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Albert Ball, VC, DSO and 2 Bars, MC – Britain’s Ace Fighter Pilot
Born in Nottingham on the 14th August 1896, Albert Ball was one of three children, two sons and a daughter, of plumber Albert Sr and his wife Harriet (nee Page). Albert Sr was later to elevate his status to that of Lord Mayor of Nottingham and received a knighthood. Young Albert was educated at a variety of schools, Lenton Church school, Grantham Grammar and Nottingham High School before going to Trent College, at the age of 14. Deeply religious, Albert was also fond of all things mechanical and electrical, spending a lot of time in his private retreat in the garden shed, fiddling about with engines and such like. He…
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Phoebe’s Favourite Badass – Lt-Gen Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO
I read ERs article on her favourite badass with interest. Theodore Roosevelt does seem to have been a leading man in the world of Politics and indeed his moves to re-vitalise the United States were ambitious and ground-breaking. He was definitely a man of the people, and perhaps worthy of the title. But, for me, having a military background, it only seems natural for me to turn my attention to an area that I feel I am close to, whilst choosing my favourite badass. War. But who to choose? So many worthy men to choose from. Doge Enrico Dandolo? Marcus Cassius Scaeva? Xiahou Dun? What did all these men have…
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Victoria Cross Recipients – Keeping it in the Family Part 2
Part Two – Brothers in arms So we discussed in part one, father and son awards of the Victoria Cross. Now I’m going to turn your attention to brothers who both received the Cross for their acts of valour. To begin with, I would ask that you cast your mind back to Charles Gough, and his son John, who were both awarded the Victoria Cross. Charles received his in part for an action which saved the life of his brother Sir Hugh Gough during the India Mutiny of 1857/8. But the story doesn’t end there. Just a few months after Charles saved Hugh’s life in the action for which he…
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The Sidney Family
As mentioned in the “Victoria Cross Recipients – Keeping it in the Family” article previously, the Sidney family was one of the premier courtiers in the Tudor dynasty. The Victoria Cross recipients in the family came by their bravery honestly as they were descended from a long line of courageous men and women. William Sidney was the eldest son of Nicholas Sidney and Anne Brandon. Anne’s father, Sir William Brandon, was Henry VII’s standard bearer at the Battle of Bosworth. On Richard III’s final charge, he attacked Brandon mercilessly while he defended the Tudor standard and was killed. The ballad The Battle of Bosworth describes it as thus: amongst all…
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Victoria Cross Recipients – Keeping it in the Family
Part One – Like Father, Like Son A startling fact about the Victoria Cross is that around 75% of the recipients were the eldest child of a large family of siblings or the child of a young widow. This interesting little statistic could show a pre-disposition of extraordinary bravery that would seem to be bred into those who were cast into the role of responsibility from an early age, and that their resulting gallantry was the product of an extension of their duty to “look out for” those they were responsible for, above and beyond the standard in much the same way as they looked out for younger siblings or…
