Fifty great heroes: the brave, the gallant and the extraordinary

Lieutenant Howard Elphinstone, whose courage on the battlefield was matched by his charm as a courtier, was awarded the VC for bravery in the Crimean War. Even en route to the war zone, he was involved in the courageous rescue of four drunken sailors from the sea.

Elphinstone had landed at Balaclava, aged 24, in September 1854 and was twice mentioned in dispatches for his courage later that year. It was, however, for gallantry during the assault on Sebastopol that Elphinstone received his VC.

During daylight on June 18, 1855, Anglo-French forces had conducted a sustained assault on the Redan fort but they had been repelled by the Russians. That night, under cover of darkness, Elphinstone commanded a group of volunteers who searched for scaling ladders and other vital equipment left behind after the abortive attack. It was a hugely dangerous assignment into no-man’s-land. However, the group brought back much of the equipment and some 20 wounded and vulnerable soldiers.

Later, in the final assault on Sebastopol, Elphinstone was “killed”: his seemingly lifeless body was taken from the battlefield and placed with a mound of corpses awaiting burial. Yet his servant, who had been searching for him, recognised his boots and dragged him from the pile. It was then discovered that he was unconscious rather than dead after being struck in the head by a shell splinter. He received urgent medical treatment and made a good recovery, although he never recovered the sight in his right eye.

Elphinstone, who later rose to the rank of major general and was knighted, became a royal courtier who was so admired by Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort that he mentored their third son, Prince Arthur.

2) Everard Phillipps, Victoria Cross

Ensign Everard Phillipps was awarded the VC for bravery during the Indian Mutiny – an award that was controversial for two reasons.

First, it was one of six awarded posthumously by Edward VII and, second, its authenticity was later questioned by none other than Hancocks, the official makers of the decoration.

This query makes the decoration the only “unofficial” VC that I have collected.

Phillipps, a keen sportsman and devout Roman Catholic, was commissioned ensign in the Bengal Army in 1854, arriving in India later the same year.

He narrowly escaped death during the mutiny at Meerut in 1857 before becoming involved in attempts to retake Delhi from the rebels. From May to September 1857, Phillipps was at the forefront of ferocious battles, being wounded in action on three occasions.

On September 18, Phillipps was shot and killed during street fighting. At the time, it was impossible to be awarded a VC posthumously but Phillipps’s “many gallant deeds” were noted in the London Gazette, where it was recognised that he would have been recommended for the VC had he survived. Eventually, his VC was announced in 1907 – fully 50 years after his act of bravery – by which time new guidelines made it possible to be awarded a posthumous VC.

Until relatively recently, it was believed that the VC awarded to Phillipps, who served with the Corps of Royal Engineers, and to five other pre-Boer War heroes, had been given to their families at about the same time. However, subsequent research was prompted by the proposed sale of my Phillipps VC at auction, when it became apparent that the box for his decoration was different from the other 1907 decorations.

It emerged that the Phillipps family had a personal connection with Queen Victoria and that my Phillips’s VC was probably presented in the 1870s, perhaps because the Queen felt guilty that his bravery had never been recognised. The official VC issued in 1907 is still in the hands of Phillipps’s descendants.

3) William McDonell, Victoria Cross

William McDonell is one of very few civilians to have been awarded the VC. As a member of the Bengal Civil Service, he was involved in trying to quell the Indian Mutiny as the rebellion spread in 1857. In July of that year, the British were determined that the city of Arrah should not fall because the entire Bihar region might then be seized. McDonell was sent to guide a steamer carrying a military force to the city.

On July 29, a force of more than 400 men marched on Arrah House, but they were ambushed by rebel forces. McDonell was fearless in battle, during which he was wounded. Outnumbered, the British force had to retreat to the River Sone, where McDonell helped the soldiers into small boats so that they could reach the safety of their steamer. It was only when McDonell and his comrades got into the final boat – under heavy fire – that they discovered the rebels had removed the oars and tied the rudder to the side.

With the 35 men in the boat unwilling to get out to cut the rudder free, the injured McDonell braved the fire himself. Miraculously, he was uninjured by a hail of bullets. A Royal Warrant of 1858 extended the eligibility of the VC to civilians who were under the orders of an officer – and McDonell was eventually awarded the decoration in February 1860.

His original VC was stolen during his time in India, when he served as a judge. However, McDonell was later issued with an official replacement and it is this that is now in my medal collection.

4) Charles Gough, Victoria Cross

Charles Gough and his brother, Hugh, are one of only four pairs of siblings to have been awarded the VC. Furthermore, he and his son, John, are one of only three fathers and sons to have been awarded the decoration. As a family, they are unique because no other family has been awarded three VCs.

Charles Gough was born in India but was brought up in Co Tipperary. However, aged 16, he returned to India. Major Gough, a cavalry officer, was awarded his VC for four separate incidents from August 1857 to February 1858 while serving in the Indian Army. It was on August 15, 1857, that he saved the life of his brother after the latter had been injured. He also killed two of the enemy in battle. Three days later, he led a cavalry charge in which he cut down two of the enemy’s sowars (Indian cavalrymen), one of them after prolonged hand-to-hand combat.

