Irish VC Recipients

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Donald Edward Garland VC (28 June 1918 – 12 May 1940) born in Ballincor, County Wicklow, Garland was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was a pupil at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, Holland Park, London from 1929 to 1935, and left with a good all-round School Certificate.

Spending some time at an insurance office, he joined the RAF on a short-term commission.

Mgr. Canon J. Vance, who became headmaster of Cardinal Vaughan School in 1928: "In those days I questioned young men closely before recommending their applications for short-term commissions because of a lurking fear that they might be forced to start life again at an awkward age, for Donald I had no misgivings whatever. He could start his life again at any time and was bound to succeed because of his independence and of his resourcefulness. I salute Garland's great heroism"

He was 21 years old, and a Flying Officer in No. 12 Squadron, Royal Air Force during World War II, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Edward_Garland
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...r&GRid=9440428

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George Gardiner VC DCM (1821 – 17 November 1891) was born in Clonallon, Warrenpoint, County Down and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was about 34 years old, and a sergeant in the 57th Regiment of Foot (later The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own)), British Army during the Crimean War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gardiner_(soldier)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...&GRid=11319804

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George Gardiner VC DCM

HIS CITATION

On the 22nd March, 1855, at Sebastopol, Crimea, Sergeant Gardiner acted with great gallantry upon the occasion of a sortie by the enemy, in having rallied the covering parties which had been driven in by the Russians, thus regaining the trenches.

On the 18th June, during the attack on the Redan, he himself remained and encouraged others to remain in the holes made by the explosions of the shells, and whence they were able to keep up a continuous fire until their ammunition was exhausted, and the enemy cleared away from the parapet.

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Edmund John Fowler VC (1861 – 26 March 1926) born in Waterford was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He later achieved the rank of Colour-Sergeant. He died in Colchester, Essex, on 26 March 1926.

Details
He was around 18 years old, and a Private in the 2nd Battalion, 90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers), British Army during the Zulu War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 28 March 1879 at the Battle of Hlobane, South Africa, Private Fowler, with a captain and a lieutenant (Henry Lysons) dashed forward in advance of the party which had been ordered to dislodge the enemy from a commanding position in natural caves up the mountain. The path was so narrow that they had to advance in single file and the captain who arrived first at the mouth of the cave was instantly killed. The lieutenant and Private Fowler undismayed by the death of their leader, immediately sprang forward and cleared the enemy out of their stronghold.

The medal

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Cameronians Regimental Museum (Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_John_Fowler
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...r&GRid=9018339

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George Forrest VC (1800 – 3 November 1859) was born St Michael's, Dublin and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Forrest was about 57 years old, and a lieutenant in the Bengal Veteran Establishment, Bengal Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 11 May 1857 at Delhi, India for which he was awarded the VC.

Lieutenant Forrest was one of nine men who defended the Magazine for more than five hours against large numbers of rebels, until, on the wall being scaled and there being no hope of help, they fired the Magazine. Five of the defending band died in the explosion and one shortly afterwards, but many of the enemy were killed.

His citation in the London Gazette reads:

For gallant conduct in the defence of the Delhi Magazine, on the 11th May, 1857.

Forrest later achieved the rank of captain and died at Dehra Dun, India, on 3 November 1859.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Forrest_(VC)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...&GRid=11280121

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Thomas Flynn (or Flinn) VC (August 1842 – 10 August 1892) was born in Athlone and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

His exact date of birth is unknown but he was 15 years old, and a Drummer in the 64th Regiment of Foot (later The North Staffordshire Regiment - The Prince of Wales's), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 28 November 1857 at Cawnpore, India for which he was awarded the VC:

Drummer Thomas Flinn

Date of Act of Bravery, 28th November, 1857

For conspicuous gallantry, in the charge on the Enemy's guns on the 28th November, 1857, when, being himself wounded, he engaged in a hand to hand encounter two of the Rebel Artillerymen.

After he left the army he fell on hard times and was sent to Athlone Workhouse. His local Member of Parliament, Donal Sullivan, raised the matter in the House of Commons in April 1892. After reference to his previous gallantry Sullivan asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office St John Brodrick:

...whether he is aware that Flinn was awarded a pension of £10 a year for his valorous conduct, which sum the Guardians of the Athlone Union appropriate towards his maintenance; and whether some small increase could be made, so as to enable him in his old age to end his days more comfortably than in a workhouse?

Brodrick replied that:

This case is well known at the War Office. Flynn did very gallant service and was awarded the Victoria Cross, but I regret to say that he was discharged with a very bad character, he having been entered in the defaulter-book 47 times, and tried by Court Martial 15 times. The poor man is a victim to drink to such an extent that when he had the control of his money he only left the workhouse for the purpose of drinking up his annuity as soon as received. It would consequently be useless to consider his case for an increase.

