Liverpool Scottish double V.C. gets a new memorial

Captain Noel Chavasse V.C. and bar, a doctor who served in the Liverpool Scottish during the First World War has had a new memorial unveiled in his memory in Liverpool.
The BBC and Liverpool Echo have both reported on the unveiling.

Chavasse was one of only three men to have been awarded a bar to the Victoria Cross. His second award was posthumous.

Captain Chavasse died on 4 August 1917 and is buried at Brandhoek New Military Cemetery in Belgium.

Corporal Ware at Sanniyat - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1916

I don't think it would be possible to encapsulate the Second World War in one image. There were so many actions, in so many places, involving so many servicemen and women and civilians, that it would be impossible.

For the First World War it is easier. Except for the very start and the very end of the war the tactics were almost the same on all fronts; for the vast majority of the combatants of WW1 they endured trench warfare. By showing a photograph of a line of soldiers leaving a trench with bayonets fixed you immediately epitomize the Great War.

For Britain the Western Front dominated our war and come November, and the run up to remembrance, it will be an image of steel-helmeted Tommies in France or Flanders between 1916 and 1918 which will invariably be used. Even the research society in Britain which researches the whole of the First World War calls itself the Western Front Association.

Some may use the disparaging term 'sideshow' for the other campaigns Britain was involved between 1914 and 1919 (when the First World War officially ended). In terms of the British effort the 'Other Theatres' were completely overshadowed by the huge numbers of men in France and Belgium. Away from the Western Front though the fighting was just as fierce, the conditions just as terrible and the chances of dying were just as high. To focus on the Western Front, and the Western Front alone, when representing the First World War does our allies and the men who fought on the other fronts a great injustice.

Apart from the thousands of Scots in the Royal Navy, during the First World war tens of thousands more served in many campaigns away from the Western Front. For example the 52nd (Lowland) Division which was a territorial unit filled with men from across the Borders and Lowlands of Scotland served in the Middle East between 1915 and early 1918.

Here is a quick list of the other campaigns where Scotsmen would have served in the First World War: (Note there were many Scots in South African units which served in Africa)

• East Africa 1914


• West Africa 1914 (where the first British officer to be killed in the war, Captain George Thompson of the Royal Scots died in the attack on German held Togoland)


• South-West Africa 1914-1918


• Egypt & Arabia 1915-1917


• Gallipoli (Turkey) 1915


• Salonika (Greece) 1916-1918


• Bulgaria 1918


• Ireland 1916


• Mesopotamia (Iraq) 1915-1921


• Palestine 1917-1918


• Syria 1918


• Italy 1917-1918 (a front where Italy lost as many men as England during the war)


• Persia 1918


• North and South Russia 1918-1920


• Afghanistan 1919.

Two of the Scottish units which served in Mesopotamia in the First World War were the 2nd Battalion Black Watch and 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders. In an attack on Ottoman positions on the Tigris in early 1916 the two battalions suffered so many casualties they were amalgamated as the Highland Battalion until reinforcements could reach them.

At the time British and Indian troops in 'Mespot' were trying to relieve the British troops in Kut-al-Amara (now Al-Kut in Iraq). They were following the Tigris because that was the only way they could move their supplies. At Sina`iyat (or Sanniyat) the Ottoman Army had prepared very strong defensive positions in front of flat open ground. The only way to try and capture Sanniyat was in the open in a frontal attack.

On this day ninety five years ago the Highland Battalion charged across the desert under heavy machine-gun fire. They took many casualties, and during the day a professional soldier from Dorset who had enlisted in the Seaforths in 1911 showed exceptional courage.

For his actions on this day ninety five years ago Corporal Sidney Ware was awarded the Victoria Cross. Here is his citation:

For most conspicuous bravery at Sanniyat, Mesopotamia, on 6th April 1916.

An order was given to withdraw to the cover of a communications trench. Corporal Ware, whose cool gallantry had been very marked during the advance, was one of the few men remaining unwounded. He picked up a wounded man and carried him some 200 yards to cover and then returned for others, moving to and fro under very heavy fire for more than two hours, until he had brought in all his wounded and was completely exhausted.”

Corporal Ware did not live long enough to know he had been given the highest award for gallantry, he was severely wounded four days later and died in hospital on 16th April 1916.

So when you see an image of the trenches remember also Corporal Ware V.C's bravery in the desert of Iraq; and all the Scots and men in Scottish regiments who fought in deserts and swamps, on mountains and in forests, in the blazing heat and the freezing cold. The First World War was their war too.

