How Private Albert
Edward Walker, Of The 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, Won
The D.C.M. At Audencourt
On the night of August 23rd-24th 1914, the
retreat from Mons began; but it was not until midday on the 24th,
and after some fierce fighting, that our corps, under Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien,
who had been entrusted with the task of holding his ground until the
British right was well on its way towards Maubeuge, began their
retirement. Early in the afternoon, the whole British force was
reassembled on a line running from Maubeuge to the village of Bray, a
position which had been selected which had been selected with a view to
fighting a general engagement, provided the whole position warranted a
British stand. But, on
learning that Tournal had fallen and that the enemy were practically
masters of the whole country on his left, Sir John French gave orders
for the retirement to continue, and from early morning to evening on the
25th a day of intense and glaring heat-the weary troops
plodded southwards along the dusty roads, until as night was falling,
they halted on a line running south of the Forest of Mormal from
Maroilles to Landrecies, and then by Le Cateau to Cambrai. The
enemy suddenly attacked about ten o’clock that night, the 1st
Division, posted in and around Landrecies, in great force, and the
battle was soon raging along the whole front of the 1st
Corps. It ended in the repulse of the Germans, but left the men of our 1st
Corps too utterly exhausted to be placed in the fighting line; and it
was therefore decided that during the Wednesday they should continue the
movement to the southward, while Smith-Dorrien and the 2nd
Corps should follow and hold back the German pursuit.
Before dawn,
however, Smith-Dorrien received the alarming intelligence that no less
than four German corps, which had advanced by forced marches during the
night between the west side of the Forest of Mormal and the road from
Valenciennes to Cambrai, were in position along his front, and was
compelled to fight one of the most fiercely contested battles in our
history, to save our left wing from being enveloped and destroyed.
The Germans had not only an overwhelming
superiority in numbers, but a still greater preponderance in artillery;
indeed, it is calculated that they had some six hundred guns, many of
them of a caliber much greater than any which we possessed at that time,
in action on a front of about twelve miles.
The village of Audencourt, which was held
by the 4th Middlesex, one of the battalions of the 8th
Brigade, was subjected to a most terrific shelling.
Houses crackled like eggshells beneath the huge missiles from the
German field howitzers; tiles from their shattered roofs were whirled
through the air; great craters made by “Jack Johnson’s” yawned in
the roadway. “It was like
hell, only a thousand times worse,” writes one of that gallant corps.
The 4th Middlesex, like the rest of Smith-Dorriens
force, had had little time to entrench their position, and hastily dug
shelter trenches were their only protection.
Their casualties, in consequence, were numerous and increasing
every minute. The church in
the village had been chosen as a hospital, and for a time it was
fortunate enough to escape the fate of the buildings in the vicinity.
But presently the German gunners got the range, and shell after
shell struck it. The
colonel of the battalion came up and, addressing the men in a trench
close by, said: ”one of you ‘Die hards’ who have got your heads,
move those poor fellows out of the church.”
A lad of twenty, Private Albert Edward Walker immediately
volunteered and hurried towards the church, which was now blazing
fiercely. For two hours
Walker was employed moving his wounded comrades out, and fetching them
water, during which the bombardment continued as fiercely as ever, and
the church was repeatedly struck. As
he was assisting one of the last men from the shattered and burning
building, the colonel came up again.
“Good, brave lad!” was all he said, and passed on; but he did
not forget the young soldier, who had been so ready to risk his life for
his comrades, and subsequently Walker learned that he had been awarded
the Distinguished Conduct Medal, “for conspicuous gallantry and
devotion to duty in voluntarily attending on the wounded with great
coolness under heavy shellfire.”
Unhappily, he did not live long to wear his
well-earned decoration, as he was killed in the summer of 1915, while
performing another gallant action.
The manner of his death is described by a sergeant of the 3rd
Middlesex, in the 28th Division, to which Walker, now a lance
corporal, had been transferred, in a letter to the deceased soldier’s
parent, who reside at Lower Edmonton:
“Your letter concerning your brave son’s death reached me
safely, and I am more than pleased to be of some little service to you.
Our battalion was called out to attack the Germans.
