Sir Beachcroft Towse

Sir Beachcroft Towse VC, KCVO, CBE

Ernest Beachcroft Beckwith Trowse was born on 23 April 1864, the eldest of two sons of Robert Beckwith Towse, a solicitor, and his wife Julia Ann Corcoran.  He was educated at Stubbington House, Gosport, and Wellington College.

In 1883 he joined the 3rd Seaforth Highlanders (the Highland Rifle Militia) and was promoted lieutenant in December 1885.  Shortly afterward, he transferred to the Gordon Highlanders.  He served with the Chitral Relief Force (1895), was at the storming of the Malakand Pass, was promoted captain in 1896, and served in the north-west frontier and Tirah campaigns (1897–8).   It was during the latter operations that one of the regiment's most famous Victoria Crosses was earned. Piper George Findlater, despite being wounded in both legs, continued to play the bagpipes during the assault.

'Action at the Malakand Pass' by SW Lincoln

held at the Gordon Highlanders Museum, Aberdeen

In October 1899 the 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders were posted to South Africa to participate in the Boer War.  Towse took part in the advance on Kimberly and the Battle of Magerfontein (11 Dec 1899).  This was a major defeat for the British (one of the actions during 'Black Week'), the Highland Brigade being particularly badly mauled - it lost 53 officers and 650 soldiers, among them the brigade commander, Major General Wauchope, and two commanding officers.  Most of these casualties happened  when the  brigade charged the entrenced Boers, who opened fire at 400 yards.  The Gordons were sent in to reinforce the brigade  but suffered similarly heavy casualties.  For his attempt to carry away his mortally wounded colonel and for later rallying his force of twelve men to attack some 150 Boers, Towse was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Col GTF Downmnan

On the 11th December, 1899, at the action of Magesfontein, Captain Towse was brought to notice by his Commanding Officer for his gallantry and devotion in assisting the late Colonel Downman, when mortally wounded, in the retirement, and endeavouring, when close up to the front of the firing line, to carry Colonel Downman on his back; but finding this not possible, Captain Towse supported him till joined by Colour-Sergeant Nelson and Lance-Corporal Hodgson. 

On the 30th April, 1900, Captain Towse, with twelve men, took up a position on the top of Mount Thaba, far away from support. A force of about 150 Boers attempted to seize the same plateau, neither party appearing to see the other until they were but 100 yards apart. Some of the Boers then got within 40 yards of Captain Towse and his party, and called on him to surrender. He at once caused his men to open fire and remained firing himself until severely wounded (both eyes shattered), succeeding in driving off the Boers. The gallantry of this Officer in vigorously attacking the enemy (for he not only fired, but charged forward) saved the situation, not, whithstanding the numerical superiority of the Boers.

Trowse was presented his decoration by Queen Victoria, who made him Sergeant-at-Arms in 1900. King Edward VII reappointed him in 1902, and in 1903 he was admitted to the Honorary Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms in which he served until 1939.

Although the wounds sustained by Trowse at Mount Thaba had destroyed his eyes, this barely seemed to slow him down.  In 1901 he joined the council of the British and Foreign Blind Association, later the National Institute for the Blind (NIB) as vice-chairman (he was chairman from 1923 until 1944, and after that its president).  He was very active in touring the country, promoting the well-being and welfare of the blind.

Soldiers blinded by gas in the First World War

On the outbreak of the First World War Towse, who had become an expert braille reader and typist went to France to assist wounded soldiers - the following year he was appointed an honorary staff captain (without pay and allowances) for base hospitals.

It was at his suggestion that the NIB set up a subcommittee to look after blinded servicemen.  This developed into St Dunstan's Hostel (now Blind Veterans UK), founded in 1915.  After the war he saw a need to assist former servicemen who were went blind through causes other than the war, or for the blind dependents of servicemen.  He therefore established the Special Fund for Blind Ex-Servicemen (the Sir Beachcroft Towse Ex-Service Fund).  In 1917 he founded the Comrades of the Great War, and as chairman he travelled during two years over 12,000 miles in the British Isles. This organization merged with others to form the British Legion, of which he became a national vice-president in 1927, remaining in office until his death.