In a further act of bravery on January 27, 1858, he lost his sword in fierce combat during which he attacked one of the enemy’s leaders and pierced him with his weapon. Afterwards, Gough was forced to defend himself with his revolver, shooting two of the enemy. Finally, during another battle on February 23, 1858, Gough went to the aid of a comrade and killed the man’s attacker before “immediately afterwards cutting down another of the enemy in the same gallant manner”.

His VC was announced in October 1859. Gough later served in the Afghanistan Campaign of 1878-9 where he was twice mentioned in dispatches. In 1881, Gough was knighted for his services in Afghanistan and 10 years later he was promoted to general.

5) Evelyn Wood, Victoria Cross

Evelyn Wood earned himself an unwanted reputation as “the most accident and sickness prone officer in the British Army” – yet he was also one of the bravest.

Wood had served first in the Royal Navy as a teenager during the Crimean War, taking part in the ill-fated attack on the Redan fort in 1855. Wood had learnt an early lesson that there is little room for sentimentality in war. When looking at the Russian positions through a telescope that he was resting on the head of a sailor, an enemy shell took the man’s head clean off. Wood was stunned, but another sailor shouted: “What the hell are you looking at? Is he dead? Take the carcase away. Ain’t he dead? Take him to the doctor.” Wood was hit and doctors wanted to amputate an arm, but he persuaded them to save it.

During a distinguished military career, Wood suffered many medical ailments. he also had many mishaps: he was badly battered riding a giraffe for a bet, and broke his nose and elbow when his horse ran into a tree.

Wood was serving as a lieutenant during the Indian Mutiny when he was awarded the VC for two acts of bravery. When in charge of a troop of light cavalry, he almost single-handedly attacked a group of rebels and routed them at Sinwaho on October 19, 1858. Subsequently, at Sindhora on December 29, 1858, he heard that 80 rebels had captured an alleged informant whom they planned to hang. Wood and two others launched a ferocious attack on the rebels as they slept, killing some and wounding others. The informant survived unharmed.

Wood’s VC meant that he had received six gallantry and service medals by the age of 22 – yet he lived until he was 82. He also served in the Ashantee War (1873-4) and the First Boer War (1880-1). In the former, the head of a nail fired from a musket entered his chest fractionally above his heart. The surgeon treating him thought he would die, yet he was back serving with his regiment within three weeks.

6) John Chard, Victoria Cross

As a boy, I was fascinated by the film Zulu, starring Stanley Baker and Michael Caine. I had nothing but admiration for the real-life group of British soldiers who had held out against a huge Zulu force at Rorke’s Drift under the command of Lieutenant John Chard.

After the Zulu victory at Isandhlwana, they moved on to attack Rorke’s Drift, leading to an order that the garrison had to be held at all costs. As the Zulu force arrived on January 22, 1879, Chard had command of 162 men, of whom at least 33 were admitted to hospital (some estimates put this figure at nearer 80).

As the Zulus advanced, Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead asked the lookout, Private Frederick Hitch, how many enemy there were. “4,000 to 6,000,” came the reply.

Bromhead said: “Is that all? We can manage that lot very well.”

A ferocious eight-hour battle ensued during which, time and again, it looked as though the garrison would be overrun. The Zulus got inside the entrenchments six times, but were driven back at bayonet point each time.

Dawn on January 23 revealed the full extent of the carnage. Lying on the ground were 350 dead Zulus, with a further 500 wounded. The British garrison had lost just 17 men, with a further 10 wounded (two of whom later died). Rorke’s Drift led to the award of an astonishing 11 VCs – the largest for a single military action. Chard’s VC was for great gallantry “in most trying circumstances”.

Chard, who had not enjoyed a great reputation as an officer until Rorke’s Drift, had proved himself in a crisis and later rose to the rank of colonel. I have also purchased another Rorke’s Drift VC: the decoration awarded to Private Robert Jones, who received a bullet wound and four spear wounds. I treasure both as I consider Rorke’s Drift to be arguably the most heroic stand in British military history.

7) Alexander Hore-Ruthven, Victoria Cross

Eton-educated Captain Alexander Hore-Ruthven received the VC for an act of great bravery while attached to the Egyptian Army in the Second Sudan Campaign. His decoration was for an incident on September 22, 1898, during the attack on Gedaref.

In the heat of battle, Hore-Ruthven saw that an Egyptian officer had been wounded and that the advancing Dervish enemy were only 50 yards from where he lay. Although the enemy was firing and advancing, Hore-Ruthven raced to pick up the wounded officer and began carrying him towards the 16th Egyptian Battalion.

However, because he was progressing more slowly than his pursuers, Hore-Ruthven two or three times had to stop, put down the wounded man and fire on the Dervishes to check their advance. Nobody who witnessed the incident was in any doubt that the Egyptian officer would have been killed had it not been for Hore-Ruthven’s courage.