While the attack was in progress, my stretcher-bearers were
bringing in our casualties. Lance-Corporal Walker, with another man, went to try and save
an officer, who, if he had succeeded, would undoubtedly have earned him
the V.C. His fall was
mourned by all, because we knew that we had lost a true, good and brave
comrade.” Extracted from 'Deeds That
Thrill The Empire'
How
Second Lieutenant Rupert Price Hallowes, Of The 4th Battalion
Middlesex Regiment, Won The Military Cross At Hodge (July 1915) And The
Victoria Cross At Hooge (September 1915)
The
summer campaign of 1915 in the West on the British section of the allied
front made comparatively little difference to the contours of our line
as marked upon the map. Nevertheless,
if measured by the gain or loss of ground, the fighting was of slight
importance, it was often a desperate character and productive of heavy
casualties. This was
particularly the cause in the Hooge area, lying on either side of the
Menin-Ypres road, where fighting of a fierce and sanguinary character
went on intermittently all through the summer months.
Thus, on the last day of May we captured the outbuildings of the
chateau, and, after being driven out, recaptured them again on the night
of June 3rd. On
the 16th we attacked with some success south of Hooge, and
carried one thousand yards of German front trenches and part of their
second line, and afterwards repulsed a strong counter attack.
On the 18th of the same month we made some progress
north of the Menin-Ypres road; while on July 19th, an enemy
redoubt at the western end of the Hooge defence was successfully mined
and destroyed, and a small portion of their trenches was captured.
In this action an officer of the 4th Middlesex, one of
the battalions of the 3rd Division, Lieutenant Rupert Price
Hollowes, won the Military Cross by the daring bravery he displayed when
the Germans delivered their counter attack.
Perceiving that owing to our shortage of bombs, the enemy were
approaching down the communication trench, he left his own trench, and
with the most perfect indifference to the risk to which was exposing
himself, went out into the open and fired at them, killing or wounding
several. Later, he assisted
in the repair of the communication trench and in rebuilding a parapet
that had been blown in by a shell, both under very heavy fire; while
throughout the night he rendered great assistance in keeping in touch
with our supports and in supplying bombs.
Fierce fighting again occurred at Hooge between July 30th
and August 9th, but after that there was relative quiet along
this part of our front until the last week in September, when a strong
offensive movement was undertaken by us, with the object of detaining
the left wing of the Duke of Wurtemberg’s command and preventing the
German from sending reinforcements southwards to the La Bassee district
where the main British advance was about to begin.
At four o’clock on the morning of the 25th, our
artillery preparation began, and soon after 4.30 the British infantry
advanced to attack, the 14th Division on the left against the
Bellawaarde Farm, and the 3rd Division, which included the 4th
Middlesex, against the enemy’s position north of Sanctuary Wood, on
the south side of the Menin-Ypres road.
The charge of our infantry carried all before it, and the whole
of the German first line trenches were soon in our hands.
But the enemy had concentrated a mass of artillery behind the
lines, and our new front was subjected to so heavy a bombardment that
the gains on our left could not be held, though south of the highway the
3rd division still clung to some of the ground it had won,
and managed to consolidate its position.
Between that day and October 1st, during which time
the trenches held by the 4th Middlesex were subjected to four
heavy and prolonged bombardments and repeated counter attacks,
Second-Lieutenant Hallowes again most brilliantly distinguished himself,
“displaying,” in the words of the Gazette, “the greatest bravery
and untiring energy and setting a magnificent example to his men.”
On the night of September 26th-27th,
perceiving two wounded men of the Royal Scots lying out in the open, he
left his trench, and, under a fierce rifle fire, coolly superintended
their removal to a place of safety.
Scarcely had he returned to the trenches, than the Germans
another severe bombardment, and shells of every description came raining
down. The range was very
accurate, and fearing that some of the men might begin to flinch,
Lieutenant Hallowes, utterly regardless of his own danger, climbed on to
the parapet to put fresh heart into them.
“He seemed to be everywhere giving encouragement to
everyone,” wrote private of his battalion.
Lieutenant Hallowes also made more than one daring reconnaissance
of the German position, and when the supply of bombs was running short,
he went back, under very heavy shellfire, and brought up a fresh supply.
For six days this most heroic officer
braved death successfully, but such entire disregard of danger as he
displayed cannot long be continued with impunity, and on the seventh
(October 1st) he met his inevitable end.
