Chapter XV: More Irish Heroes of the Victoria Cross

DEEDS OF THE HIGHEST MERIT AND LUSTRE

In this war Victoria Crosses are being won in remarkably large numbers, despite dangers and sufferings immeasurably greater than were ever conceived of in any war of the past. It would seem, indeed, as if human nature is capable of withstanding any test to which it can conceivably be put. "Man," said Mr. Lloyd George, "is the bravest animal that God has made; and, in comparison with him, the lion is an arrant coward."

Up to the end of 1916 the war has contributed 221 additional names to that golden chronicle of valorous deeds--The Roll of the Victoria Cross. Of these as many as thirty-five are Irishmen. That is a most glorious achievement, having regard to the proportion of Irishmen in the Army. The number, taking the Irish regiments, the Irishmen in English and Scottish regiments and in the forces of the different Dominions, is altogether about 500,000; and estimating the entire strength of the Army to be 5,000,000, it will be seen that if the other nationalities won Victoria Crosses in the same ratio to their numbers as the Irish, the Roll of the present war would contain not 221, but 350 names. To put it in another way, the Irish on a basis of numbers would be entitled only to twenty-two of the 221 Victoria Crosses that have actually been awarded.

But however that may be, the Irish part of the Roll, as it stands, will be found to be a very thrilling record of the gallantry of Irish officers and men in the various theatres of war. Twenty of the thirty-five Irish heroes of the Victoria Cross are dealt with in the first series of _The Irish at the Front_. Of the remaining fifteen, the deeds of four are recounted in the exploits of the Ulster Division; one, in the story of the Irish Brigade--the second Cross that fell to the Brigade having been won by an English officer--and the other ten are dealt with here.

Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Walderne St. Clair Tisdall, V.C., of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, was another of the many gallant Irishmen who distinguished themselves at the memorable first landing at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, when the Munsters and the Dublins won imperishable renown. The announcement of the award of the Victoria Cross to Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall was not made until March 31, 1916. The following official statement explains the delay--

"During the landing from the ss. _River Clyde_ at V Beach, in
the Gallipoli Peninsula, on April 25, 1915, Sub-Lieutenant
Tisdall, hearing wounded men on the beach calling for
assistance, jumped into the water, and, pushing a boat in front
of him, went to their rescue. He was, however, obliged to obtain
help, and took with him on two trips Leading Seaman Malin, and
on other trips Chief Petty Officer Perring and Leading Seamen
Curtiss and Parkinson. In all Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall made four
or five trips between the ship and the shore, and was thus
responsible for rescuing many wounded men under heavy and
accurate fire. Owing to the fact that Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall and
the platoon under his orders were on detached service at the
time, and that this officer was killed in action on May 6, it
has now only been possible to obtain complete information as to
the individuals who took part in this gallant act."

Sub-Lieutenant Tisdall came of a well-known Irish family, the Tisdalls of Charlesfort, who have been established in co. Meath since the year 1668. The late head of the family, Major Tisdall of the Irish Guards, fell guarding the retreat of the British Army in France in September 1914. The volume of _Memoirs and Poems of A.W. St. C. Tisdall, V.C._, by Mrs. M.L. Tisdall, states that among his ancestors and relatives on both sides were "Crusaders, Royalists, who lost everything--even their family name--for King Charles I; Scotch Covenanters and French Huguenots, who had been driven from their own countries for their faith's sake; Irish patriots who fought at the Battle of the Boyne, a Danish Diplomatist who had danced with Queen Marie-Antoinette; an ancestress who is said to have fired the first cannon at the siege of Gibraltar; a famous Attorney-General for Ireland; a brilliant and versatile Cathedral Chancellor, a Bishop, three missionaries, and many university, military and naval men." He was born at Bombay on July 21, 1890, his father--the Rev. Dr. St. Clair Tisdall (now of St. George's Vicarage, Deal)--being then in charge of the Mohammedan mission of the Church Missionary Society. He was educated at Bedford School from 1900 to 1909, when he left as Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he had a distinguished career, culminating in the winning of the Chancellor's Gold Medal in the university in 1913, after which he entered the Home Civil Service. On the outbreak of war he was called to the Colours as an A.B. of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, of which he had been a member for some time previously. He served in the ranks in the Antwerp expedition, and was afterwards given a commission. By this time, the memoirs tell us, "he had acquired great self-control, and had practically conquered two of his Irish handicaps--viz. a hot temper and a certain carelessness, or casualness, in business. Latterly, the 'Tisdall temper,' as it is called in the family, only flashed out in the presence of what he considered wrong or unjust."

