School of Heroes
Across the history of the Victoria Cross, Britain’s public schools have seen many recipients of the award from among their former pupils. Of these schools, Eton College stands out with an astonishing number of recipients of the VC among its alumni.
In its long history since Eton College was founded by King Henry VI in 1440, the school has seen more than its fair share of publicity. That continues until the present day. Not all of it always positive, of course. Nevertheless, and however the wider world sometimes perceives Eton College, the old boys of the school have traditionally acquitted themselves on the field of battle in a more than exemplary fashion.
Unsurprisingly, the conduct of alumni in the heat of battle has led to a countless array of decorations honouring those deeds. Among these, the school has no less than 37 VC recipients among the ranks of its Old Etonians, many awarded during the First World War.
During that war, 1,157 Old Etonians who served with Allied forces died, plus one who died serving the Kaiser. Putting that into context, the number roughly equates to the entire roll of the school.
In part, that astonishingly high casualty figure might be because many were junior officers who literally led their men ‘over the top’. The very first in harm’s way.
However, the first VC awarded to an Old Etonian was for a different war.
ETON’S EARLY VC AWARDS
The various wars of 1800s saw no less than 15 VCs awarded to Old Etonians, the first going to Robert James Lindsay (later Loyd-Lindsay), 1st Baron Wantage, a captain with the Scots (Fusilier) Guards during the Crimean War, awarded the VC for actions at the Battle of the Alma on 20 September 1854 and, later, at the Battle of Inkerman on 5 November.
These actions actually predate the introduction of the VC in 1856. The VC citation included the following words:
‘When the formation of the line of the Regiment was disordered at Alma, Captain Lindsay stood firm with the Colours, and by his example and energy, greatly tended to restore order. At Inkerman, at a most trying moment, he, with a few men, charged a party of
Russians, driving them back, and running one through the body himself.’
Notable among other Old Etonian VC awardees of Queen Victoria’s wars were Lieutenant F S Roberts (1858) and his son, Lieutenant The Hon. F H S Roberts (1899).
Frederick Hugh Sherston Roberts was the son of Field Marshal Lord Roberts VC (Frederick Sleigh Roberts, see page 21).
Lieutenant Roberts performed an act of suicidal heroism with two other officers and a corporal to save some guns at Colenso on 15 December 1899 when they ran out of ammunition.
Captains Schofield and Congreve, Lieutenant Roberts, and Corporal Nurse, galloped to save the guns from capture but only managed to save two.
All were awarded the VC, although 27-year-old Roberts later died of wounds.
FIRST WORLD WAR AND BEYOND
During the First World War, Old Etonians accumulated a further 13 VCs. Notable among them is Percy Hansen.
Hansen was temporary captain, and shortly after the outbreak of war he was with Lincolnshire Regiment and fought at Gallipoli, where, on 9 August 1915, Hansen’s battalion was forced to withdraw while assaulting Scimitar
Hill. Hansen and volunteers repeatedly moved under fire to rescue wounded men and Hansen was consequently awarded the VC. He was later awarded an MC, followed by a DSO in 1917, and had been Mentioned in Despatches five times. He had thus earned every British gallantry award available to him.
Hansen died on 12 February 1951, aged 60.
The actions of Hansen typified the sort of heroism so often shining through in reports of Old Etonians who had been thrown into the bloody struggles of the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, there was one Old Etonian recipient of the Victoria Cross between the two wars.
Godfrey Meynell, aged 31, was a captain in the 5th Battalion (Queen Victoria’s Own Corps of Guides), 12th Frontier Regiment in the Mohmand Campaign in British India during 1935.
On 29 September 1935, in the Khyber Pass, during an attack, Meynell sought information on the most forward troops and found them in a struggle against an enemy vastly superior in numbers. He at once took command, and with two Lewis guns and about 30 men he maintained heavy and accurate fire on the enemy whose overwhelming numbers succeeded in reaching the position and putting the Lewis guns out of action.
In a hand-to-hand struggle, Captain Meynell was mortally wounded, but the heavy enemy casualties prevented them from exploiting their success. When the bodies of his men were mutilated by the enemy, Captain Meynell sought to defend those bodies even as he lay dying.
Five more Victoria Crosses were added during the Second World War, including one to Captain David Jamieson, 7th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment, 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division, during the Battle of Normandy in 1944.
During that battle, on 7/8 August 1944, south of Grimbosq, Jamieson had established a bridgehead over the River Orne. The enemy made seven counterattacks, but throughout 36 hours of bitter and close fighting, Captain Jamieson’s company refused to give up. The attacks included assaults with Tiger and Panther tanks which shot up the Royal Norfolks’ tanks.
At one point during the battle, Jamieson mounted a British Churchill tank to talk to the commander while under enemy fire. He dismissed it as anything heroic, saying that he had to as the telephone didn’t work – tanks were equipped with an external handset so that the commander could talk to an infantry commander without opening the hatch.
The citation for Captain David
The number of Old Etonian casualties suffered between 1914 and 1918 roughly equates to the entire roll of the school.”
Jamieson in the London Gazette of 26 October 1944 included the following:
‘Throughout the thirty-six hours of bitter and close fighting, and in spite of the pain of his wounds, Captain Jamieson showed superb qualities of leadership and great personal bravery. There were times when the position appeared hopeless, but on each occasion, it was restored by his coolness and determination. He personally was largely responsible for the holding of this important bridgehead over the River Orne and for the repulse of seven German counter-attacks with great loss to the enemy.’
His award was the last Old Etonian Victoria Cross of the Second World War, but it was not to be the last VC that would go to those who had been schooled there. That distinction went to Lieutenant Colonel H Jones during the Falklands Conflict (see page 123), thereby seeing a period which had spanned 128 years and during which 37 Victoria Crosses had been awarded to Eton’s illustrious warriors.