He was a hero to the last, for we are told “even after he was
mortally wounded he continued to cheer those around him and to inspire
them with fresh courage.” The
Victoria Cross, for which he appears to have been recommended after the
fighting on September 25th, was awarded him posthumously,
“for most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty,” and no one will
be inclined to dispute his right to a foremost place on our most
glorious roll of honour. Rupert
Price Hallowes was born at Redhill, Surrey, in 1880, the youngest son of
Dr. F. B. Hallowes of that town, and was educated at Hailrybury College.
He reenlisted in the Artists Rifles on August 6th
1914, two days after the outbreak of war, and was sent to France at the
end of the following December. On
April 7th 1915, he was given a commission as second
lieutenant in the 4th Middlesex.
Like so many very brave men, he appears to have been a singularly
modest one, and even after winning the Military Cross could not be
persuaded by his relatives to tell them anything of the gallant action
for which it had been awarded. Extracted from 'Deeds That
Thrill The Empire'
How
Lance Corporal Victor Gray, Of The 4th Battalion Middlesex
Regiment, Won the D.C.M. At Kemmel
Among
the many splendid examples of our gallant fellows cheerfully risking
their own lives to save those of their comrades which the war had
witnessed, that given by Lance Corporal Victor Gray, of the 4th
Battalion Middlesex Regiment, on April 28th 1915, at Kemmel,
is one which ought to be remembered.
Between two and three o’clock in the
afternoon of that day it was found necessary to put a charge of dynamite
into a German sap, which was working its way into a British sap head.
About two hours after the explosion the sergeant in charge of the
working party and three officers went down the mine gallery to ascertain
the result, leaving Lance Corporal Gray in charge of the men at the top
of the shaft. They had been
gassed! Gray immediately
called the working party to the mouth of the shaft, and ordering four of
them to go down into the mine and get the men up, hurried off to summon
medical aid, and in default of finding a surgeon, returned in about
three minutes with two R. A. M. C. orderlies.
When he got back, he found that one of the three officers had
already been rescued, and that another was just being brought up the
shaft. Having helped to
raise him to the surface and seen the orderlies set to work to revive
him, he himself went down, to assist in recovering the third officer and
the sergeant. When however,
he reached the bottom of the shaft, he found that the two men who had
saved the officers were already so overcome themselves by the gas that
the must be got out without delay.
He therefore ordered their two comrades, who had remained at the
bottom of the shaft, to send them up; while he himself went down the
gallery to where the third officer lay and partly carried and partly
dragged him to the bottom of the shaft, and, with the assistance of the
others, sent him up also. By
this time however Gray and his brave comrades were so overcome by the
poisonous fumes that they recognized that it would be impossible for
them to get the sergeant out. Gray
therefore ascended to the surface, and sent down four men to the
assistance of the sergeant, he himself, though feeling desperately ill,
pluckily descending again and rendering them what little assistance he
could at the bottom of the shaft. Unhappily,
when the sergeant was brought up he was beyond the reach of human aid,
and all efforts to revive him proved fruitless. Lance
corporal Gray, who was awarded the D.C.M., “for conspicuous gallantry
and devotion to duty,” is thirty years of age.
He comes of a family of soldiers, his late father having served
for twenty-one years in the Grenadier Guards, while both of his two
brothers are at the Front. The elder brother, who was in the 2nd battalion
Rifle Brigade, greatly distinguished himself at the beginning of May
1915, and after being awarded the Military Cross “for conspicuous
gallantry,” was promoted to the rank of captain; the younger is a
lance corporal in the Royal Fusiliers.
Mrs Gray has indeed reason to be proud of her brave sons. Since the
gallant action which we have just recounted, Victor Gray has been
transferred from the 2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment to the
Royal Engineers.
Extracted from 'Deeds That
Thrill The Empire'
How
Acting Sergeant William Fisher, Of The 4th Middlesex, Won The
D.C.M. At Wolverghem, And Subsequently A Clasp To His D.C.M.
It
is not only in the heat of battle, when the troops are advancing to the
assault of the enemy’s position in the face of a deadly blast of
shrapnel, rifle and machine gun fire, that heroic deeds are performed;
even in the course of such comparatively uneventful work as trench
digging, opportunities for earning distinction, and sometimes
unforgettable fame, have been known to present themselves.
A striking illustration of this occurred on
the night of November 17th-18th 1914, near
Wolverghem. Acting-Sergeant
William Fisher, a young man of twenty-one, of the 4th
Middlesex, which was entrenched opposite the village of Neuve Eglise,
received orders to send out a digging party to finish a communication
trench which ran across their right front.