During the Second World War Towse made his home available for the rehabilitation of civilians blinded through air raids - becoming the first Queen Elizabeth Home of Recovery.

These services were recognised by the Crown.  He was appointed a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John in 1916, a CBE in 1920 and in 1927 a KCVO.

On 25 October 1892 he married Gertrude, younger daughter of John Christie, a stockbroker; they had no children and she died in 1935.  Sir Beachcroft died at home in Goring-on-Thames on 21 June 1948.

The Medals

Towse's medals are held at the Gordon Highlanders Museum, Aberdeen.

• Victoria Cross
• Royal Victorian Order - Knight Commander (KCVO), 1927
• Order of St John of Jerusalem - Knight of Grace (KStJ), 1916
• Order of the British Empire - Commander (CBE), Civil Division, 1920
• Indian General Service Medal (1895-1902) - with clasps 'Punjab Frontier 1897-98', 'Relief of Chitral 1895' and 'Tirah 1897-98'
• Queen's South Africa Medal (1899-1902) - with clasps 'Driefontein', 'Paardeberg' and 'Cape Colony'
• 1914-15 Star
• British War Medal
• Victory Medal - with Mentioned in Dispatches oakleaf
• Edward VII Coronation Medal
• George V Coronation Medal
• George V Silver Jubilee Medal
• George VI Coronation Medal

Honouring VC Awardees

The government has announced that as part of the  commemorations for the centenary of World War I, memorial flagstones will be laid to mark every British born serviceman awarded the Victoria Cross.  The idea is that the first 28 will be unveiled next year to mark the 28 VCs awarded in 1914, and so on until 2018.  There are also grants to restore existing war memorials (a problem that has been concerning people for some time).

Read more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23563616 and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10220571/Hometown-memorials-for-Victoria-Cross-heroes.html.

I've seen some cynical postings about this, but I think people might take it to heart, rather as they did with the painted postboxes for Olympic medalists - it's obviously designed to engender the same community spirit as we saw last year.  There's a memorial in my local church to an ex-choirboy who earned the VC - I wonder how many locals know about him?

There seems to have been quite a taste for minor public sculpture in the last decade - look at the success of the banana-cows in Liverpool, the Gromits in Bristol that Steve at Bleaseworld is currently treating us to and the elephants and gorillas in Norwich.

A Victoria Cross Presentation

L/Cpl James Ashworth VC, Grenadier Guards

One of the rarest military occasions happened today: the presentation of a Victoria Cross, something that has only happened only 14 times since the end of the Second World War.  Sadly, like eight of those 14, this was a posthumous award.

Kerry Ashworth with her surviving son,
L/Cpl Coran Ashworth, also a Grenadier

Kerry Ashworth was given the medal awarded to her son L/Cpl James Ashworth of 1st Bn, Grenadier Guards, by the Queen in an investiture at Buckingham Palace. 

Ashcroft of Kettering, joined the army in 2006, aged 17, and followed his father and elder brother into the Grenadier Guards.  He was on his second tour of Afghanistan when he performed the acts which led to his death and him earning Britain's highest honour.


The citation for L/Cpl Ashworth's award was given in a supplement to the London Gazette published on 22 March of this year.  It bears reading in full:

On the 13th June 2012 the conspicuous gallantry under fire of Lance Corporal Ashworth, a section second-in-command in 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards Reconnaissance Platoon, galvanised his platoon at a pivotal moment and led to the rout of a determined enemy grouping in the Nahr-e-Saraj District of Helmand Province.

The two aircraft inserting the Reconnaissance Platoon on an operation to neutralise a dangerous insurgent sniper team, were hit by enemy fire as they came into land.  Unflustered, Ashworth - a young and inexperienced non-commissioned officer - raced 300 metres with his fire-team into the heart of the insurgent dominated village. Whilst two insurgents were killed and two sniper rifles recovered in the initial assault, an Afghan Local Police follow-up attack stalled when a patrolman was shot and killed by a fleeing enemy. Called forward to press-on with the attack, Ashworth insisted on moving to the front of his fire team to lead the pursuit. Approaching the entrance to a compound from which enemy machine gun fire raged, he stepped over the body of the dead patrolman, threw a grenade and surged forward. Breaking into the compound Ashworth quickly drove the insurgent back and into an out-building from where he now launched his tenacious last stand.

