The memorial is in Portland stone with the figures and the names of those lost in Westmorland stone.
The Memorial has 9 V.C holders on the paved area to the front.
Brevet Major William Congreve Rifle Brigade 6th - 20th June 1916
William La Touche Congreve, VC, DSO, MC (12 March 1891 – 20 July 1916) was an English 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.
Life and career
He was at school at Summer Fields School, Oxford and then at Eton, leaving in 1907. On 1 June 1916 he married Pamela Cynthia Maude, the daughter of actors Cyril Maude and Winifred Emery.
Congreve was 25 years old, and a major in The Rifle Brigade, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
During the period 6 to 20 July 1916 at Longueval, France, Major Congreve constantly inspired those round him by numerous acts of gallantry. As Brigade Major he not only conducted battalions up to their positions but when the brigade headquarters was heavily shelled he went out with the medical officer to remove the wounded to places of safety, although he himself was suffering from gas and other shell effects. He went out again on a subsequent occasion tending the wounded under heavy shell fire. Finally, on returning to the front line to ascertain the position after an unsuccessful attack, he was shot by a sniper and died instantly.
He was the son of General Sir Walter Norris Congreve, also a Victoria Cross awardee – they are one of only three father and son pairings to win a VC.His younger brother, Geoffrey, first of the Congreve baronets of Congreve, Staffordshire, was a distinguished sailor, awarded the DSO for a raid on Norway and killed in 1941 during a raid on the French coast.
His widow bore a posthumous daughter, Mary Gloria Congreve, born 21 March 1917. Pamela Congreve later remarried, to Brigadier the Hon. William Fraser, in 1919.
Major Congreve's grave.
William Congreve's grave is at Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension, France, 9 miles east of Amiens, Plot I, Row F, Grave 35. There is also a memorial to him in the form of a plaque in Corbie church, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Lutyens designed another plaque to his memory which is at St John the Baptist's church in Stowe-by-Chartley, Staffordshire.
Congreve's service in the First World War is also recalled, along with that of his father, in a Roll of Honour book in St Michael's Church, West Felton, Shropshire, the latter village having been his childhood home when his father lived at West Felton Grange from 1903 to 1924. His VC is recorded in the same village on the community building called the Haslehurst Institute, land for building which had been given by his father.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum, Winchester, England.
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Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Bushell Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum, The Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment 23rd March 1918
Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Bushell VC DSO (31 October 1888 – 8 August 1918) was an English 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.
Bushell was 29 years old, and a temporary lieutenant colonel in the 7th (S) Battalion, The Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment, British Army, during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
On 23 March 1918 west of St. Quentin's Canal and north of Tergnier, France, Lieutenant Colonel Bushell personally led C Company of his battalion, who were cooperating with an Allied regiment in a counterattack. In the course of this attack he was severely wounded in the head, but continued to carry on, walking in front of both British and Allied troops, encouraging them and visiting every portion of the lines in the face of terrific machine-gun and rifle fire. He refused to go to the rear until he had to be removed to the dressing station in a fainting condition.
He was killed in action to the south of Morlancourt, Somme, France, on 8 August 1918. He is buried at Querrieu CWGC, Somme, France.
In 1923, the Christopher Bushell Prize of books, for Modern History undergraduates, was established at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where Bushell read Modern History from 1906 to 1909.
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Corporal Thomas Neely Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment 27th September 1918
Thomas Neely was born on 28 March 1897 in Poulton-cum-Seacombe, Wallasey, then part of Cheshire, one of seven children of James and Agnes Neely. The family surname was often spelt Neeley. His father was a gasfitter but performed labouring work for several years. The family moved to Walton in Liverpool, where Neely attended St. Fancis de Sales School. After finishing his education, Neely worked for a grain mill that produced animal feed.
First World War
In September 1914, Neely enlisted in the British Army. Of small stature, he was posted to the Cheshire Regiment's Bantam Battalion, but later transferred to The King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, part of 76th Brigade, 3rd Division. In July 1918, Neely's award of a Military Medal (MM) was gazetted and he was sent on leave shortly afterwards. On his return to his unit, the 8th Battalion, he was promoted to corporal.
During the Battle of the Canal du Nord on 27 September, the 8th Battalion was leading the advance of 76th Brigade. It encountered a series of machinegun posts at the village of Flesquières, which made casualties of most of the battalion's officers. The advance was held up until Neely and two others assaulted the machinegun posts. Later in the advance, he made additional solo forays to deal with German-held positions that were delaying the battalion. For his actions, he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC). The VC, instituted in 1856, was the highest award for valour that could be bestowed on a soldier of the British Empire. The citation read as follows:
For most conspicuous bravery during operations at Flesquières on 27 Sept. 1918. His company was held up during the advance by heavy machine-gun fire from a flank. Corporal Neeley, realising the seriousness of the situation, at once, under point-blank fire, dashed out with two men and rushed the positions, disposing of the garrisons and capturing three machine-guns. Subsequently, on two successive occasions, he rushed concrete strongpoints, killing or capturing the occupants. The splendid initiative and fighting spirit displayed by this gallant non-commissioned officer in dealing with a series of posts, in some cases single-handed, was largely responsible for the taking and clearing of a heavily fortified and strongly garrisoned position, and enabled his company to advance 3,000 yards along the Hindenburg support line.
— The London Gazette, 13 December 1918
Immediately after his VC-winning action, Neely was promoted in the field to lance sergeant. Neely was killed in action just a few days later, on 1 October 1918, at Rumilly-en-Cambrésis, just south of Cambrai.[ He was buried at Masnieres British Cemetery in Marcoing. King George V presented Neely's VC to his parents in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 27 February 1920.
There are several memorials to Neely; a plaque at the Priory in Lancaster, a memorial board in Wallasey Town Hall, and he is listed, along with the names of 11 other VC winners from the Wirral, Ellesmore Port, and Neston districts, on a plaque on the Birkenhead Cenotaph Memorial.
ref: 21st Jan 2022
kit used: Sony RX 100 III