It was an undertaking full of danger, for less than two hundred
yards separated the British from the German trenches, and the night
being fine and the ground covered with snow, every dark object stood out
in bold relief. Two
sections (twenty men and N.C.O.’s) were detailed for the work, which
proceeded for some time without interruption, when suddenly, towards
midnight, a heavy and continuous rifle fire was opened upon them.
Some of the working party took cover in the unfinished trench;
but others, losing their heads, started to regain the fire trench.
Then over the parapet of the fire
trench bounded a solitary figure, rifle in hand.
It was Sergeant Fisher, who believing that the enemy had
surprised his men, was hastening to their relief.
Right across the open he ran, an all too conspicuous mark against
the white carpet of snow, and, quick rallying the fugitives, led them
back to the communication trench, where he got the whole party under
cover. This accomplished,
he coolly proceeded to reconnoitre the ground between the communication
trench and the German lines, with the object of ascertaining of the
enemy were meditating a surprise attack, and then hurried back to the
fire trench to stop the firing which some of our men had, without
orders, opened in reply to the Germans.
Finally, he went out again to the communication trench and took
charge of the working party.
Now, all this time this intrepid young man
was running the greatest personal risk imaginable, being exposed both to
the fire of the enemy, and to that of some of his own comrades; indeed,
it seems little short of a miracle that he should have escaped unhurt.
Yet never for a single moment do his coolness and courage appear
to have failed him, and few could have more richly deserved the coveted
decoration awarded him by his own Sovereign or the medal of St. George
of the second class, which was subsequently conferred upon him by the
Czar.
On June 16th 1915, Sergeant Fisher was wounded near
Ypres, but fortunately his injuries were not serious, and seven months
after the gallant action, which gained him the Distinguished Conduct
Medal, he won a clasp to his decoration.
On the night of June 14th-15th
1915, some digging operations which were in progress near the British
first line trenches were continually being interfered with by the
discharge of a star shell pistol from the Germans lines.
Sergeant Fisher and Corporal Keep of his regiment determined to
endeavour to put a stop to this, and, each arming himself with a bomb,
they scaled the parapet of their trench and crawled to within easy
throwing distance of the hostile trench.
There they waited for some five minutes, until the German exposed
his position by discharging his pistol.
The moment he did so Fisher threw his bomb, which hit the parapet
of the trench exactly in front of the trail of sparks from the pistol,
and from the fact that no more star shells were sent up from that
section of the enemy’s trench during the rest of the night he
concluded that he had either killed his man or placed him hors de
combat. Immediately
afterwards, Corporal Keep spotted a party of Germans just on his right,
and managed to throw his bomb into the middle of them, with the result
that they scattered in disorder, leaving behind them two wounded men,
who lay there groaning all night. Encouraged
by their success, the two non-commissioned officers returned to their
own trench, and having provided themselves with more bombs, crawled out
again and threw them into the German trench, with considerable effect,
to judge by the shrieks and curses which followed their explosion.
This exploit they subsequently repeated, making their third trip
out that night.
For the services they rendered on this
occasion Corporal Keep was awarded the D.C.M., and Sergeant Fisher a
clasp to his medal, as mentioned above. Extracted from 'Deeds That
Thrill The Empire'
The Duke Of Cambridges Own
(Middlesex Regiment)
In
1881 the 57th (West Middlesex) was amalgamated with its
linked battalion, the 77th (East Middlesex), the Duke of
Cambridge’s Own, under its present compound title.
A regiment, raised in 1755 as the 57th,
became the 55th, and another raised as the 59th
became the 57th in 1757, the old 57th becoming the
46th; the county title was added in 1782.
In its earliest days it did duty as marines, and in 1775 was
despatched to North America. There
it took part in the operations at Brooklyn, Redbank, York Island,
Powell’s Hook, and Fort Montgomery; and its light company, serving
with Lord Cornwallis at York Town, was taken prisoner.
The 57th was with the Duke of York in Holland in 1794;
and, after much varied foreign service, joined Crawford’s division in
the Peninsula. It was
engaged at Busaco, Torres Vedras, the pursuit of Massena, Albuhera,
Arroyo dos Molinos, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Berlango, Estapas, Vittoria,
the Pyrenees, Pampeluna, the Bidassoa, Nivelle, Nive, and Bordeaux.
