at relief had failed and that his ammunition was all but exhausted. It was greatly due to his tenacity that the crossing of the river was effected the next night.

  In December 1917 he was mentioned in despatches for his part in the capture of Baghdad, while in April 1919 he served in Russia. Major Reid later returned to his native South Africa, where he died in October 1920, just six days before his 27th birthday. He is buried in the Braamfontein Cemetery in Johannesburg.