During the First World War, Hore-Ruthven continued to cover himself in glory. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1916 for courage at Gallipoli, where he was seriously wounded. Over the next two years, he was mentioned in dispatches five times and was made a Companion of the Bath, a Companion of St Michael and St George, and earned two Bars to his DSO (the equivalent of three DSOs).

The citation for his second Bar read: “His presence and personal bearing at critical times during the fighting was of decisive value, especially during a strong enemy counter-attack. On 20 Oct. at St Louis, he went forward among the attacking troops at a critical juncture, and inspired them to the final effort, whereby the high ground of great tactical value was captured.”

Hore-Ruthven was also one of the few men to be awarded the Croix de Guerre by both France and Belgium.

As he grew older, Hore-Ruthven, who eventually rose to the rank of brigadier general as well as becoming the Earl of Gowrie, became an astute statesman. From January 1936, he was the Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of Australia. His term of office had been due to end in 1939, but he was persuaded to stay on and supervise the war effort.

When he left his post in 1944, he received an astonishing show of affection from the Australian people. In the course of his distinguished career, Hore-Ruthven amassed some 20 medals and decorations.

8) Charles FitzClarence, Victoria Cross

Captain Charles FitzClarence, who was the grandson of the eldest of five illegitimate children born to William IV by his mistress “Mrs Jordan”, was awarded the VC for three acts of bravery during the Second Boer War.

The siege of Mafeking lasted from October 1899 to May 1900 when FitzClarence was on “special duty” in South Africa. On October 14, 1899, he was in charge of a squadron from the Protectorate Regiment, consisting of only partially-trained men who had never seen action. The men were sent to the assistance of an armoured train when they were surrounded by a far larger force. FitzClarence led his men so fearlessly that they not only relieved the train but inflicted a heavy defeat on the Boers, who lost 50 men.

Thirteen days later, FitzClarence led his men in a daring night-time attack on the enemy’s trenches. He was the first man into the trenches and in hand-to-hand fighting he killed four men with his sword, beheading one with a clean blow. He was wounded but was saved from serious injury by his compass case.

On Boxing Day 1899, he distinguished himself again during an action near Mafeking despite being seriously injured by a bullet which passed through both legs. By the time the siege was raised, FitzClarence was known as the “Demon of Mafekeng”, or the “Demon”.

During the First World War, he served as a brigadier general and again distinguished himself in battle. However, on November 12, 1914, during an operation to recover trenches, FitzClarence halted his men and advanced alone. His men heard gunshots and then found him mortally wounded.

Three men carried him back to a safe area, but the “Demon” had experienced his final brush with the enemy.

9) Frank Godley, Victoria Cross

Frank Godley, a keen sportsman, was the first private to be awarded the VC for bravery during the First World War. He had embarked for France and Belgium in August 1914. His battalion, from the Royal Fusiliers, was the first to go to war and arrived at Mons on August 22.

The next day, during heavy fighting, the Germans seized the initiative. Godley had been helping Lieutenant Maurice Dease to man a machine-gun that was defending Nimy Bridge. Dease courageously carried on firing despite a gunshot wound. However, he was eventually hit five times – wounds that cost him his life. Godley was asked to stay on while his comrades retreated – a request that meant he was almost certain to be killed or captured. For two hours, he sprayed the enemy with machine-gun fire while his comrades made their getaway. When he ran out of ammunition, he destroyed the gun and, now wounded, crawled to a nearby road and was taken to a Belgium hospital, where he received medical treatment.

The Germans later took over the hospital and Godley became a prisoner of war. Godley refused to answer questions but he was well treated by his captors, who sent him for skin grafts for his wounds: his back alone required 150 stitches. When he was well enough, Godley went to Doberitz POW camp. While there, a senior German officer told him he had been awarded the VC.

Godley was a POW for almost the entire war. However, at the end of the war, the camp guards deserted, and Godley and others made their way back to Britain. He then learnt that Dease, who had fought so bravely at his side, had been awarded a posthumous VC.

10) Spencer Bent, Victoria Cross

Spencer Bent, who had originally joined the Army at just 14 as a drummer in the East Lancashire Regiment, arrived in France on August 22, 1914, on the first day of the fighting between Britain and Germany. By then aged 23, he was awarded his VC for bravery at Ypres on November 1-2, 1914.

His platoon was holding one of the trenches after a ferocious day of fighting. Bent awoke to find his comrades abandoning their position at a time when there was neither officer nor Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) to give orders (the platoon sergeant was visiting another post). After word had been passed down the line that the battalion had been ordered to retire, Bent started following the others but he then decided he could not leave without his treasured French trumpet and so went to retrieve it.

When he reached the trench, he spotted a soldier crawling around and raised his rifle and demanded that the man identify himself. It was the platoon sergeant, who told Bent that no order had been given to withdraw. He ran after his comrades to call them back.