Carnoustie's First World War heroes honoured

Seems today is a busy day for news!

From The Courier:

Angus councillors have hailed a roll of honour to commemorate Carnoustie's war heroes, displayed in the burgh's library.

After a lot of painstaking research, Maureen Fleming — a member of the library staff — has compiled detailed information on all 142 of those who gave their lives.

These albums and the story of Carnoustie's war memorial are the centrepiece of an exhibition at the library.

Councillor Jim Millar, who is convener of cultural services, said, "As an army veteran myself, I welcome the display of the roll of honour commemorating those from Carnoustie who lost their lives in the First World War.

"I am sure that the Great War exhibition will be of interest to everyone who either had a relative who served in the Great War or who is interested in local history, and I encourage people to visit Carnoustie Library while this display is on show."

Carnoustie has never had its own roll of honour of those who fell in the First World War.

As well as contemporary photographs of the town, the full story of Carnoustie's two Victoria Cross recipients — George Samson and Charles Jarvis — is also told.

Carnoustie councillor Peter Murphy said, "I think it gives an identity to the area in regard to what the people in those days experienced — both in the war and on the home front.

"It balances the two, which I think is excellent. There is even — I noticed from the newspaper cuttings — letters from conscientious objectors, so not everybody was exactly for the war.

"There's a special book recording people who lost their lives, which is comprehensive — and particularly of interest, of course, are the two Carnoustie VCs.

Town's Role

"I think the exhibition is of strong community interest and acknowledgement of the role the people of Carnoustie played. We can never overstate the loss and sacrifice those people made.

"The permanent thing in Carnoustie is the wonderful war memorial, which is one of the most attractive in terms of its design in Scotland. I think that is always a reminder to people of Carnoustie's role in the war."

Lance Corporal Jarvis of the Royal Engineers, was a resident of Carnoustie from 1889 until he joined the army in 1899. He was one of five men awarded the medal three weeks after the outbreak of the First World War, for his role in destroying a bridge under heavy fire during the Battle of Mons in 1914.

Petty Officer George Samson of the Royal Naval Reserve was born in Carnoustie in 1889 and was awarded the medal for multiple acts of gallantry during the landings at Gallipoli in 1915, during which he rescued a number of his colleagues and treated their injuries under fire before himself being hit by machine gun fire, sustaining 19 bullet wounds. His medals were sold for £247,000 to Lord Ashcroft at auction in 2007.

There are also exhibits from Angus museums on show and The Black Watch Regimental Museum in Perth has also loaned items for display. DC Thomson has also contributed art prints for a war comics' display.

The free exhibition runs until 22nd January.

A slice of the VC pie

There's something about a Victoria Cross. Everyone knows it is something special and the people who have been awarded them are a cut above the rest of us. In recent years this seems to have led to a determination in some local communities to recognise their local V.C.s.

Recently a second V.C. memorial was unveiled in Glasgow. In 2007 a memorial was erected near the Cathedral to all of Glasgow's Victoria Cross recipients but the most recent one is specifically to three men from Bridgeton who were awarded it. One of the men, Piper James Richardson, is also commemorated on the Lanarkshire V.C. Memorial because he was born in Bellshill. Richardson is again commemorated with a statue in Chilliwack, British Columbia because his family had left Glasgow for Canada in 1911.

Bridgeton, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Chilliwack; they all want a piece of the aura that surrounds the memory of James Richardson V.C. and who can blame them. Even amongst Victoria Cross lore there is something special about James Richardson's story. Not just his life and selfless death, but also the fact his pipes lay unrecognised for years in a Scottish school.

An American filmmaker wants a piece of the Richardson V.C. pie now too. He has started production on a television documentary on Richardson V.C. Modern historical documentaries insist on reconstructions using actors. I wonder if the television Richardson will be a strapping Canadian frontiersman or a wee Glasgow Keelie?

Scots-born VC's medal goes on display in Winnipeg

Hanna Peters, exhibit manager with the museum, receives medals from Lt. Col. Brett Takeuchi CO of the Camerons, as Major Paddy Douglas looks on. (KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS )

This article was spotted in the Winnipeg Free Press, and is of interest as Shankland was born in Ayr in 1887.

Hometown war hero Lt.-Col. Robert Shankland’s Victoria Cross is on display in Winnipeg for the first time since Shankland’s medals were bought by the Canadian War Museum in a controversial auction last year.