The village was now being pressed on a number of fronts by insurgents desperate to relieve their prized sniper team.  The platoon needed to detain or kill the final sniper, who had been pinned down by the lead fire team, and extract as quickly as possible. Ashworth realised that the stalemate needed to be broken, and broken quickly. He identified a low wall that ran parallel to the front of the outbuilding from which the insurgent was firing.  Although only knee high, he judged that it would provide him with just enough cover to get sufficiently close to the insurgent to accurately post his final grenade. As he started to crawl behind the wall and towards the enemy, a fierce fire fight broke out just above his prostrate body. Undaunted by the extraordinary danger - a significant portion of his route was covered from view but not from fire - Ashworth grimly continued his painstaking advance. After three minutes of slow crawling under exceptionally fierce automatic fire he had edged forward fifteen metres and was now within five metres of the insurgent’s position. Desperate to ensure that he succeeded in accurately landing the grenade, he then deliberately crawled out from cover into the full view of the enemy to get a better angle for the throw. By now enemy rounds were tearing up the ground mere centimetres from his body, and yet he did not shrink back. Then, as he was about to throw the grenade he was hit by enemy fire and died at the scene. Ashworth’s conspicuous
gallantry galvanised his platoon to complete the clearance of the compound.

Despite the ferocity of the insurgent’s resistance, Ashworth refused to be beaten. His total disregard for his own safety in ensuring that the last grenade was posted accurately was the gallant last action of a soldier who had willingly placed himself in the line of fire on numerous occasions earlier in the attack. This supremely courageous and inspiring action deserves the highest recognition.

Ashworth is one of only two men to earn the (British) VC during the present Afghanistan conflict: the other was Cpl Bryan Budd of 3rd Bn, Parachute Regt, in 2006.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson

Adm of the Fleet Sir Arthur K Wilson, VC, GCB, OM, GCVO

Arthur Knyvet Wilson was born in Swaffham, Norfolk, on 4 March 1842.  He was the son of Rear-Adm George Knyvet Wilson and nephew of Maj-Gen Sir Archdale Wilson, who commanded the garrison during the Siege of Delhi (Arthur was to inherit the baronetcy awarded to Sir Archdale for this).He was educated at Eton and entered the Royal Navy in 1855.

Early Career

As a Midshipman, he served on HMS Algiers during the Crimean War. The ship served in the Black Sea, near Sebastapol and was involved in the bombardment of the Kinburn forts. Wilson transferred to HMS Colossus when the Algiers went for a refit in Malta. While serving on this ship, he was sent ashore to search for an Army Captain’s dog that had got lost near Balaclava. By the time he returned, the ship had sailed for Britain and he was forced to use another ship to return home. He was then posted to HMS Raleigh which was to serve on the China station. In March 1857, the ship ran aground on a submerged rock and was lost. The officers and men were landed and Wilson was then transferred to HMS Calcutta, the flagship. He was serving on this ship during the Second China War.

In 1867, he was one of the party of British naval officers sent to Japan to set up a school for naval officers at Yedo and take up the post of Instructor.   In 1870, while at HMS Excellent, he was a member of the committee appointed to inquire into the capacity of the Whitehead Torpedo.  In 1876, he became Commander at HMS Vernon, the newly established Torpedo School at Portsmouth in recognition of his previous experience in torpedo research. While he was there, he was promoted to Captain in April 1880 and asked to re-write the navy’s torpedo manuals. He also invented aiming apparatus for the torpedo and worked out a method of submarine mining and countermining adapted to naval requirements. In 1882, Wilson was appointed to command HMS Hecla, a torpedo depot ship.

Egypt and the Victoria Cross

Hecla was used as a transport ship during the Anglo-Egyptian War. The ship contributed a small detachment as a Naval Brigade for the second battle of El Teb on 29th February 1884. Although Wilson was not actually part of the brigade, he joined the battle as an observer. 