The following extract from a letter by an officer of the Royal Navy who took part in the landing in Gallipoli was published in _The Times_ on December 6, 1916--

"It has been, unfortunately, my sad lot to write of the ending
on this earth of many heroes, for I have been through much since
August 1914; but I sincerely assure you that I have never seen
more daring and gallant deeds performed by any man, naval or
military, than those performed by the man I now know to have
been Sub-Lieutenant A.W. St. Clair Tisdall, Anson Battalion,
R.N.V.R., at the landing from the _River Clyde_ on that terrible
'V' Beach. Throughout the afternoon of April 25 a boat
containing an officer (unknown to all) and three bluejackets,
one of them a petty officer, was very prominent. The officer and
the petty officer did the most daring of things, and were seen
by very many. Time after time they visited that awful beach and
brought back wounded officers and men. Darkness came on and that
officer was nowhere to be found. All the petty officer and
bluejackets could say was, 'He's one of those Naval Division
gents.' Days and weeks passed away, and I and others never
ceased trying to find out if we could who and where the unknown
hero was. Over and over we discussed in the _River Clyde_ and in
dug-outs on the beach how those two had escaped."

It was not till June 15, 1915, that the writer of the letter learned who the hero was. He adds: "His very saving of the wounded and the handling of them was in itself the work of an artist, and a very great one." The end of this gallant officer is told by an A.B. of the Anson Battalion, who, writing to Mrs. Tisdall, says: "On May 6 the Naval Division got orders to make an advance, which we did, and advanced about a mile. When we got nicely settled in the enemy trench your son stood up on the parapet, looking for the enemy, but was not there long before he was shot through the chest, and he never said one word." This was at the first battle of Achi Baba. Tisdall was buried on the night of May 7, a few yards from where he fell. It was a glorious death, but far from the kind of death he had dreamt of. In a poem, "Love and Death," written in 1910, he says--

"Be love for me no hoarse and headstrong tide,
Breaking upon a deep-rent, sea-filled coast,
But a strong river on which sea-ships glide,
And the lush meadows are its peaceful boast.

Be death for me no parting red and raw
Of soul and body, even in glorious pain,
But while my children's children wait in awe,
May peaceful darkness still the toilsome brain."

Corporal William Richard Cotter, an Irishman serving in the East Kent Regiment, got the V.C. for an act of unexampled courage and endurance. It was a deed which showed to what heights the bravery of Irish soldiers can soar. On the night of March 6, 1916, in the course of a raid made by his company along an enemy trench, his own bombing party was cut off owing to heavy casualties in the centre of the attack. The situation was so serious that Cotter went back under heavy fire to report and bring up more bombs. On the return journey his right leg was blown off close below the knee, and he was wounded in both arms. By a kind of miracle, the miracle of human courage, he did not drop down and die in the mud of the trench--mud so deep that unwounded men found it hard to walk in it--but made his way for fifty yards towards the crater where his comrades were hard pressed. He came up to Lance-Corporal Newman, who was bombing with his sector to the right of the position. Cotter called to him and directed him to bomb six feet towards where help was most needed, and worked his way forward to the crater against which the Germans were making a violent counter-attack. Men fell rapidly under the enemy's bomb fire, but Cotter, with only one leg, and bleeding from both arms, took charge. The enemy were repulsed after two hours' fighting, and only then did Cotter allow his wounds to be bandaged. From the dug-out where he lay while the bombardment still continued he called out cheery words to the men, until he was carried down, fourteen hours later. He died of his wounds. A wonderful story of gallantry, endurance and fortitude, it would seem almost incredible were it not established by official record of the awarding of the V.C. to Corporal Cotter--

