100 Years Ago - VCs

V.C.'S AT THE PRESENT A TION IN HYDE PARK, JUNE 2, 1917.

In khaki, left to right: Private Hughes, Private Cunn:ngham, Capt. White, Col. Bradford,

Lieut. Palmer, and Capt. Alien.

MRS. MOTTERSHEAD RECEIVES FROM THE KING THE V.C. WON BY HER

HUSBAND, SERGEANT THOMAS MOTTERSHEAD, R.F.C.

BT. MAJ. WM. LA TOUCHE CONGREVE,

D.S.O., M.C., Rifle Brigade

SERGT. W. E. BOULTER,

Northamptonshire Regt., receiving the congratulations of his friends


http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-king-and-his-brave-subjects-qzlgb539t

The King and his brave subjects

A widow came next to take the Victoria Cross from the hands of the King, Mrs Lilian Mottershead, whose husband, Sergeant Thomas Mottershead, VC, Royal Flying Corps, died of burns after bringing back his blazing aeroplane and saving the life of his observer

June 4, 1917

There has been little or no pageantry connected with this war. Battle pictures, parades, guard mountings are all studies in drab colours, and always the unimpressive khaki note predominates. Much ceremony has gone by the board. But on Saturday there was held one of the most impressive military functions of the last three years, when the King decorated over 300 of his sailor and soldier subjects and 50 relatives of men who have died after winning decorations for valour. Twelve nurses also received the Royal Red Cross.

Early in the afternoon there was a bustle and a stir round Buckingham Palace and Wellington Barracks, and at 2 o’clock a detachment of Scots Guards, headed by the massed bands of the Brigade of Guards, marched up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park Comer and so along the Row to the enclosure fenced in for the investiture. There was a soft wind blowing, just enough to straighten out the folds of the Colour carried by a tall lieutenant of the Scots Guards.

The Colour party entered the Park to the music of brass and reed instruments, but they marched along the Row to the skirl of the pipes. It was a scene to remember. Overhead there was a blue sky, blocked in with great white masses of clouds. The trees, in their best leaf and not yet spoiled by the dust of summer, made a cool canopy. The Row itself was lined with an expectant crowd, and the massed bands in their scarlet uniforms, the gold-laced coats of the drum-majors, and the line on line of bearskin busbies, made a fine showing by very contrast with the khaki of the guard. The pipers, each with the wonderfully worked silken bannerette fluttering from the drone, and the drummers with their painted drums, looked the proudest men in the procession.

With a right wheel the party swung into the enclosure and the lines of sentries presented arms to the colours. The tune they marched in to was an American one, and the compliment was appreciated to the full by the little group of United States Army nurses and men of the medical corps to the right of the dais. The scene was changed from moment to moment during the next half-hour, but by half-past 2 most of the spectators had settled into their places.

To the right of the dais as one fronted it was a gay group of military uniforms with much gold oak-leaf braid, many medal ribbons and red tabs. On the other side were the representatives of the Navy, while farther to their right again were the American nurses in their sober blue uniform and workmanlike wide-awake hats. Just near them was a splash of colour made by the scarlet cloaks of a group of children from the home for soldiers’ orphans. The main colour of the big circle was blue, for on each side, sitting in chairs and lying full length on the grass, there were 300 wounded soldiers in their hospital kit. The bright blue tunic with its white lapels and lining and the scarlet ties gave a most pleasing effect.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/major-congreve-and-his-father-bxp6zftck

Major Congreve and his father

It is a remarkable coincidence that General (then Captain) Congreve, whose son is now awarded the Cross, also won the honour for his bravery at Colenso

October 27, 1916

The award of the VC to Major W La Touche Congreve is of special interest, for his father, Lieutenant-General W N Congreve, CB, won the same honour 16 years before, and by Major Congreve’s death a career of exceptional promise was cut short. Though only 25 years old when he fell on July 20, he held the DSO and the Military Cross, and was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He had been previously recommended for the VC for capturing two officers and 72 men, practically single-handed, at St Eloi, but received the DSO instead. No other officer had previously been given the VC, the DSO, and the MC. He was brigade major at the time of his death, and his divisional commander wrote that had he lived a few months longer he must inevitably have commanded a brigade. Major Congreve was a son-in-law of Mr Cyril Maude, whose daughter Pamela Cynthia he married on June 1 last.


There are two precedents for the award of the VC to both father and son. The first was the case of the late Lord Roberts, who won the honour in India in 1858, and his son, Lieutenant F H S Roberts, KRRC, to whom it was awarded for his share in the gallant attempt to save the guns at Colenso on December 15, 1899.


It is a remarkable coincidence that General (then Captain) Congreve, whose son is now awarded the Cross, also won the honour for his bravery at Colenso, and it was he who, after being wounded and reaching shelter, saw Lieutenant Roberts on the ground (he had been mortally wounded by a shell which burst under his horse), went out under heavy fire and brought him in.
The other precedent is that of the late General Sir Charles Gough, who, like his brother, the late General Sir Hugh Gough, won the VC for exploits in India in 1857-8, and his son, Brigadier-General Sir John Edmond Gough, who received the decoration for conspicuous bravery in Somaliland in 1903 and lost his life in the present war in February, 1915.


http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/vc-award-to-sergeant-boulter-k0hl5gvr0

VC award to Sergeant Boulter

Sergeant Boulter, with utter contempt of danger and in spite of being severely wounded in the shoulder, advanced alone over the open under heavy fire in front of the machine gun

October 27, 1916

No: 14603 Sergt William Ewart Boulter, Northamptonshire Regt. For most conspicuous bravery.
When one company and part of another were held up in the attack on a wood by a hostile machine-gun, which was causing heavy casualties, Sergeant Boulter, with utter contempt of danger and in spite of being severely wounded in the shoulder, advanced alone over the open under heavy fire in front of the gun and bombed the gun team from their position. This very gallant act not only saved many casualties, but was of great military value, as it materially expedited the operation of clearing the enemy out of the wood, and thus covering the flank of the whole attacking force.