What happened next is recounted in the London Gazette for 21 May 1884.

Sailors using a ship-based Gardner Gun

This Officer, on the staff of Rear-Admiral Sir William Hewett, at the battle of El-Teb, on the 29th February, attached himself during the advance to the right half battery, Naval Brigade, in the place of Lieutenant Royds, RN mortally wounded.  As the troops closed on the enemy's Krupp battery the Arabs charged out on the corner of the square and on the detachment who were dragging the Gardner gun.

Captain Wilson then sprang to the front and engaged in single combat with some of the enemy, thus protecting his detachment till some men of the York and Lancaster Regiment came to his assistance with their bayonets. 

But for the action of this Officer Sir Redvers Buller thinks that one or more of his detachment must have
been speared.

Captain Wilson was wounded but remained with the half battery during the day.

Richard Noyce, Curator of Artefacts at the National Maritime Museum, gives a more vivid account in this video:

Wilson was presented with the Victoria Cross at a special ceremony on Southsea Common on 6 June 1882. He recorded in his diary 'Docked ship.  Awarded Victoria Cross.'

Later Career 

In 1889, he was again appointed to command HMS Vernon. In 1893, he was appointed to HMS Sans Pareil and witnessed the collision of HMSs Camperdown and Victoria, which led to the sinking of the Camperdown with severe loss of life, including Admiral Sir George Tryon.

Wilson was promoted Rear Admiral in 1895. He was appointed as Controller of the Navy and Third Sea Lord. Four years later, in 1901, he was promoted again to Vice Admiral and made Commander in Chief of the Channel Squadron. During his period in this position, he improved and brought in modern methods of tactics in view of the technical advances in battleships.

In 1907, he was made Admiral of the Fleet by a special Order in Council, after successfully commanding the Channel and Home fleets. In 1910, he was appointed First Sea Lord. He did not favour the use of submarines as a means of firing torpedoes, famously calling them 'a damned un-English weapon'. After two years, he was dismiissed ('like a butler') after differences of opinion in regard to administration and policy with the First Lord of the Admiralty (his Parliamentary counterpart), Winston Churchill. On his 70th birthday he was placed on the Retired List and was made a member of the Order of Merit.

However, on the outbreak of war in 1914 he returned to assist Lord Fisher, the new First Sea Lord, at Churchill's request.  Fisher and Wilson clashed continuously until the former's resignation in 1915.  Due to strong opposition from sea-going admirals and others, Wilson was not re-appointed First Sea Lord

let it not be A. K. Wilson who is a man of quite inferior calibre and who backed up Winston in his folly over the naval attack on the Dardanelles. AKW is all right knocking down Fuzzy Wuzzies with his fists, or getting a cable round a bollard, but the idea that he is a strategist of the first water has no foundation in fact and he is dumb at War Councils and institutions of that character

He retired for a third time in 1918. When his brother died in 1919, he became the 3rd Baronet. Wilson died on 25 May 1921 at his home in Swaffham.

The Medals 

Sir Arthur's medals are held by the Royal Navy Museum, Portsmouth.

Victoria Cross
Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath (GCB)
Order of Merit (OM)
Knight Grand Cross, Royal Victorian Order ( GCVO )
Crimea Medal (1854-56), 1 clasp: 'Sebastopol'
Second China War Medal (1857-60) 2 clasps: 'Canton 1857' - 'Taku Forts 1858'
Egypt Medal (1882-89) 3 clasps: 'Alexandra 11th July' - 'El-Teb' - 'Suakin 1884'
Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medal (1897)
King Edward VII Coronation Medal (1902)
King George V Coronation Medal (1911)
Grand Officer, Legion of Honour (France)
Order of the Medjidieh (3rd Class) (Turkey)
Order of Naval Merit: Grand Cross (Spain)
Khedive's Star (1882)
Turkish Crimea Medal (1855-56)
Knight Grand Cross, Order of Dannebrog (Denmark)
Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Netherlands Lion (The Netherlands)

Vice-Admiral Sir William Nathan Wrighte Hewett, VC, KCB, KCSI

Admiral Hewitt - photo taken c.1873

William Nathan Wrighte Hewett was born on 12 August 1834 in Brighton,  His father was Doctor William Wrighte Hewett MD, of Billham Hall, Near Doncaster, Yorks. He was a Surgeon and Physician to William IV. His mother was Susan Moore, daughter of the Revd John Maddy Moore DD, Prebendary of Ely and Chaplain to William IV.