The medal, along with others awarded to Shankland, is part of a temporary exhibit unveiled today at the Manitoba Museum to mark the 100th anniversary of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, a primary reserve infantry regiment based in Winnipeg.

"To the Camerons, their value is immeasurable, as the regiment’s only Victoria Cross," said Lt.-Col. Brett Takeuchi, commanding officer of the Camerons, of the medals.

Shankland served in the 43rd Cameron Highlanders battalion in the First World War.

He’s one of three soldiers, all hailing from the same block of Winnipeg’s Pine Street, credited with the street’s name change to Valour Road in the 1920s in recognition of the Victoria Crosses each received for gallantry in battle.

Shankland received his Cross in the 1917 battle of Passchendaele. A national controversy erupted in May 2009 when it was reported his medals, including the Victoria Cross, were set to go up for auction, with concerns raised they could wind up leaving the country.

The medals were ultimately purchased by Canada’s National War Museum, which is loaning them to the Manitoba Museum for the exhibition.

The exhibit includes Camerons uniforms worn in the First and Second World War, artifacts, and the medals of other soldiers affiliated with the regiment.

It will be on display until November 21.

Soldier's VC and cannonball sold

From the BBC News website:

The first Victoria Cross to be won by a British army soldier - along with the cannonball which blew off his arm - has fetched £252,000 ($387,500) at auction.

The medal, which is Britain's highest military award for valour, was given to Glasgow-born Major John Simpson Knox.

It was for acts of heroism between 1854 and 1855 during the Crimean War.

The medal and cannonball, which took off part of Major Knox's left arm, went under the hammer at Spink Auctioneers in London.

A fellow soldier had picked up the missile that hit Major Knox and later gave it to him.

Major Knox, who was born in 1828, ran away from home in Glasgow at 14 and illegally joined the Scots Fusilier Guards as he was under age.

By the time the Crimean War had begun in 1854 he was an acting sergeant major.

He performed the first of two acts of valour on 20 September 1854 during the Battle of the River Alma.

According to the citation for his medal, he "acted with conspicuous courage in reforming the ranks of the Guards at a decisive moment of the action".

The second act of valour occurred in June the following year.

Then, while serving as a lieutenant with the Rifle Brigade, he volunteered for an attack on heavily defended Russian positions at Sebastopol.

According to the citation: "He remained in the field until he was twice wounded, all the time acting with great gallantry."

It was during that attack, on a fortress defending the city of Sebastopol, that Major Knox was struck on the left arm by the cannonball.

After his retirement from the Army in 1872, he took up residence at Cheltenham where he died on 8 January 1897 and was buried in the town's cemetery.

Before the auction, medal expert Oliver Pepys, of Spink auctioneers, said: "Major Knox showed incredible bravery, losing his arm to cannon fire in the process.

"The medal is being sold with a Russian cannonball, the very one that smashed into Knox's arm. In all my years of working with rare medals and war artefacts I have never seen a more unusual keepsake."

Victoria Cross medals are still cast from bronze taken from cannons captured from the Russians at Sebastopol.

The VC was being sold along with three other medals he was awarded - the Crimea Medal, the French Legion of Honour and the Turkish Crimea Medal.

The seller wishes to remain anonymous.

Scottish VC for auction - got a spare quarter of a million pounds?

From the BBC News website:

A Victoria Cross given to a 25-year-old World War II bomber pilot from Broughty Ferry is expected to fetch more than £200,000 at auction this month.

The VC was awarded posthumously to Wing Commander Hugh Gordon Malcolm in 1943 for his part in a daring raid over the Chougui airfield in Tunisia.

He led 10 Blenheim bombers on the mission in 1942 despite knowing it would "court almost certain disaster".

The medal is to be auctioned at Spink's London saleroom on 22 April.

Wing commander Malcolm had decided to complete the sortie on 4 December 1942 after receiving an urgent request for help despite not having a fighter escort.

Ball of flames

After taking off with 18 Squadron, they were at first able to attack the airfield unhindered.

However, a short time later the squadron was met with an overwhelming force of Luftwaffe fighters.

During the onslaught, Malcolm attempted to maintain his attack formation, but one by one his aircraft were shot down until only his bomber remained.

Eventually his plane was also hit, crashing in a ball of flames.

The medal, which is the highest honour for gallantry in the armed forces, was first awarded by Queen Victoria in 1854.

The sale follows that of another Victoria Cross awarded to World War II bomber pilot Bill Reid, from Crieff.

It fetched £335,000 at auction in November 2009.

More information can be found on the Spinks website here.