"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. When his
right leg had been blown off at the knee, and he had also been
wounded in both arms, he made his way unaided for fifty yards to
a crater, steadied the men who were holding it, controlled their
fire, issued orders, and altered the dispositions of his men to
meet a fresh counter-attack by the enemy. For two hours he held
his position, and only allowed his wounds to be roughly dressed
when the attack had quieted down. He could not be moved back for
fourteen hours, and during all this time had a cheery word for
all who passed him. There is no doubt that his magnificent
courage helped greatly to save a critical situation."

Cotter was born at Sandgate, near Folkestone, of Irish parents who came from Limerick, and was thirty-four years of age. He was educated at the Catholic School, Folkestone. Always fond of adventure, he ran away to sea as a boy. He then enlisted in the Army, and, after twelve years in the Buffs, came out on the Reserve in 1914, and was employed by the Sandgate Council. He was called up at the outbreak of war. He had lost an eye as the result of an accident, but nevertheless was sent on active service, and this disability enhances the extraordinary heroism of his deed. He was the eldest of six sons, one of whom was killed in France, one was in the Navy, one in Salonika, and another died after serving in the South African War. The chaplain of his regiment wrote to his parents informing them of his death, and said his last words were "Good-bye, God bless them all." Cotter was previously recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal in December 1915.

Thomas Hughes, of the Connaught Rangers, got the V.C. for most conspicuous bravery and determination. The official record adds: "He was wounded in an attack, but returned at once to the firing line after having his wounds dressed. Later, seeing a hostile machine-gun, he dashed out in front of his company, shot the gunner, and single-handed captured the gun. Though again wounded, he brought back three or four prisoners." He was born at Corravoo, near Castleblayney, co. Monaghan, his father being a farmer, and was at the Curragh, employed as a jockey in a racing stable, until, on the outbreak of war, he joined the Connaught Rangers.

"Come on, the Dubs." This slogan was heard at a critical moment during one of the pushes on the Somme in the summer of 1916. It was shouted by Sergeant Robert Downie of the Dublin Fusiliers, and his coolness and resource in danger saved the situation and got him the Victoria Cross. The Dublins have been through many memorable campaigns and battles and have won many honours, but Sergeant Downie is the first of his regiment to win the most prized of all distinctions. The following is the official record of the award--

"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in attack.
When most of the officers had become casualties, this
non-commissioned officer, utterly regardless of personal danger,
moved about under heavy fire and reorganised the attack, which
had been temporarily checked. At the critical moment he rushed
forward alone, shouting, 'Come on, the Dubs.' This stirring
appeal met with immediate response, and the line rushed forward
at his call. Sergeant Downie accounted for several of the enemy,
and in addition captured a machine-gun, killing the team. Though
wounded early in the fight, he remained with his company, and
gave valuable assistance, whilst the position was being
consolidated. It was owing to Sergeant Downie's courage and
initiative that this important position, which had resisted four
or five previous attacks, was won."

Sergeant Downie is twenty-three years of age. He was born in Glasgow of Irish parents, both his father and mother being natives of Laurencetown, co. Down, and received his education at St. Aloysius' Catholic Schools, Springburn, Glasgow. He is one of a family of sixteen, of whom thirteen are alive. His father was employed for thirty years in the Hydepark Locomotive Works, Glasgow, as an oiler and beltman. After leaving school young Downie served for some time in the same works as his father, and at the age of eighteen he enlisted in the Dublin Fusiliers. He went to France with the Expeditionary Force. He is married, and his wife lives with her two children at Springburn.