Flynn died in the workshouse on 10 August 1892.

A memorial plaque was erected in the Garrison Church, Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, Staffordshire.

Flynn is acknowledged to be one of the two youngest winners of the VC (aged 15 years, 3 months), the other being Andrew Fitzgibbon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Flinn
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...r&GRid=9523100

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Francis Fitzpatrick VC (1859 – 10 July 1933), born in Tullycorbet, County Monaghan was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was about 20 years old, and a Private in the 94th Regiment of Foot (later The Connaught Rangers), British Army during the Basuto War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 28 November 1879 during an attack on Sekukuni's Town, South Africa, Private Fitzpatrick and another private (Thomas Flawn) with six men of the Native Contingent, were with a lieutenant of the 1st Dragoon Guards when he was badly wounded. The natives carried the wounded officer at first, but when the party was pursued by about 30 of the enemy they deserted and the lieutenant would have been killed but for the gallantry of the two privates - one carrying him and the other covering the retreat and firing on the enemy.

Fitzpatrick died in Glasgow, Scotland, on 10 July 1933.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the National Army Museum (Chelsea, England
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Fitzpatrick
http://www.paulfrasercollectibles.co...115)/4731.page
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...&GRid=11319687

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Brigadier General Charles FitzClarence VC (8 May 1865 – 12 November 1914) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Early life.

Charles FitzClarence was born in County Kildare, the son of Captain George FitzClarence (15 April 1836 – 24 March 1894) and Maria Henrietta Scott (d. 27 July 1912). He had a twin brother named Edward. His paternal grandfather was George Augustus Frederick FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster, an illegitimate son of William, Duke of Clarence (later King William IV of the United Kingdom). He served in the Sudan during the Mahdist War.

The VC action.

FitzClarence was 34 years old, and a captain in The Royal Fusiliers, British Army during the Second Boer War when the following deeds took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross:

On the 14th October, 1899, Captain FitzClarence went with his squadron of the Protectorate Regiment, consisting of only partially trained men, who had never been in action, to the assistance of an armoured train which had gone out from Mafeking. The enemy were in greatly superior numbers, and the squadron was for a time surrounded, and it looked as if nothing could save them from being shot down. Captain FitzClarence, however, by his personal coolness and courage inspired the greatest confidence in his men, and, by his bold and efficient handling of them, not only succeeded in relieving the armoured train, but inflicted a heavy defeat on the Boers, who lost 50 killed and a large number wounded, his own losses being 2 killed and 15 wounded. The moral effect of this blow had a very important bearing on subsequent encounters with the Boers.

On the 27th October, 1899, Captain FitzClarence led his squadron from Mafeking across the open, and made a night attack with the bayonet on one of the enemy's trenches. A hand-to-hand fight took place in the trench, while a heavy fire was concentrated on it from the rear. The enemy was driven out with heavy loss. Captain FitzClarence was the first man into the position and accounted for four of the enemy with his sword. The British lost 6 killed and 9 wounded. Captain FitzClarence was himself slightly wounded. With reference to these two actions, Major-General Baden-Powell states that had this Officer not shown an extraordinary spirit and fearlessness the attacks would have been failures, and we should have suffered heavy loss both in men and prestige.

On the 26th December, 1899, during the action at Game Tree, near Mafeking, Captain FitzClarence again distinguished himself by his coolness and courage, and was again wounded (severely through both legs).[1]

He was transferred to the Irish Guards on that regiment's formation in October 1900. He became a Major in May 1904 and succeeded to the command of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards in July 1909. He later achieved the rank of Brigadier General.

The Great War[edit]

On 27 September 1914 he took command of the 1st Guards' Brigade with the British Expeditionary Force, and he held this command until his death on 11 November of that year. He was killed in action leading the 1st Guards' Brigade against the Prussian Guard.

In October, FitzClarence had played a significant part in the battle for Ypres. Captain Valentine Williams, MC, writing in Blackwood's Magazine, described the action at Gheluvelt thus: "The Coldstream and Scots Guards' battalions of Fitzclarence's brigade, in trenches north of Gheluvelt, suffered terribly in a German attack, delivered in a dense mist on the morning of the 27th along the Menin road. The odds against the British were crushing, for on that day some 24,000 Germans were arrayed against about 5,000 exhausted British troops. In two days the Scots Guards lost 10 officers and 370 men killed and wounded. But the result of the day's fighting was that the British line stood firm and unbroken, while the Germans had sustained enormous losses". Sir John French, in his Despatch published on 30 November 1914, described the fighting at this time as: "Perhaps the most important and decisive attack (except that of the Prussian Guard on the 10th November) made against the 1st Corps during the whole of its arduous experiences in the neighbourhood of Ypres."