The next day, the Germans put the British force under a continuous artillery fire. The officer, the platoon sergeant and a number of other men were killed or injured. Bent took command and helped repel several German attacks. This was one of many courageous acts carried out by him, including going into no-man’s land to rescue injured comrades. However, he was eventually badly injured in heavy fighting and it was while he was recuperating in England that he learnt he had received the VC.

Bent returned to France in 1916 and was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in 1918.

11) Alfred Richards, Victoria Cross

Sergeant Alfred Richards was one of the famous “Six Before Breakfast” VCs that were awarded to the Lancashire Fusiliers for bravery in landing at W Beach, Gallipoli, during the First World War. The small, sandy cove was so well protected that the defending Turks appeared to have made it impregnable. Nevertheless, it was decided to launch an offensive at 6am on April 25, 1915.

The Turks knew exactly when the attack would happen – a sustained bombardment from heavy guns ended shortly before the assault started. As the soldiers surged onto the beach, scores were mown down in the machine-gun fire and wherever they turned they came under a relentless attack. The Turks had put trip wires just below the surface of the water and the beach was also mined.

Announcing three of the VCs in August 1915, the London Gazette said that the Fusiliers were “met by a very deadly fire from hidden machine-guns which caused a great number of casualties. The survivors, however, rushed up to and cut the wire entanglements, notwithstanding the terrific fire from the enemy, and after overcoming supreme difficulties, the cliffs were gained and the position maintained”.

Richards, 32, was one of those who risked his life to help his comrades. However, he received a serious injury and his right leg was amputated by surgeons just above the knee. He was discharged on July 31, 1915, when his papers read: “no longer fit for war service (but fit for civil employment)”.

Richards was known as the “Lonely VC” as he had no family and was living alone at a home for former soldiers and sailors when his VC was announced in August 1915. However, he married Dora Coombes, who had nursed him during his injuries, in 1916 and served in the Home Guard during the Second World War.

12) William Rhodes-Moorhouse, Victoria Cross

William Rhodes-Moorehouse, the first airman to be awarded the VC, had been fascinated with the then-new challenge of flying in the years before the First World War. During a tour of the United States, he became the first man to fly beneath the spans of California’s Golden Gate Bridge.

When war was declared, he volunteered for the Royal Flying Corps, the predecessor to the RAF. With a shortage of pilots on the Western Front, Rhodes-Moorehouse joined 2 Squadron based at Merville, France. On April 22, 1915, the Germans conducted the first gas attack on the Allied troops, and for the next four days they took the initiative around St Julien and Ypres.

On April 26, Second Lieutenant Rhodes-Moorehouse was given the task of bombing the railway junction at Courtrai to prevent reinforcements reaching the German front line. He had been given one of the three targets for four planes. His flight commander advised him to drop just below cloud cover but Rhodes-Moorehouse dropped to just 300ft to ensure a direct hit. He was greeted by a volley of rifle and machine-gun fire and was badly wounded.

Rhodes-Moorehouse had a choice: to land behind enemy lines, receive medical treatment and become a prisoner of war or to try to limp back to base in his plane. It surprised nobody who knew him that he chose the second option. However, he was forced to drop to 200ft to gain extra speed and he was wounded twice more by enemy fire from the ground.

By the time he arrived back at Merville, Rhodes-Moorehouse was mortally wounded and in great pain. He made a perfect landing, but he had to be carried from his plane and soon it was clear that he was dying from a bullet wound that had ripped his stomach to pieces. Rhodes-Moorehouse died the next day and shortly afterwards the Daily Bulletin issued to the troops reported his mission had been a total success and “would appear worthy to be ranked among the most heroic stories of the world’s history”.

His posthumous VC was announced the next month. It later emerged that he had written a “first and last” letter to his newborn son before the mission suspecting he would die on it. The poignant postscript to the note read: “I am off on a trip from which I don’t expect to return but which I hope will shorten the war a bit.”

13) Albert Jacka, Victoria Cross

Lance Corporal Bert Jacka received the first VC awarded to a serviceman from the Commonwealth during the First World War. An Australian born on a dairy farm in Victoria, Jacka and a small group of men were ambushed by the Turks nearly a month after the Gallipoli landings of April 1915.

It was at 3.30am on May 20, 1915 that a party of Turks crept up to Jacka’s trench and threw eight bombs into it. Three men were killed and all the other men, except Jacka, were injured. He kept up a relentless fire against the enemy to halt their advance and then asked a volunteer to keep up a steady fire as he went along several trenches, crossed no-man’s land and ambushed the Turks from the rear. He shot five Turks and bayoneted two more. “Well, I managed to get the beggars,” he declared the next morning.

Another of the volunteers had killed two more Turks as they had tried to escape. A dangerous and daring action against the enemy had been a total success and Jacka’s VC was announced two months later.