The Crimea and Award of the Victoria Cross

In April 1847 Hewett was appointed Cadet on HMS Ocean. In May 1849 he was made Acting Mate on HMS Impregnable and served on several ships before being posted to HMS Beagle, a shallow-draft dispatch vessel commissioned for service in the Crimea War as a gunboat.  He was attached to the naval brigade at the siege of Sebastapol, being in command of the right Lancaster battery.

The Illustrated London News' vision of Hewett winning his VC

On the occasion of a repulse of a sortie of Russians by Sir De Lacy Evans Division on the 26th October, 1854 ... The advance of the Russians placed the gun in great jeopardy, their skirmishers advancing within 300 yards of the Battery, and pouring in a sharp fire from their Minie rifles. By some misapprehension the word was passed to spike his gun and retreat; but Mr. Hewett, taking upon himself the responsibility of disregarding the order, replied that 'Such an order did not come from Captain Lushington, and he would not do it till it did.' Mr. Hewett then pulled down the parapet of the Battery, and, with the assistance of some soldiers, got his gun round and poured upon the advancing column of Russians a most destructive and effective fire. 

As ever, it's quite likely that this account is sanitised.  Another account gives Hewett's response as: 'Retire? Retire and be damned! Fire!'  For this, and for his actions at the Battle of Inkerman on 5 November, Hewett was one of the first naval recipients of the newly-instituted Victoria Cross. 

Career Progression

Hewett was promoted to Lieutenant with effect from the date of his actions at Sebastapol. He was promoted to Commander on 13 September 1858, Captain on 24 November 1862, Rear-Admiral on 21 March 1878 and Vice-Admiral on 8 July 1884.

For much of this time he commanded expeditions in West Africa, the Arabian Gulf, Egypt and the Sudan, gaining in the process a reputation as the Navy's finest exponent of combined operations, being known as 'The Fighting Admiral'.  The breath of his campaign experience can be seen in his medal entitlement:-

• Victoria Cross
• Knight Commander, Order of the Bath (KCB)
• Knight Commander, Order of the Star of India (KCSI)
• Crimea Medal (1854-1856), 3 clasps (Inkerman - Azoff - Sebastopol)
• India General Service Medal (1854-1895), 1 clasp (Pegu)
• Ashantee Medal (1873-1874), 1 clasp (Coomassie)
• Egypt Medal (1882-1889), 2 clasps (El Teb - Suakin 1885)
• Medal of Military Valour (Sardinia)
• Order of the Medjidieh, 2nd Class (Turkey)
• Legion of Honour, 5th Class (France)
• Khedive's Star (1882)
• Order of Solomon (Abyssinia)
• Turkish Crimea Medal (1855-1856)

Third Ashantee War

As Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station, Hewett commanded the naval forces during General Wolseley's Gold Coast campaign.  He was created KCB in recognition of his services.

Sudan Campaign

Hewitt, by now Commander-in Chief of the East India Station, arrived at Suakin on 16 December 1883 in his flagship HMS Euryalus.  Following the disastrous first engagement at El Teb, he was put in command of the 150 seamen, 400 Royal Marines and six Gardiner guns that comprised the naval brigade.  At Second El Teb, he personally commanded the naval brigade from the square and led a charge at swordpoint.  He was appointed Governor of Sudan by Baker Pasha and led the negotiations that allowed for the retreat of troops though Ethiopia and the engagement of Ethiopian troops against the Mahdists.

Hewitt took command of the Channel Fleet in November 1886, but soon became seriously ill.  He died at the Haslar Naval Hospital on 13 May 1888 and was buried at the Highland Road Cemetery, Portsmouth.

The Fighting Admiral's Grave