'Blackwood's Magazine' for August, 1917, carries an article describing FitzClarence's part. It was he who gave the order for the vital counter-attack of 31 October 1914. He "rallied the troops and directed the successful onslaught". Lt Col. E B Hankey, involved in the attack, said of FitzClarence: " ... by shoving us in at the time and place he did, the General saved the day."

On the morning of 11 November the Prussian Guard attacked British troops along the Menin Road. Thirteen battalions of them came on, but only in three places did the Prussian Guard break through. On the following morning Fitzclarence counter-attacked. The General himself decided to show his old regiment the way, and paid for the decision with his life. Fitzclarence fell dead, and neither Fitzclarence himself, nor Sir John French knew how well he had served his country at Gheluvelt.

In his Despatch of 20 November 1914, Sir John French said: "Another officer whose name was particularly mentioned to me was Brigadier-General Fitzclarence, VC, commanding the 1st Guards' Brigade. He was unfortunately killed in the night attack of the 11th November. His loss will be severely felt".

He was killed in action, aged 49, at Polygon Wood, Zonnebeke, Belgium, on 12 November 1914 whilst commanding the 1st Guards Brigade.[2]

He is the highest-ranking officer inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, commemorating those with no known grave.

The Medal.

His VC is in the Lord Ashcroft VC Gallery in the Imperial War Museum, London.

Family.

On 20 April 1898, at the Ciddidal Church, Cairo, he married Violet Spencer-Churchill (13 June 1864 – 22 December 1941), daughter of Lord Alfred Spencer-Churchill and a granddaughter of the sixth Duke of Marlborough, on 20 April 1898. The couple had two children:
Edward Charles Fitzclarence, 6th Earl of Munster (b. 3 October 1899 - d. 1983)
Joan Harriet Fitzclarence (b. 23 December 1901)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_FitzClarence
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...r&GRid=8043067

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Richard Fitzgerald VC (December 1831, St. Finbar's, Cork, Ireland – 1884 in India) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was approximately 25 years old, and a Gunner in the Bengal Horse Artillery, Bengal Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 28 September 1857 at Bolandshahr, India for which he and Sergeant Bernard Diamond was awarded the Victoria Cross:

"For an act of valour performed in action against the rebels and mutineers at Boolundshur, on the 28th September, 1857, when these two soldiers evinced the most determined bravery in working their gun under a very heavy fire of musketry, whereby they cleared the road of the enemy, after every other man belonging to it had been either killed or disabled by wounds.

(Despatch of Major Turner, Bengal Horse Artillery, dated Boolundshur, 2nd October, 1857.)

Fitzgerald died in India in 1884. Fitzgerald's VC is currently held, as is his Indian Mutiny medal, by Bristol Museum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fitzgerald
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...r&GRid=7710051

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James Byrne VC (1822 – 6 December 1872) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Byrne was about 36 years old, and a private in the 86th Regiment of Foot (later the Royal Irish Rifles), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 3 April 1858 at Jhansi, India for which he and Captain Henry Edward Jerome were awarded the VC.

For gallant conduct on the 3rd of April, 1858, at the attack of the Fort of Jhansi, in carrying Lieutenant Sewell, who was lying badly wounded, to a place of safety, under a very heavy fire, assisted by Captain Jerome, in the performance of which act he was wounded by a sword cut.

He later achieved the rank of sergeant. He died in north Dublin.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the The Royal Ulster Rifles Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Byrne_(VC)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...r&GRid=7706520
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showt...php?p=80118229
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhansi_Fort

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Lieutenant Colonel Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews VC (29 July 1911, Keadue, County Cavan, Ireland – 30 March 1995) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was educated by the Jesuits at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire and is one of seven recipients of the VC who were educated at Stonyhurst.

He was 28 years old, and a captain in The East Lancashire Regiment, British Army during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. During the night of 31 May/1 June 1940, near Dunkirk, France, the company commanded by Captain Ervine-Andrews was heavily outnumbered and under intense German fire. When the enemy attacked at dawn and crossed the Canal de Bergues, Ervine-Andrews, with volunteers from his company, rushed to a barn and from the roof shot 11 of the enemy with a rifle and many more with a Bren gun.

When the barn was shattered and alight, he sent the wounded to the rear and led the remaining eight men back, wading for over a mile in water up to their chins. The group of eight, including privates Jago and Singleton, traveled through rough enemy lines to the blood-soaked beaches and finally escaped back to Britain on 4 June 1940.

