Bertram Best-Dunkley Explained

Bertram Best-Dunkley
Birth Date:3 August 1890
Death Date:5 August 1917 (aged 27)
Birth Place:York, England
Death Place:Pilckem Ridge, Passchendaele salient, Belgium
Placeofburial:Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Proven
Serviceyears:-1917
Rank:Lieutenant-Colonel
Branch: British Army
Unit:The Lancashire Fusiliers
Battles:First World War
Awards:Victoria Cross

Lieutenant-Colonel Bertram Best-Dunkley VC (3 August 1890 – 5 August 1917) was an English 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.

Best-Dunkley was 26 years old, and a temporary lieutenant-colonel in the 2/5th Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers (part of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division, British Army during the First World War on 31 July 1917 at Wieltje, Belgium, during the attack on Pilckem Ridge as part of the Battle of Passchendaele, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

Before enlisting, Best-Dunkley was a teacher at Tienstin Grammar School. There is a marble memorial plaque to him in the entrance hall of the School which was partially defaced by Japanese troops during their occupation of China.

Further reading

External links

, by Thomas Hope Floyd, from Project Gutenberg