Harold Ackroyd VC, MC (1877— 1917) was a British 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.
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Biography
Ackroyd was born on 18 July 1877 to Edward Ackroyd of Southport. He was educated at Mintholme College, Southport, then Shrewsbury School and finally Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.[1] He was married, to Mabel.[2]
War action
He was 40 years old, and a Temporary Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, British Army, attached to 6th Battalion, The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) during the First World War. His actions between 31 July and 1 August 1917 at Ypres, Belgium earned him a Victoria Cross.
For most conspicuous bravery. During recent operations Capt. Ackroyd displayed the greatest gallantry and devotion to duty. Utterly regardless of danger, he worked continuously for many hours up and down and in front of the line tending the wounded and saving the lives of officers and men. In so doing he had to move across the open under heavy machine-gun, rifle and shell fire. He carried a wounded officer to a place of safety under very heavy fire. On another occasion he went some way in front of our advanced line and brought in a wounded man under continuous sniping and machine-gun fire. His heroism was the means of saving many lives, and provided a magnificent example of courage, cheerfulness, and determination to the fighting men in whose midst he was carrying out his splendid work. This gallant officer has since been killed in action.[3]
He was killed in action at Glencorse Wood, Ypres, on 11 August 1917, and was enterred at Burr Cross Roads Cemetery.[4]
The medal
VC medal returned to family from Army Services Medical Museum in 1994, and was sold to private buyer in 2004. The money from the sale has been used to endow four scholarships and an annual memorial lecture at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge at which Ackroyd received his medical training.[5]
Footnotes
- ^ Ackroyd, Harold in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
- ^ Ackroyd, Harold, Commonwealth War Graves Commission]
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 30272, p. 9259, 4 September 1917. Retrieved on 29 November 2009.
- ^ Burial location of Harold Ackroyd, victoriacross.org
- ^ *"Harold Ackroyd's Victoria Cross sold privately", victoriacross.org
References
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- VCs of the First World War - Passchendaele 1917 (Stephen Snelling, 1998)
See also
The Medical VC's. Published by the RAMC Museum 1983
External links
- Captain H. Ackroyd
- Harold Ackroyd on Pipl Directory
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