Harold Ervine-Andrews married Emily Torrie in 1939 with whom he had two children; a girl born in 1941 and a boy in 1943. Their marriage was dissolved in 1952. She died in 1975, thus permitting him to remarry, in 1981, to Margaret Gregory. This union was childless.

Andrews attempted to return home to his native County Cavan after the war, but was driven out by local members of the IRA and later settled in Cornwall.
He later achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The last Irish VC to die, he died on 30 March 1995, aged 83. His memorial is at Stonyhurst College, Clitheroe, Lancashire. His VC is held at Blackburn Museum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_...Ervine-Andrews
http://www.lancashireinfantrymuseum....ne-andrews-vc/
http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/.../first-army-vc
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...&GRid=13710187

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William John English VC (6 October 1882 – 4 July 1941) was an Irish born South African recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

English was educated at Harvey Grammar School in Folkstone, Kent from 1894 to 1898 and Campbell College, Belfast from 1898 to 1899. The following year he went to South Africa and in November joined the Scottish Horse, a locally raised South African regiment. He served in the ranks until he was commissioned in March 1901. He was 18 years old, and a lieutenant in the 2nd The Scottish Horse during the Second Boer War when the following deed took place on 3 July 1901 at Vlakfontein, South Africa, for which he was awarded the VC:

This Officer with five men was holding the right of a position at Vlakfontein on the 3rd July, 1901, during an attack by the Boers. Two of his men were killed and two wounded, but the position was still held, largely owing to Lieutenant English's personal pluck. When the ammunition ran short he went over to the next party and obtained more; to do this he had to cross some 15 yards of open ground under a heavy fire at a range of from 20 to 30 yards.

English received the Victoria Cross in person from King Edward VII in July 1902.

He was commissioned in the Royal Army Service Corps in 1906 from the 2nd Dragoon Guards. He later achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He saw action in three major wars (Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage, on board a ship near Egypt, on active service with the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1941. He is buried in Maala Cemetery, Aden (now Yemen).

His medal group (including the VC) was bequeathed to his former school, Campbell College, Belfast. His medals included the Queen's South Africa Medal and 5 Bars (Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901 & South Africa 1902), 1914 Star with Ribbon Bar (5 August to 22 November 1914), British War Medal, Victory Medal, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, 1939-45 War Medal, King Edward VII Coronation 1902 Medal, King George VI Coronation 1937 Medal.

The medal group has been lent by their owners, Campbell College, for a 10 year period, from 2010, to the Imperial War Museum, London as part of their Victoria Cross Collection

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_John_EnglishGeorge Cross Collection.
http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/englishvc.htm
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...r&GRid=8170658

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John Farrell VC (March 1826, Dublin – 31 August 1865) was a British Army soldier and Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was a sergeant in the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own), British Army during the Crimean War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:

On 25 October 1854 at Balaklava, Crimea during the Charge of the Light Brigade, Sergeant Farrell, whose horse had been killed under him, stopped on the field and amidst a storm of shot and shell helped Troop Sergeant Major John Berryman and Sergeant Joseph Malone to move a severely wounded officer (who subsequently died) out of range of the guns.
He later achieved the rank of Quartermaster-Sergeant. He was killed in action at Secunderabad, British India, on 31 August 1865.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Farrell_(VC)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...&GRid=11276205

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Emerson James Samuel VC (1895 – 1917) was a British Army officer, and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Emerson was born 3 August 1895 in the village of Collon, County Louth to John and Ellen Emerson. When he was 22 years old, and a temporary second lieutenant in the 9th Battalion, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (Tyrone Volunteers), British Army during the First World War, and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 6 December 1917, on the Hindenburg Line north of La Vacquerie, France. He died in action that same day.

For repeated acts of most conspicuous bravery. He led his company in an attack and cleared 400 yards of trench. Though wounded, when the enemy attacked in superior numbers, he sprang out of the trench with eight men and met the attack in the open, killing many and taking six prisoners. For three hours after this, all other Officers having become casualties, he remained with his company, refusing to go to the dressing station, and repeatedly repelled bombing attacks. Later, when the enemy again attacked in superior numbers, he led his men to repel the attack and was mortally wounded. His heroism, when worn out and exhausted from loss of blood, inspired his men to hold out, though almost surrounded, till reinforcements arrived and dislodged the enemy.
—The London Gazette, 12 February 1918.

His name is inscribed on the war memorial at the Church of Ireland parish church at Collon, County Louth and on the Cambrai Memorial to the Missing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Samuel_Emerson
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/ca...JAMES%20SAMUEL
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...r&GRid=9529201

[popskipa]

Hello,

Do you have an image of Private Francis Fitzpatrick VC 94th Foot please? I have been doing some research on him but cannot find an image.

Thank you, Keith