He was rapidly promoted and was awarded the Military Cross for actions at Pozieres on August 5, 1916. Jacka was twice injured during a daring attack on the Germans that saw fierce hand-to-hand fighting and an unlikely victory by a far smaller Australian force of just eight men against scores of the enemy. “If we stay here they are bound to capture us and I would sooner be dead than a prisoner,” Jacka had told his comrades before they killed many Germans and took a further 50 prisoner.

He later spoke of his anger that he had not been awarded a Bar to his VC for his bravery at Pozieres. He regarded this gallantry as six times more demanding than his bravery at Gallipoli. However, Jacka was awarded a Bar to his MC for several one-man patrols in which he personally guided British tanks into position.

He was finally removed from the war by a mustard gas attack on May 15, 1918, which led to him twice undergoing surgery to save his life. Jacka had received £500 put up by a Melbourne businessman for the first Australian to be awarded the VC. After the war, he was elected Mayor of St Kilda in his home country.

14) Sidney Woodroffe, Victoria Cross

Sidney Woodroffe, who was educated at Marlborough College and Cambridge University, joined the Rifle Brigade two days before Christmas 1914 and travelled to France in May of the following year. He received a posthumous VC for conspicuous bravery at Hooge, Flanders, on July 30, 1915.

Second Lieutenant Woodroffe’s father, who eventually lost three of his four sons in the Great War, received a letter from Lieutenant R C Maclachlan which spelt out exactly how courageous his 19-year-old son had been. The officer wrote: “Your younger boy was simply one of the bravest of the brave and the work he did that day will stand out as a record hard to beat… When the line was attacked and broken to his right he still held his trench, and only when the Germans were discovered to be in the rear of him did he leave it. He then withdrew his remaining men very skilfully away to a flank, and worked his way alone back to me to report.

“He finally brought his command back, and then took part in the counter-attack. He was killed out in front, in the open, cutting wire to enable the attack to be continued. This is the bald statement of his part of that day’s action. He risked his life for others right through the day and finally gave it for the sake of his men. He was a splendid type of young officer, always bold as a lion, confident and sure of himself, too. The loss he is to me personally is very great, as I have learnt to appreciate what a sterling fine lad he was. His men would have followed him anywhere.”

Woodroffe’s VC, for conspicuous bravery, was announced in September 1915 – just five weeks after he lost his life.

15) George Peachment, Victoria Cross

At 18, Private George Peachment was one of the youngest ever to be awarded the VC.

He enlisted in his home town of Bury, Lancashire, in 1915 and went to France later the same year serving with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. The Battle of Loos began in earnest at 6.30am on September 25, 1915.

When the British used poison gas, it drifted back on their own men forcing many “over the top” to escape the fumes. Two enemy machine-guns took a terrible toll on the advancing British soldiers.

The attack faltered and, after many had taken cover in shell holes, those who survived began to struggle back to their own trenches. Peachment was one of those who did not return due to his courage in going to the aid of his commanding officer.

The London Gazette detailed his bravery when it announced his VC on November 18, 1915: “During very heavy fighting, when our front line was compelled to retire in order to reorganise, Private Peachment, seeing his Company Commander, Capt Dubs, lying wounded, crawled to assist him. The enemy’s fire was intense, but… Private Peachment never thought of saving himself.

“He knelt in the open by the officer and tried to help him, but while doing this he was first wounded by a bomb and a minute later mortally wounded by a rifle bullet. He was one of the youngest men in his battalion, and gave this splendid example of courage and self-sacrifice.”

Dubs survived and wrote a moving letter to Peachment’s mother: “Your son died the finest death that man can die, he showed the greatest gallantry a man can show; and I hope these facts may help you in your sad loss, together with the fact that he was spared all pain and suffering.”

16) Jack Cornwell, Victoria Cross

Jack Cornwell had always longed to be a sailor but when he left school his parents, desperate not to lose him at sea, persuaded him to take a job as a tea boy on the Brooke Bond van instead. However, when the Great War broke out, Cornwell, aged 14, was given the chance to join the Royal Navy.

On May 31, 1916, when he was still only 16 and serving on HMS Chester, the Navy came up against the German High Seas Fleet off Jutland. During fierce fighting, Cornwell was seriously injured. Rather than sheltering from the mayhem he remained at his gun, standing alone, awaiting orders in an exposed position until the action was over. By then, dead and wounded crew lay all around him, and Cornwell died two days later from his injuries in Grimsby.

His mother learnt of her son’s death in a letter from the ship’s captain who praised “so brave a lad” and added: “His devotion to duty was an example for us all…” The captain said Cornwell had refused to leave his post. “But he felt he might be needed, and, indeed, he might have been; so he stayed there, standing and waiting, under heavy fire, with just his own brave heart and God’s help to support him. I cannot express to you my admiration of the son you have lost.”

Cornwell was placed in a pauper’s grave but, when news of his bravery spread, the public demanded a more fitting send-off. His body was exhumed and he was buried with full military honours. The epitaph on his new grave read: “It is not wealth or ancestry but honourable conduct and a noble disposition that maketh men great.”

