‘Some signal act of valour’:Derbyshire VCs of World War One

World War I, derbyshire war,

Since the Victoria Cross was inaugurated in 1856 as the  supreme British military award for gallantry for all ranks, ten Derbyshire-born warriors have received the medal. Three were decorated for bravery in the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny, while a fourth was honoured for gallantry on the North West Frontier of India in 1935, the only VC to be presented by King Edward V111. The other six gained the VC during World War I and it is these heroes who will be celebrated in this series of articles by Barry M Marsden, written as a tribute in this centenary year of the global conflict.

SOMEWHAT UNUSUALLY, bearing in mind that winning the VC usually involved a one-way ticket to death and glory, five of the six Derbyshire World War One VC recipients survived the actions for which they were decorated, and all but one of the medals were won in the last twelve months of the conflict; four between March and June of 1918…