Throughout the campaign the men displayed
conspicuous gallantry, and lost severely.
It was at Albuhera that the glorious nickname of the “Die Hards”
was won; for when the British were heavily pressed by overwhelming
numbers of the French, Colonel Inglis of the 57th shouted,
“Die hard, my men! Die hard!”-and this they did, fighting with such
headlong bravery the colonel, 22 officers, and 400 men fell; and out of
the 6,000 men that had “fallen in” for battle on the hill, but 1,500
remained. The
regiment was brought out of action by Lieutenant and Adjutant Mann, and
the King’s colours had received thirty shot-wounds and the regimental
twent-one. The
57th formed part of the Army of Occupation of France in 1815;
fought before Sevastopol and at Inkerman, and took part in the
expedition to Kinburn and Shadoffka; shared in the Maori War of 1863, at
Kaitake, Otapawa Pah, and numerous skirmishes, in which the loss was
often heavy; and in 1879 it assisted at the relief of Ekowe.
Victoria Crosses were won in the Crimean
War by Private C. M. Corrie and Colour-Sergeant G. Gardiner, and in the
Maori war by Ensign J. T. Down and Drummer D. Stagpole; but equal
gallantry was also shown by Private Howard, who, with Lieutenant Torrens
of the Greys, assisted in rescuing the crew of the wreck Robert Brown.
One noteworthy point in the history of the
regiment is the formation by Colonel Hartley in 1832 of the regimental
savings bank, probably one of the earliest efforts to promote thrift
among the men. A
2nd battalion of the 57th existed from the 1801 to
1815.
The 77th first appears in 1778; was called the
“Royal Middlesex” in 1807, a title soon after changed to the “East
Middlesex,” and the “Duke of Cambridge’s Own”
in 1876. The other
77th Regiment were the “Montgomery Highlanders,” which
existed from 1737 to 1763, and fought at Fort du Quense, Cuba,
Martinique, and Havannah; and the “Atholl Highlanders” from 1778 to
1783. The year after it was
raised the regiment sailed to India, and in the operation against Tippoo
Sultan was at the siege if Canonore and at Seringapatam; then it was
despatched against the Dutch settlements in Cochin, and shortly after
assisted at the siege of Colombo, joined the expedition against the
Rajah of Coliote, and took part in the storm of Seringapatam and the
capture of Arrakerry.
Under Wellesley it saw service in the
operations against the Mahrattes at Bednore, Coiongull, Subitee, Dumaul,
and in the final defeat of Dhoondra, the leader of the enemy; in those
against the Maris at Coliote and Wynand, and Panjalamcourchy in the
Polygar War; against the Bollaaum Rajah; in 1802 it was again at
Arrakerry, Coliote, and Wynand; and, returning home in 1807, new colours
were presented to the regiment by the east India Company in recognition
of its valuable and continuous service in India for nearly twenty years.
After sharing in the Walcheren expedition
and the capture of Flushing, the 77th embarked for the
Peninsula in 1811, and was present at El Bodon, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz,
and Bayonne, returning to Ireland in 1814.
From that date it performed the necessary routine duty in various
parts of the world, as in 1831 during the servile insurrection in
Jamaica and in the Canadian troubles of 1848; but in 1854 it was one of
the first regiments despatched to the seat of war in the east.
In the Crimea it fought at the Bulganac, the Alma, the capture of
the Castle of Balaklava, Inkerman, and the siege of Sevastopol from the
opening of the first parallel to the end, losing during the campaign 15
officers and nearly 900 men. Since
then, though it has seen much arduous foreign service, it has not been
engaged in any war of importance.
During the Crimean War Sergeant J. Park and
Private A. Wright won the Cross for Valour, for continued and
conspicuous bravery. But
conspicuous bravery was shown in the past history of the 77th;
for at El Bodon, when Montbrun, with fourteen battalions, thirty
squadrons, and twelve guns, attacked a small force of allied troops, of
which two battalions-the 5th and 77th-alone were
British, they checked the advance of the cavalry by fire, charged them
at the bayonet’s point, and retired afterwards in square, which
resisted every effort to destroy it.
The facings of both battalions were
formerly yellow, now they are white.
The badge of the 57th is the laural wreath and “Albuhera,”
granted in 1816; it and the 34th are the only regiments
except the Miden group that have a wreath.