His subsequent VC was announced in September 1916. The Daily Telegraph of November 26, 1919, said Cornwell set an example “of how English boys should live and how English boys should die”.

17) Noel Chavasse, Victoria Cross and Bar

Noel Chavasse is one of just three men to be awarded the VC and Bar – the equivalent of a double VC. A qualified doctor, he served in France and Belgium with the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War and was attached to the 10th King’s (Liverpool Scottish) Regiment. He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery in June 1915, when he spent 48 hours in no-man’s land searching for and tending wounded troops. Afterwards, he asked one of his sisters to buy 1,000 pairs of socks and other comforts out of his own money for the men in his battalion.

Captain Chavasse was awarded the VC for bravery at Guillemont on August 9-10, 1916, when he tended wounded men all day under a heavy fire and then searched for other injured soldiers at night in front of the enemy lines. During daylight hours the next day, he rescued still more men despite being wounded. During the two days, it was estimated he saved the lives of 20 men.

At the third Battle of Ypres in the summer of 1917, an attempt was made to recapture the Passchendaele Ridge from July 31. On the first evening, Chavasse received a skull wound. He had his injury bandaged but he refused to be evacuated. Time and again, under heavy enemy fire, he went into no-man’s land to search for and treat wounded soldiers.

In the early hours of August 2, weary, hungry and in great pain, Chavasse was finally taking a rest at a first aid post, when it was struck by a shell. He now had at least six injuries but crawled half a mile to get help for the wounded. By now his face was unrecognisable and he had a major wound to his abdomen. As he lay dying, he dictated a letter to his fiancée in which he explained that “duty called and duty must be obeyed”. He died at 2pm on August 4, 1917, aged 32. The Bar to Chavasse’s VC was announced in September 1917 when the citation praised “his extraordinary energy and inspiring example”. He was the only man to be awarded the VC and Bar during the Great War and he has at least 12 memorials dedicated to him – more than any other VC holder in the world. I bought Chavasse’s decorations privately from St Peter’s College, Oxford, in 2009.

18) William Leefe Robinson, Victoria Cross

William “Billy” Leefe Robinson, who was born on his father’s coffee estate in India, joined the Royal Flying Corps from the Worcestershire Regiment in 1915. The First World War was the first conflict for centuries in which British civilians were in fear of their lives from a foreign invader because the Germans used Zeppelins in bombing raids up and down the east coast. In April 1916, Lieutenant Leefe Robinson had his first chance to shoot down one of the airships but he failed to do so.

However, on the night of September 2 the same year, he had a second opportunity to become a national hero. At 1.10am, having been in the sky two hours already, Leefe Robinson, who was with an observer, caught sight of a Zeppelin in two searchlight beams over Woolwich, south-east London. He set off in pursuit but lost it in the clouds. However, searchlights over Finsbury in north London again spotted the airship – one of 16 sent over that night in a massive raid.

Once again Leefe Robinson, by now desperately short of fuel, set off in pursuit in his BE2c 2963 plane. After the Zeppelin had dropped its bombs, Leefe Robinson emptied two drums of ammunition into the airship but it seemed impregnable. He broke off before making another attack from astern, emptying his last drum into the airship’s twin rudders. Suddenly a reddish glow appeared inside the airship then, moments later, it burst into flames. Thousands of Londoners looked up and cheered as the airship plunged from the sky. After Leefe Robinson landed at Sutton Farm airfield in Essex, he was lifted shoulder high to the edge of the airfield.

His VC was announced in near record time: just two days later. It soon brought him fame and riches – well over £4,000 was donated from well-wishers – and he was promoted to captain. After his plane was shot down over France early in 1917, he became a prisoner of war.

He was particularly badly treated because of his fame and, although he was released at the end of the war, he was in poor health. Leefe Robinson died in December 1918, aged 23.

19) Ernest Pitcher, Victoria Cross

Ernest Pitcher, who had joined the Royal Navy aged 14, volunteered for service on Britain’s Q-ship fleet during the First World War. Q-ships – gunships disguised as a merchant ship – were devised to target German U-boats.

After the U-boats had proved their effectiveness at sea, a pattern emerged whereby the submarine, to preserve its costly torpedoes and to allow it to plunder its victim’s cargoes, surfaced close to a supposedly unarmed merchant ship and demanded its surrender. As the U-boat surfaced to collect its booty from a “surrendering” merchant ship, the disguised gunship would blow it out of the water.

Petty Officer Pitcher was serving in SS Dunraven on August 8, 1917, when, at 11.43am, a U boat surfaced and opened fire from its deck gun. Dunraven’s commander, acting in the manner of a panicking merchant captain, sent out distress flares and also fired rounds from the ship’s paltry two-and-a-half pounder gun, as if this was the only weapon it possessed. The U-boat fired a torpedo at which point the commander generated a cloud of steam to simulate boiler trouble and dispatched a “panic party” to make it look as if the ship was being abandoned.