A wounded officer of the Dublins thus describes how Downie won the V.C.--

"For coolness and resource under danger, it would be impossible
to beat Downie. The ordeal we had to go through that day was one
of the most severe we have struck since the present war, and, as
you know, the 'Dubs' have been in many tight corners. We had
orders to advance against a position that had so far resisted
all efforts of our men to take. We knew it had to be taken this
time, be the cost what it might. We went over with a good heart.
The men were magnificent. They faced their ordeal without the
slightest sign of wavering. The enemy's fire was ploughing
through our ranks. We lost heavily. In a short time there was
not an officer left capable of giving directions. It was only
then that the attack began to falter. At that moment the enemy
fire increased its intensity. It was many times worse than any
hell I have ever heard of. The machine-gun fire of the enemy
swept across the ground like great gusts of wind, and the finest
troops in the world might have been pardoned for a momentary
hesitation in face of such fire. Downie took the situation in.
He ran along the line of shell holes in which the men were
sheltering and cried out, 'Come on, the Dubs.'

"The effect was electrical. The men sprang from their cover, and
under his leadership dashed to the attack on the enemy position.
Their blood was now up, and there was no stopping them until the
goal was reached. The immediate approach to the part of the
trench they were attacking was swept by the fire of one
machine-gun that galled the attacking party a lot. Downie made
straight for that. Using alternately bomb, bayonet, and rifle,
he wiped out the entire crew, and captured the gun, which he
quickly turned on the enemy. The effect of this daring exploit
was soon felt. The enemy resistance weakened, and the Dublin
lads were soon in possession of the trench. It was later on,
when the attack was being pressed home, that Downie was wounded.
It was severe enough to justify any man in dropping out, but
Downie was made of better stuff. He stuck to his men, and for
the rest of the day he directed their operations with a skill
and energy that defeated repeated attempts of the enemy to win
back the lost ground. Throughout the very difficult operations
his cheery disposition and his eye for discerning the best thing
to do in given circumstances, were as good as a reinforcement to
the hard-pressed Irishmen."

Captain John A. Sinton, Indian Medical Service, was awarded the Victoria Cross, after the action at Shaikh Saad in Mesopotamia. The official record is as follows--

"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. Although
shot through both arms and through the side he refused to go to
hospital, and remained as long as daylight lasted attending to
his duties under very heavy fire. In three previous actions
Captain Sinton displayed the utmost bravery."

Captain Sinton was born in Lisburn, co. Antrim, and is thirty-one years of age. He is a member of a well-known Quaker family. As a boy he went to the Memorial School in Lisburn, named after the heroic Brigadier-General, John Nicholson, of the Indian Mutiny, and afterwards attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He had a brilliant career in the Medical School at Queen's University, Belfast. He took first place at the examination for the Indian Medical Service at the School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool. He went to India in 1912, and was attached to the 31st Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers at Kohat. At the outbreak of war he transferred to the Dogras, in order to take part in the operations of the Indian Expeditionary Force in the Persian Gulf.

Private Henry Kenny of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment is another London Irishman, and the third of the name of Kenny who have gained the coveted V.C. The stories of the other two Kennys are told in the first series of _The Irish at the Front_. Private Kenny's father is a native of Limerick, where all his people belonged to, and from where he moved to England with his parents. Private Kenny himself was born in Hackney, London, and enlisted, at the age of eighteen, in 1906. On the outbreak of war he was recalled to the Colours as a reservist, and took part in many famous engagements. The official record of his gallantry is as follows--

"For most conspicuous bravery. Private Kenny went out on six
different occasions on one day under a very heavy shell, rifle
and machine-gun fire, and each time succeeded in carrying to a
place of safety a wounded man who had been lying in the open. He
was himself wounded in the neck whilst handing the last man over
the parapet."

When Kenny was invalided home on account of the wounds he received in performing the noble action for which he won the Victoria Cross, he made no reference to his achievement. The sixth man whom he rescued was his own Colonel, and it was while he was bearing his commanding officer into safety that he was himself wounded. On his return home for a holiday after the announcement of the award he visited the House of Commons, and was introduced to Sir E. Carson, Lord and Lady Pirrie, Mr. and Mrs. Redmond, Lord Wimborne and Colonel Churchill, and had tea on the terrace.

