Bristol 2014 The City And Conflict From The First World War To The Present Day

Bristol 2014 is part of the First World War Centenary Partnership

First World War Centenary Partnership Programme

Bristol 2014 is supported by:

Heritage Lottery Fund Arts Council England Bristol City Council Business West Society of Merchant Venturers University of the West of England

It is coordinated by Bristol Cultural Development Partnership.

Bristol to honour First World War VC recipients

31 Jul 2014

The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest military decoration awarded for valour ‘in the face of the enemy’ to members of the British armed forces. It is also awarded in many Commonwealth countries and territories of what was once the British Empire.

As part of the national centenary programme 2014-2018, the Department for Communities and Local Government has commissioned specially designed paving stones to commemorate the VC holders of the First World War. These will be allocated to places closely associated with the recipient - his place of birth or the place where he spent a significant part of his life. The relevant local authority will then cover the costs of laying and maintaining the stone, and will decide its location, in discussion with interested parties including family members. The stone will be installed on the centenary of the action for which the VC was awarded. It will incorporate an electronic reader which people will be able to scan using their smartphones to discover more information about the recipient.

There are eight First World War VC holders with a Bristol connection. We will tell their stories in the coming months. Here is a summary:

Douglas Reynolds was a career soldier born in Clifton in 1881. He was serving as a captain in the 37th Battery, Royal Field Artillery at the time he was awarded the VC. He had recaptured a British gun under heavy enemy fire with the support of two volunteer drivers. The action took place at Le Cateau in France on 26 August 1914, making Reynolds one of the first VC recipients of the war. He was later promoted to Major. He died of septicaemia on 23 February 1916 after being gassed and is bured in Etaples Military Cemetery in Northern France.

Thomas Rendle was born in Bedminster in 1884. He was a sergeant with the 1st Battalion, The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. He served as a bandsman and also acted as a stretcher-bearer. On 20 November 1914 near Wulverghem in Belgium he crawled to a collapsed trench under heavy fire, attended to the wounds of Second Lt R M Colebrooke, who had been buried in the trench, and then carried him on his back to safety. Rendle emigrated to South Africa after the war and died in 1961.

Frederick Room was born in Horfield in 1895. He was awarded the VC when he was an acting lance corporal with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment. On 16 August 1917 he was in charge of a company of stretcher-bearers, working under intense fire, tending to injuries and helping in the evacuation of the wounded. In October 1917 he was among 126 men presented to King George V at a ceremony on Durdham Down in Bristol. He died on 19 January 1932 and is buried at Greenbank Cemetery.

Hardy Parsons was born near Blackburn in 1897 but later moved to Redland and was educated at the University of Bristol. He joined the Officers’ Training Corps in 1916 and became a second lieutenant in the 14th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. On 21 August 1917 he held his position while his colleagues retreated during fierce fighting near the village of Vendhuile. He died of his wounds having been severely burnt by a flame thrower.

Manley James was born in Odiham in Hamphire in 1896. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School, later worked for the Bristol Aeroplane Company and was Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire and Bristol. He joined the 8th Gloucesters soon after the war began with the rank of lieutenant. On 21 March 1918 he led the capture of 27 German prisoners and two machine guns. He was wounded and captured, spending the rest of the war as a POW. He returned to Bristol on Christmas Day 1918. He died in 1975 and is buried at Canford Cemetery.

Daniel Burges was born in London in 1873 but was part of the Burges family dynasty of Bristol and was educated at Clifton College. At the start of the war he was serving with the Gloucestershire Regiment. He was with the 7th (Service) Battalion, South Wales Borderers, when he was awarded the VC for his action on 18 September1918 during an attempt to capture a series of hills in the Balkans under heavy machine-gun fire. He was shot several times and his leg was amputated. He died in 1946 and was cremated at Arnos Vale Cemetery.

Harry Wood was born in North Yorkshire but was living in Horfield by the end of the war and may have moved to Bristol before then. From October 1914 he served with the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards. He was awarded the VC for his bravery in securing a ruined bridge over the River Selle at the village of St Python on 13 October 1918. He died in 1924 and is buried at Arnos Vale.

Claude Dobson was awarded his VC for action which took place after the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919 but the conflict in which he was engaged had its origins in the First World War so it seems appropriate to include him here. Dobson was born in 1885 in Clifton. He became a naval cadet in 1899 and served in the Royal Navy until 1935. On 18 August 1919 he was in charge of a coastal motor-boat flotilla at Kronstadt Harbour in the Gulf of Finland. At that time British forces were supporting the White Army against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. Dobson led his officers and men in blowing up nearly all of the Bolshevik fleet and capturing five boats. He died in 1940. 

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