The submarine scored three quick hits on Dunraven’s poop. This caused a fire but Pitcher and his comrades in the gun crew refused to leave the “red-hot deck” because this would have given the game away. There was also an explosion on board before the U-boat could be fired upon but eventually the Q-ship showed her true colours and exchanged fire with the submarine until the U-boat ran out of ammunition and fled.

Pitcher, who was later promoted to chief petty officer, was awarded the VC in November 1917 on behalf of his whole gun crew. By this time the Q-service was being wound down as it was agreed that this form of warfare had reached a stalemate.

20) Wilfrith Elstob, Victoria Cross

Wilfrith Elstob had already been awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross as the First World War entered its final months. However, it was for his bravery in commanding the 16th Battalion, the Manchester Regiment, that he was awarded the VC.

Since its earlier capture by the 2nd Manchesters, a strategic landmark in France was known as Manchester Hill. In March 1918, as the Germans prepared a massive onslaught, Temporary Lieutenant Elstob had left his men in no doubt of the importance of the hill, pointing to it on a blackboard and saying: “Here we fight and here we die.”

The German attack began at 6.30am on March 21, 1918 and afterwards, as the fog lifted, a huge enemy force was seen marching on the hill. Elstob sent a message to his brigade commander: “The Manchester Regiment will defend Manchester Hill until the last man.”

His inexperienced force was surrounded and outnumbered but Elstob fought ferociously, killing an entire enemy bombing party using only his revolver. When his ammunition ran out, he threw bombs and fired on the enemy with his rifle, continuing long after he was wounded. “You are doing magnificently boys! Carry on – keep up a steady fire and they’ll think there’s a battalion here,” he told his men.

In the afternoon, after receiving three further wounds, Elstob told his sergeant: “They can’t damn well kill me.” At 3pm, Elstob spoke to headquarters over the radio and said there were very few men left and the end was near. As the enemy prepared for its final assault from 25 yards, Elstob was called on to surrender. “Never!” came the reply.

Elstob, aged 29, was killed in the final hour of the fighting, and a handful of wounded and battered men eventually surrendered at 4pm. One survivor later recalled Elstob’s final words: “Tell the men not to lose heart. Fight on!”

21) Manley James, Victoria Cross

Manley James joined the Gloucestershire Regiment in 1914 when he was 18, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. He was invalided home after being severely injured in the thigh on the third day of the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916. Yet by early 1917, James was back with his regiment and he was awarded the Military Cross for his “total disregard of danger and brilliant initiative” during an action.

Temporary Captain James was much admired by his men. On March 21, 1918, the first assault of the German Spring Offensive was launched and the Gloucesters were subjected to one of the most intensive bombardments of the war. “A” Company, which James commanded, suffered 75 per cent casualties. On March 23, the stragglers came out and two eyewitnesses said that James had been killed during the retreat from Cambrai.

His VC was announced in June 1918, when it was noted he was last seen firing a machine gun single-handed after being wounded for a third time. The citation said: “Capt. James, by his dauntless courage and magnificent example, undoubtedly enabled the battalion to be withdrawn before being completely cut off.”

Most people were convinced his award would end up as a posthumous one. In fact, James was taken as a POW; he made a full recovery from his wounds and was released after the Armistice.

James fought in the Second World War in which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. His citation of 1942 said: “Personally as brave as a lion, he was at the same time careful and solicitous about how he committed his troops.”

James eventually reached the rank of brigadier and after the war commanded the British Air Forces of Occupation in Germany. He was made an MBE in 1958.

22) Edward Mannock, Victoria Cross

Edward “Mick” Mannock was 27 years old and working as a labourer in Turkey when the Great War broke out. When Turkey entered the war on Germany’s side, he and other British workers were arrested and imprisoned. After he was regularly beaten, he tried to escape but he was caught and put into solitary confinement, where his health deteriorated.

However, the American Consulate secured his release and, by July 1915, he was back in Britain. Mannock joined the Royal Army Medical Corps but quickly showed a talent for flying. He arrived in France on April 1, 1917, and four days later joined his first operational unit, 40 Squadron.

On May 7, he had his first success when he and five others shot down a kite balloon – a manned, gas-filled balloon used for reconnaissance – five miles behind enemy lines. On May 25 and June 1, he was convinced he had “kills” but he decided to bide his time until he could make an unquestionable claim: the following week he sent an Albatross D.III crashing to earth from 13,000ft.

In September 1917, his courage and skill were rewarded with a Military Cross (MC) and a Bar (second MC) followed within a further month. In May 1918, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and later he was also awarded two Bars to the DSO. In June 1918, he was promoted to major. Mannock was shot down and killed aged 31 – after he had made what he believed was his 73rd “kill” – on July 27, 1918. He died because he disregarded his own strict rule by making a couple of low passes over the wreckage along with another pilot in a second plane. Mannock’s plane was hit and caught fire; then the left wing fell away and he plunged into a spin.