To the 77th is due the Prince of Wales Plume, granted
in 1810, and the Duke of Cambridge’s coronet and cipher, added in
1876; the arms of Middlesex-three swords, or “sceaxs,” with a Saxon
crown-were bestowed on territorialisation.
On the button is the plume, wreathed, and “Albuhera”; the
collar bears the same with the coronet and cipher; the helmet-plate has,
in addition to the last, “The Middlesex Regiment.”
The waist-plate carries the wreath, Plume, and the county badge,
with “Albuhera,” and “The Duke of Cambridge’s Own”; on the
forage-cap is worn the wreath, Plume, coronet and cipher, and “Albuhera”;
the battle-name, worn on the forage-cap and shoulder-strap, was added in
1873 as a mark of special favour by Her Majesty the Queen.
The Militia battalions are the Royal Elthorne (1853) and the East
Middlesex (1778). The
Volunteer battalions are the 3rd Middlesex, Hornsey (grey and
grey); 8th Middlesex, Whitton Park, Hounslow (also grey and
grey); and the 17th Middlesex high stree, Camden Town (green
and black). The
first nickname of the old 57th was the “Steelbacks,” from
the frequent floggings the men underwent for their marauding
propensities. Next they
gained the more honourable sobriquet of the “Die Hards,” from their
extraordinary bravery at Albuhera.
The 77th were known as “the Pot-hooks,” from the
figure of the two sevens.
The depot was at Hounslow.
GEORGE
GARDINER (Colour-Sergeant) 57th
West Middlesex (Duke of Cambridge’s Own) Regiment
On March 22nd 1855, Sergeant Gardiner was
orderly-sergeant to the field officers on trench duty.
The Russian attack was sudden, and there was a momentary
retirement out of the trenches. Gardiern
hastened to the threatened point, rallied the men, led them against the
enemy and regained the position at the point of the bayonet.
On June 18th, his courage and devotion to duty was
marvellous. He remained in
front of the enemy, encouraging others to do the same, taking shelter in
the holes made by the exploded shells, and making a parapet of the dead
bodies of his comrades! From
this gruesome entrenchment they kept yup a steady fire until their
ammunition was exhausted.
This was done, according to the official
account, under a fire by which nearly half the officers and one-third of
the rank and file of the party of the Regiment were placed
hors-de-combat.
JOHN THORNTON DOWN (Ensign)
57th (West) Middlesex Regiment (The Duke of
Cambridge’s Own)
At Pontoko, New Zealand on October 2nd 1863, a soldier
fell wounded within fifty yards of the bush, which was swarming with
natives. Ath their
colonel’s call for volunteers to bring the man into shelter, ensign
down and drummer stagpoole (V.C.) promptly responded, and succeeded in
carrying in the wounded man, though a heavy fire was directed upon them
by the enemy. John Thornton
Down died of fever in New Zealand during the war, which lasted from
1860-6. His name (together
with those of his fellow-officers in the regiment who fell during those
years) is recorded in St. Paul’s Cathedral on a brass tablet.
DUDLEY STAGPOOLE (Drummer)
57th (West) Middlesex (The Duke of
Cambridge’s Own)
The brave act of which Drummer Stagpoole was awarded the Victoria
Cross is described in the record of John Thornton Down (V.C.).
For many years he has proudly carried his decoration while
employed at the Arsenal, Woolwich.
He was also decorated with the Distinguished Conduct Medal for
his gallant behaviour at Kaipakopako, New Zealand, on September 25th
1863, for having although wounded in the head, twice volunteered and
brought in wounded men.
ALEXANDER
WRIGHT (Private) 77th
Regiment East Middlesex Regiment (Amalguated into the Duke of Camebridge
Own Middlesex Regiment)
Decorated for special bravery during the whole Crimean War. Greatly distinguished himself on the night of March 22nd
1855, in repelling a sortie and at the taking of the rifle pits on the
night of April 19th 1855, being specially noticed on that
occasion for the fine example he gave the men while holding the position
under a terrible fire. Displayed
great bravery also on August 30th 1855, when he was wounded.
CHARLES
McCOORIE (Private) 57th
The West Regiment (amalgamated into the Duke of Cambridge’s Middlesex
Regiment)
Decorated for bravery on June 23rd 1855, when he threw
a live shell, which had fallen the trenches, over the parapet.