There was much rejoicing amongst the pupils and staff of the Royal Hibernian Military School, Phoenix Park, Dublin, when it became known that the greatest honour that can be bestowed upon a soldier--the Victoria Cross--had been won by a former pupil of the school in the person of Private Frederick Jeremiah Edwards, of the Middlesex Regiment. There are three Royal Military Schools in the United Kingdom (the Duke of York's School, near London, the Queen Victoria School in Scotland, and the Royal Hibernian School), and naturally there was keen anxiety amongst them as to which would be the first to place a V.C. to its credit in the present war. The Irish school has won, thanks to Private "Jerry" Edwards. He is the second "old boy" of the Hibernian School to win the V.C., the previous occasion on which the distinction was gained being during the Crimean War. Private Edwards was born at Queenstown, co. Cork, the son of a soldier. He entered the Hibernian School at seven years of age. He is spoken of as a bright, intelligent and plucky lad by the schoolmasters, to whom his lively spirits were oftentimes a source of worry--and, perhaps, of trouble for "Jerry." When he was fourteen he left the school to join the Army. The circumstances under which he won the V.C. in his twenty-first year are thus officially described--

"For most conspicuous bravery and resource. His part of the line
was held up by machine-gun fire, and all officers had become
casualties. There was confusion and indication of retirement.
Private Edwards, grasping the situation, on his own initiative
dashed out towards the gun, which he knocked out with his bombs.
This very gallant act, coupled with great presence of mind and a
total disregard of personal danger, made further advance
possible and cleared up a dangerous situation."

A former schoolmate of Private Edwards, and a comrade in the Middlesex Regiment, gives the following more specific particulars of the hero's courage and determination in carrying along the wavering men by the force of his example--

"The day our regiment went over there was some wild work. The
enemy concentrated on our part of the line a furious fire. There
was absolutely no cover for a great part of the way. One by one
our officers were picked off. Young Lieutenant ---- was the last
to go. As he fell he called to the men to go right on. They did
so for a time, but things got worse, and finally the men seemed
to lose heart. 'Jerry' Edwards declared that he wasn't going
back. He sprang forward into the thick hail of machine-gun
bullets, in full view of the taunting Huns on their parapet.
'This way, Die-hards,' he cried, and at the sound of the
glorious old nickname the men recovered from their panic.
Gradually order was restored, and the men followed Edwards up to
the enemy parapet. This was stormed in a few minutes. Edwards
himself bowled over a machine-gun and its crew. He picked up a
couple of bombs and threw them. Privates behind him handed up
more, and from an exposed position on the enemy parapet he kept
raining bombs on the foe. The gun and crew were blown to bits,
and the rest of the enemy bolted to their next position. Edwards
saw what they were up to, and, leading some of the men by the
near cut, he intercepted the flying enemy. Then a great bombing
match began. Our lads won, thanks to the way the team was
handled by Edwards. Though the position was dangerous for some
time afterwards, we held on, and finally consolidated the
ground."

The finest quality in gallantry is that which impels a soldier to leave a place of safety voluntarily, and, though he is not under the excitement of battle, to plunge with cool calculation into some danger which he knows and has estimated to its full extent. For a deed of valour of that character the Victoria Cross was given to Private William Young, East Lancashire Regiment. The official record says--

"On seeing that his sergeant had been wounded he left his trench
to attend to him under very heavy fire. The wounded
non-commissioned officer requested Private Young to get under
cover, but he refused, and was almost immediately very seriously
wounded by having both jaws shattered. Notwithstanding his
terrible injuries, Private Young continued endeavouring to
effect the rescue upon which he had set his mind, and eventually
succeeded with the aid of another soldier. He then went unaided
to the dressing-station, where it was discovered that he had
also been wounded by a rifle bullet in the chest. The great
fortitude, determination, courage, and devotion to duty
displayed by this soldier could hardly be surpassed."

Private Young was born in Glasgow of Irish parents, and joined the East Lancashire Regiment in May 1899, when about twenty-one years of age. He was transferred to the Army Reserve in August 1902, and joined