Lieutenant Donald Inglis, who had been flying with his friend and saw him die, spoke after he was forced to make a crash landing in his own aircraft. After being pulled from his battered plane, a distraught Inglis cried: “They killed him, the b——s killed my major. They killed Mick.”

Mannock was buried in an unmarked grave by a German soldier and, a year later, was awarded a posthumous VC and credited with 50 official “kills”. The citation concentrated on his efforts in June and July 1918 and praised his “fearless courage, remarkable skill, devotion to duty, and self-sacrifice, which has never been surpassed”.

23) Daniel Beak, Victoria Cross

Daniel Beak, who served on the Western Front with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, was awarded four bravery awards during the last two years of the Great War. His first award, the Military Cross, was announced in the London Gazette in January 1917 for leading his men into an attack with “great courage and initiative”.

In July the same year, it was announced he had been awarded a Bar to the MC “when he continually dashed forward, under heavy fire, to reorganise the men”.

In July 1918, Beak was award the Distinguished Service Order for preventing many comrades being cut off during a night-time attack by the enemy which left the right flank of his division in “a dangerous position”.

Temporary Commander Beak was awarded the VC in November 1918 for bravery in August and September of that year. Part of his citation read: “For most conspicuous bravery, courageous leadership and devotion to duty during a prolonged period of operations. He led his men in attack, and, despite heavy machine-gun fire, four enemy positions were captured. His skilful and fearless leadership resulted in the complete success of this operation and enabled other battalions to reach their objectives.

“Four days later, though dazed by a shell fragment, in the absence of the brigade commander, he reorganised the whole brigade under extremely heavy gunfire, and led his men with splendid courage to their objective…His fearless example instilled courage and confidence into his men, who then quickly resumed the advance under his leadership.”

Beak served in France early in the Second World War, during which he was promoted to major general.

24) Richard West, Victoria Cross

Richard West was another of the most decorated officers of the First World War. As the conflict drew to a close, he had displayed bravery that meant he was awarded three awards: the Distinguished Service Order and Bar, and the Military Cross. He had also been mentioned in dispatches three times. However, it was for incredible bravery in late August and early September 1918 that Acting Lieutenant Colonel West was awarded the VC.

Announcing West’s posthumous decoration in October 1918, the London Gazette detailed how West had courageously died: “It was intended that the battalion of Light Tanks, under the command of this officer, should exploit the initial Infantry and Heavy Tank attack.

“He therefore went forward in order to keep in touch with the progress of the battle and arrived at the front line when the enemy were in the process of delivering a local counter-attack. The Infantry Battalion had suffered heavy officer casualties, and its flanks were exposed.

“Realising that there was a danger of this battalion giving way, he rode out in front of them under extremely heavy machine-gun and rifle fire and rallied his men. In spite of the fact that the enemy were close upon him, he took charge of the situation and detailed non-commissioned officers to replace officer casualties.

“He then rode up and down in front of them in face of certain death, encouraging the men and calling to them: ‘Stick it, men; show them fight, and for God’s sake put up a good fight.’ He fell, riddled with machine-gun bullets. The magnificent bravery of this very gallant officer at the critical moment inspired the infantry to redoubled efforts, and the hostile attack was defeated.”

25) Eric Wilson, Victoria Cross

It says everything about the bravery of Eric Wilson that he was awarded a posthumous VC for bravery during the Second World War – yet he went on to live for another 68 years after his award was announced.

Acting Captain Wilson’s bravery had been officially recognised in October 1940, two months after he had displayed great bravery in Somaliland, an isolated corner of Africa. He had been in command of an exposed machine-gun post manned by Somali soldiers in the key position of Observation Hill.

The enemy attacked Observation Hill on August 11 1940: it was the start of a five-day battle in which many of Wilson’s men were killed or wounded as they took on a far larger force. On August 11, Wilson had been badly wounded in the right shoulder and left eye. Yet he fought on until August 15, when, by now suffering from malaria, the post was overrun. His VC citation ended noting that: “The enemy finally overran the post at 5pm on August 15 when Captain Wilson, fighting to the last, was killed.”

In fact, he had been knocked unconscious in the final round of fighting and after waking up, surrounded by dead comrades, he was taken as a prisoner of war. Four months after Wilson’s “Last stand in the Desert”, a captured RAF officer was surprised to meet the “late” Captain Wilson in prison and informed him of his award.

A few weeks later preparations were almost complete for a mass escape by tunnel when the prisoners woke up to find all their captors but the commandant gone before the arrival of British troops.

I was fortunate enough to meet Wilson in his twilight years when he was the oldest living recipient of the VC. He was self-effacing, mild-mannered and charming.

In 2005, Wilson needed funds for family reasons and so I agreed to purchase his VC. However, it was agreed that the decoration and his other medals should remain in his possession until his death.

Wilson was a true gentleman and one of just two men in the 155-year history of the VC to “come back from the dead”. He died in December 2008, aged 96, meaning that his VC and other medals are now on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum.